After breaking my leg as a result of driving this vehicle with misaligned wheels on snowy/icy roads and thereby losing control (report filed), I have gone to a local mechanic who has allowed me to visually inspect other vehicles of the same year, make and model. What I have found has been verified by 4 different mechanics in 4 different repair facilities. The wheels on a 2009 ford focus physically can not be put into alignment. The adjuster arms are too short. What that means is that the wheels, which "toe in", fight against eachother for road control. This causes premature tire wear, and on ice and snow will cause a very rapid loss of control at any speed. The degree of that loss of control will vary depending on the amount of "toe in", but needless to say even a little loss of control on a slippery road is very dangerous. The fact that the adjuster arms are too short to provide true alignment indicates a design flaw. The fact that it can, and has, caused accidents indicates that it is a dangerous one. The fact that no one has been killed driving one of these death traps on a snowy road is nothing short of a miracle. Please make ford do something before someone gets killed!!
2009 Ford Focus wheels complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 22 of 22, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The rear tires are wearing unevenly even with alignments. Rear suspension is now a problem. Three sets of tires in 50,000 miles.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford focus. The contact stated that while the vehicle was being serviced for unrelated repairs, the contact was informed that the rear tires were cupping. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where it was confirmed that the tires were cupping and the shocks possibly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 78,343.
Purchased vehicle less than a year ago, from a dealership. New tires were put on at that time. Mileage when purchased was 29000. While driving on snow and icy roads it would wobble and get squirrelly, which I attributed it to the lightness of the vehicle. There was no reason for me to suspect the tires as I have them rotated according to manufacturer specs, and no abnormalities have been mentioned to me by the dealer. However, last week I had an accident as a result of a worn out tire blowing out on a snowy road. Inspection determined that all the tires were unevenly worn, and that the cause was that the arms which maintain tire alignment were physically incapable of doing so. This is not a manufacturing defect, it is a *design flaw*, which resulted in personal injury (broken arm, facial contusions).
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford focus. The contact stated that she had to change all four tires 3 times in under 40,000 miles. The manufacturer was notified but offered no assistance. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was 8,505 and the current mileage 40,000.
Ford manufacture the focus with a 2 degree negative camber. This makes your rear tires go defective as fast as 10,000 miles especially if you don't rotate your tires very often. You can get an alignment every month and it will not fix the defect. I have 24,000 miles on my focus and I have my third set of tires on it. I've did the research. An alignment shop here in warrensburg mo found the problem and fixes around 4-5 ford focus a month. They put in a kit that brings the camber within a fraction of a inch which will give you about 3 times the life span of the tires. The don't have the ability to zero the camber. If you don't get this done, you will be buying tires like I did every year. I did make a complaint to my dealer and the ford company itself with no help so I sent my complaint to the national highway safety department which investigates safety issues and forces auto companies to fix defects with a recall. Need folks like you to do the same. The last set of rear tires I took off scared me. It was so close of coming apart. My complaint is the same as this guys complaint I posted above. I had to change my first set of tires on my brand new 2009 ford focus at 22,000 miles due to severe cupping, my second set at 38,000 miles, and my third set at 60,000 miles. I took it to ford dealer the first time and was told it a known defect issue of the rear camber but no recall. To fix it you have to pay for am approximately $400 kit as described above. If you continue to drive it and not change the tires you get severe bouncing on the front end and makes steering difficult and dangerous. This is a company car so we change the tires often as a result of this defect for safety reasons.
Took my 2009 ford focus to dealer for oil change; told dealer I had lumpy left rear tire; was told I didn't rotate my tires; asked how often I should rotate; dealer said whenever oil changed; dealer cost was $25 for tire rotation; I did it myself; next day put car up on hoist, rotated the tires, and drove; front end shook and was uncontrollable; went back to shop and put tires back as they were; vibration was minor in left rear corner; at 12000 miles took car to dealer for oil change; was told I needed tire rotation; told them I tried @ 6000 miles and front of car shook so had to put tires back where they were; dealer said too much in car and was throwing alignment off; that needed to buy new tires & would take care of shaking in back; since purchase, car was new I have to drive with white knuckles at a very slow speed if the road is wet or has snow on the road . After 1/4" of dry powdery snow the car is all over the road and can't drive over 25mph without the back of the car swaying back and forth. I have never drove any car in my life I am so afraid to drive in any amount of snow or rain. At 20000 miles I had to put on 4 new tires . The salesman told me that they were excellent on snow and rain . I took off for home and they were the same. At 30000 miles I complained again and they said I needed to rotate the tires more often because the left rear tire was cupping. At 40000 I bought 2 tires and put the front tires on the rear and threw the left rear tire away. I took to dealer and insisted it check alignment with whatever was in the car; technician checked & said left rear control arm must have been damaged by hitting curb which was not true; told needed to spend $530 to correct (warranty had run out); could not find problem when under warranty.
My 2009 ford focus has had obvious suspension issues since 6000 miles. Rear tires always slip in wet conditions from a stopped position during a normal initial acceleration. Furthermore at speeds greater than (>) 60 MPH the steering wheel vibrates and the car shakes. I am a fairly good driver and in countless "normal" driving conditions my car has gotten into an "out of control state" luckily I was able to recover. I had taken the car to a ford dealership to be told the tires were causing the problem. I replaced tires, had an alignment performed and again in short order (less than 6000 miles driven) the issues came up again. This is an extremely dangerous safety issue. First of all the need to accelerate without your back tires and rear of vehicle sliding/shifting side to side is essential. Furthermore, a car should not vibrate and rattle violently at speeds of only 55 MPH. I fear that if I continue driving this car in it's current state, I run the risk of getting into an accident.
Car purchased new from out of area dealer in december 2008 - no accidents or pothole contact. At 10090 miles, had right rear tire blowout, tire was replaced. Six months later, replaced both rear tires due to uneven wear, competed alignment at quality provider with no problems noted. Did not use dealer for the alignment because of local dealer's poor customer service and integrity reputation. December 2010, noticed same problem - severe diagonal cupping of rear tires. This time we took to different tire place and was told they could not do 4 wheel alignment due to a rear suspension componant issue. Immediately took the car to dealer where purchased, got excellent service however, they said they could not allign either, probably because we ran something over, which we knew we did not. We were not satisfied so they kept the car close to a week for testing, measuring, calibration etc. They finally said upper rear control arms were wrong size (I think they said too short), which they replaced at no charge for the parts, and said they were able to do the alignment, which cost $240. Now september 2011, 41000 miles, and again there is severe diagonal cupping of the rear tires, which have to be replaced. We will take the car to the dealer purchased from and update this complaint later.
Car purchased new from out of area dealer in december 2008 - no accidents or pothole contact. At 10090 miles in august 2009, had right rear tire blowout, tire was replaced. Six months later, replaced both rear tires due to uneven wear, competed alignment at quality provider with no problemsidentified. Did not use dealer for the alignment because of local dealer's poor customer service and integrity reputation. December 2010, noticed same problem - severe diagonal cupping of rear tires. This time we took to different tire place and was told they could not do 4 wheel alignment due to a rear suspension componant issue. Immediately took the car to dealer where purchased, got excellent service however, they said they could not allign either, probably because we ran something over, which we knew we did not. We were not satisfied so they kept the car close to a week for testing, measuring, calibration etc. They finally said upper rear control arms were wrong size (I think they said too short), which they replaced at no charge for the parts, and said they were able to do the alignment, which cost $240. Now september 2011, 41000 miles, and again there is severe diagonal cupping of the rear tires, which have to be replaced. We will take the car to the dealer purchased from and update this complaint later. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Car purchased new from out of area dealer in december 2008 - no accidents or pothole contact. At 10090 miles, had right rear tire blowout, tire was replaced. Six months later, replaced both rear tires due to uneven wear, competed alignment at quality provider with no problems noted. Did not use dealer for the alignment because of local ( dealer's poor customer service and integrity reputation. December 2010, noticed same problem - severe diagonal cupping of rear tires. This time we took to different tire place and was told they could not do 4 wheel alignment due to a rear suspension componant issue. Immediately took the car to dealer where purchased, got excellent service however, they said they could not allign either, probably because we ran something over, which we knew we did not. We were not satisfied so they kept the car close to a week for testing, measuring, calibration etc. They finally said upper rear control arms were wrong size (I think they said too short), which they replaced at no charge for the parts, and said they were able to do the alignment, which cost $240. Now september 2011, 41000 miles, and again there is severe diagonal cupping of the rear tires, which have to be replaced. We will take the car to the dealer purchased from and update this complaint later. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Driving at normal hwy speed, the rental car (2009 ford focus) wandered as if something was wrong in the wheels or steering wheel and then flipped over on the left side of the road. My entire family almost perished that day.
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