Driving down highway, car lost power, the check engine light and the traction control light came on. Would not accelerate, brakes would not function properly to stop. When I finally got the car stopped in a parking lot next to my place of business, the car would not start up again, and when it did, it would not go into any gear. Sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes trying to get the car to start up and go into gear. When it finally did go into gear, I got it to my place of business 2 blocks down and parked it. I am afraid to drive the car as it is a major safety issue. There have been recalls on the electric version of this car, but not the gasoline versions. This needs to be a recall on all of these models as there are several hundred complaints online about the same issue. Ford will not do anything about these issues unless the car is taken to one of their dealerships, which in past experience, they don't do anything at the dealership except overcharge for diagnosing the car, and for them to tell you nothing is wrong with it and that they know there are issues with the cars, but they do not have a fix for them and they can change the parts, however that will not solve the problem and it will happen again. I have been told this by the manager at a dealership and he has stated there is nothing he can do to change the situation. This is a major safety issue and someone needs to look into ford for the same issues gm is having with their small cars.
2012 Ford Focus electrical complaints
Page 12 of 13: complaints 311 to 340 of 352, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate, the vehicle lost power. The contact mentioned that the check engine and the gear switch warning lights illuminated. The door chime sounded and the vehicle was able to restart approximately 15 minutes later. The failure recurred on two other occasions. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the computer failed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 53,000.
I have a ford focus 2012 se with winter and comfort packages. My vehicle suddenly swapped up from 79 MPH to 81 MPH when I pressed the down button to slow the car.
This car has been the shop 4 times for the same problem. The car randomly does not start for a period of time, absolutely no rhyme or reason. It does start eventually. Everything electrical comes on, interior lights, A/C, heater, radio, exterior lights, just no engine. The problem only occurs after being driven. In other words, it never happens first thing in the morning after sitting all night, it never happens after a full work day (sitting 8 hours). The longest period of time it has set and still not started is about 3 hours. The problem also never occurred until they had to replace the transmission.
Alarm system and horn completely quit working- now I have to pay to have it repaired. A few months ago the window motor would not work- electrical problems with car.
During a tight turn on a bendy road going about 55 MPH the vehicle lost all power. As if someone turned they key off. Lights, infotainment, steering, brakes, everything was effected. Luckily steering doesn't lockup on a ford focus. And can be steered but without power assist. Once at a complete stop, the car could be restarted with no instrument lights on, as if nothing happened.
My car has almost gotten me in 3 accidents and it rolls back on hills I was pulling into a drive way and it started to roll back then it slowed down and there was a load noise and we started rolling backwards it was just a drive way. The car has absolutely no power at all it stutters and when you are driving in busy places and your car wont pick up enough ton enter on the highway or freeway its scary and its unsafe it will shake the whole car when it pulls back and stutters. It is awful and I went on a 3 hour drive to go on vacation I actually rented a car instead of taking my brand new car that I got to last me years fro now was the plan if it makes it another 1 year I will be surprised very dangerous ford.
We took our car in yesterday because the engine kept lurching and stalling. They said it was the power train, and that it was a problem with the computer. The berge ford dealership reprogrammed the computer, and today when I got in the car the radio was on. I just unlocked it and opened the door, and the radio came on. The key was not in the car at all, and the only thing I did was unlock it with the remote and open the door. I did not have this problem prior to them "reprogramming" it to fix the power train/transmission problem. Then when I started to drive it the engine seemed sluggish and it seemed to be lurching again, but not stopping for an instant like before. So I went from having transmission/power train problems, and a seat belt problem to having them both with a computer problem added in... I'm not a computer engineer, but when a piece of equipment has hardware problems it would make sense to replace or fix the hardware instead of reprogramming the software. I'll be taking it back in, and while the computer is out of warranty I think I should be able to get them to look at it and fix it without charging me because they caused the problem.
I have had numerous issues with transmission and electrical problems with my vehicle. I have had it in for service about 6 times in the past year. Car shifts hard, when driving, sputters, and even once stalled out in the middle of a intersection. I had these issues from day one with the vehicle but was told the cars computer has to "learn" how you drive. Electrical, the locks sometimes works, or the doors lock when they aren't supposed to. Key fob doesn't work sometimes. This is something that is ridiculous and ford motor co. Should do something about it. My car has 27500 miles on it and runs like it is 15 years old! My warranty is up at 36000, so then all these issues become the consumer problem even though ford is aware this is an issue they are having and won't recall until someone gets hurt or killed.
I have a ford focus bev ( battery electric vehicle), 2012. I came out from work and unplugged my car from the charging post and got into it as usual to go home. I pressed the start button and a mechanical warning window came up on the dash. I closed it and the "stop safely now" message came on. I closed it and the first message came back again. This went on for several cycles until I hit the start button again. I tried the start button again, and the same thing happened. I plugged it back in, unplugged it and tried again. Same thing. I called the dealer, the lady there called roadside assistance for me. They sent a truck to tow it to a closer dealer, where it currently sits. Initial diagnostics are not showing a cause. I will learn more on monday. This is apparently a common problem according to the internet.
While driving approx 30 miles per hour on a b road, just after turning right the car displayed a "stop safely now" warning and the car lost all power to the drive train and the car literally stopped moving. Luckily, there was no one behind me when the fault occurred. I power cycled the car and I was able to drive away after a few minutes. I have never had an issue with the car until last night.
As I was driving all of a sudden a display stating "stop safely now" came on. I pulled over and the car would not go any further. I had to completely turn it off, open and close the door, and restart it to make it go again. It has happened 3 times now in the past few weeks.
While driving through uptown charlotte, the car gave a "stop safely now" alert and the car lost power. It coasted enough to roll to the right lane and then died. I could not get the warning flashers to work. I tried for about 7 minutes to get the car to turn off, every combination I knew. After that, the car 'reset' and I was able to get it to start. I drove away as if nothing happened. It hasn't happened since. It's not cool to have the car quit in traffic like that. I think the battery control computer picked up a radio frequency interference.
The vehicle came to a complete stop in front of the caldecott tunnel that separates the east bay to contra costa county. The vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic during commute time. Also resulted in a terrible backup on the highway. Spent over 3 hours dealing with this break down that included finding care for our children and finding someone to pick her up at dealership as it was after hours.
I purchased a new 2012 ford focus EV on june 7, 2013. Twice (still in june), while driving at speeds approximately 50 MPH, the "stop safely now" warning came on and the vehicle lost power. Both times I was able to restart the vehicle within a couple of minutes. I made sure to note all the indicators to provide the ford service techs as much information as possible. When I brought the vehicle in to be serviced, the technicians professed no knowledge of the issue and contacted ford for support. They could not repeat the issue and the car had no log of the events. Finally, I was told the problem was a faulted power control module (PCM). Unfortunately, this part was on a national backorder for 6 weeks (probably as a result of the known problems). After the part was finally replaced, I was told that the PCM would not program correctly, and that the transmission control module needed to be replaced. End result, I have my vehicle back, just in time to take it back for a recall. At least it hasn't stalled ??. Yet.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the stop safely now warning light illuminated as the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was taken to dealer where it was found that the high voltage cable had failed. The vehicle was repaired. The contact also mentioned that the failure recurred several times. The manufacturer was not contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 7,500.
Car started on the right side of the car windows stopped working and the lights started blinking . Dealer replaced right side module . Then next was the blue tooth stopped working and the whole touch screen blacked out . Dealer replaced sync module and new touch screen . Next was the wipers coming on by there self .dealer replaced wiper sensor . Next was the door locks surging without a key in and dash cluster floating . Dealer replaced drive module . Right now the transmission is not working properly . I am just scared the death that the car is going to catch fire while driving the car .
This is regarding ford focus electric 2012. I was pulling out of my office parking lot and driving at about 5 MPH. I got the 'stop safely now' warning and within a few seconds the car stopped and I could not drive any more. Fortunately, it was the internal street and around 3 pm when the traffic is very low. I am glad this incident did not happen on the freeway in the left lane (carpool lane in california). I was able to restart the car and drove straight to the dealer(fremont ford) but they did not have trained EV technicians to look at the car. Asked me to bring the car back on monday(8/19/20013). Now the car is at the dealer. This is second time I have encountered this issue with this car. The first time I had was when I was pulling the car out of my garage at home. Ford even applied major software updates on my car in july but looks like the issue is still recurring.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while parked with the keys in the ignition, the central locking system automatically locked while a child was inside the vehicle. The police were contacted for assistance however, a police report was not filed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for a diagnostic testing where unknown repairs were made to the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The approximate failure mileage was 34,000 and the current mileage was 35,600.
Myfordtouch: unable to be heard when I call from the car using my bluetooth connected phone (3 different phones used with same outcome). When driving in the car, directions, traffic, and trying to get the operator is not possible. (note: directions sometimes work if the car is not moving.) I tried working with my dealership (bob maxey ford in howell, mi, visiting them many times. The last time I was there, they brought in a ford engineer (because I had escalated my need within the ford company). After that it worked "most of the time" for a week, when all four quadrants on my screen showed power off for about 10 minutes then slowly each quadrant powered up. From then on I was back to where I was before ie no traffic, directions, operator, and phone use. Bob maxey ford's service manager told me on my last visit that there was nothing more they could do.............I've had it!! I've paid for something that doesn't work.......... :(
Our 2012 ford focus electric totally shutdown after receiving the stop safely now warning alert. Car shut down in traffic within 30 seconds of receiving the warning. We had no time to react or pull the car safely to the side of the road. This is clearly a safety issue.
Incidence occurred twice in 2 day period. "stop safely now" error occurred while driving the vehicle. 1st instance was while breaking as approaching a stoplight. 2nd instance was while accelerating on freeway onramp. Both instances I lost all engine power and could no longer accelerate. I had to coast to a safe spot to put the car into park and turn off the vehicle but was able to restart it and drive to dealership for repair. Serious safety concern with this vehicle as driver may not have ability to coast to safe stop while driving on freeway or busy traffic. After researching online, there is rampant occurrence of this exact failure being described on vehicle owner forums for ford focus electric both 2012 and 2013 models.
Upon making a left turn vehicle completely powered down with no warning, after a second an audible beep and "stop safely now" message appeared. Vehicle had to be towed to dealership.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus electric. The contact stated that while attempting to decelerate on a rough driving surface, the vehicle stalled without warning. A warning message illuminated, advising the contact to move off the highway and into a safe location. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was determined that the electrical connection was loose. The vehicle was repaired however, to no avail. The failure persisted. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 500 and the current mileage was 6,000.
The electrical system has a short somewhere that causes the horn to stop working intermittently and also the brake lights to fail intermittently. I have checked fuses and contacted ford and there are no recalls. This caused an accident on 02/23/2013. A man backed into my vehicle in a parking lot (with my two babies in the back seat) and I couldn't blow the horn to let him know I was behind him. I was helpless to stop it from happening. I believe it is illegal in most (or all) states to not have a working horn on the vehicle. Ford refuses to recall, diagnose, or repair this vehicle at no cost to me. I believe that this is a very serious safety issue and I feel that nobody will take me seriously.
The new vehicle was purchased on 9/3/12. Calls to the service department began on 9/5/12 for complaints of 'bucking and jerking' of the car in low speed shifting. The car was accepted on 9/8/12 for repair of multiple paint chips on the front of the car and for evaluation of the shifting irregularities. Upon delivery of the car (53 odometer miles) the customer was informed that the paint chips had been repaired and the transmission computer was reset. The computer reset was not recorded on the service agreement for that date. On 12/5/12, the car abruptly stopped accelerating and metal grinding prevented use. The car was held from 12/5/12 until 1/8/13 (35 days, odometer reading 7,068 miles) for repair of a broken rear window channel, repair of transmission with replaced clutch. On 1/23/13 the vehicle was towed again due to not starting during multiple attempts by the owners and the tow truck driver. The vehicle was returned to the owner on 1/25/13 with a service report noting a weak battery. The battery was charged by the service provider and no other service codes were reported. On 1/28/13, the steering wheel required both hands to turn and the car narrowly missed going off of the road. Upon attempt to restart, the ignition was weak and multiple warning lights displayed on the dashboard. The odometer reading reset to '0' and the mpg reading went blank. The car had significant change in ignition sound and with uncharacteristic humming noise and was turned off again. When the car was on the tow truck with the ignition off, key out, and door open, the radio began playing and could not be manually turned off. The car was transported to the dealership. As of 2/3, the car has been out of service for 46 days due to multiple infractions. The vehicle has had symptoms of stalling, failure to start, and loss of power steering. Alternator being replaced 2/4.
On 1/23/2013 at appox at 10:15 am I was driving to work! I was driving west bound 10 fwy! I was going about 75 MPH in the fast lane. When all of a sudden the car speed drops to 30 MPH in a matter of seconds, I right away turn on my hazards! But do to the fact that I was` in the fast lane it was very hard to get over safety as the car felt like it was going to turn off. I was very scared and afraid for my life I honestly thought that I was going to get hit and end up in the hospital.the thought of not making it did cross my mind. I tried pushing the gas petal to regain speed as the car did not allow me to do so. The RPM cage was going from 0 to 7 with in seconds. I begin to attempt to get the car over to my right shoulder towards safety. All I can see throw my rear view mirror and hear was all the cars that started honking at me, flipping me off, barely messing me as all the cars had to swerving around me. I begin to shake as it was a very scary feeling being inside the car while all you can do is see which car will me the one that's actually going to hit my car and the chain reaction that it could have caused. As I get over the four lane trying to not get hit by the speeding cars, the car turns off and I am now stuck in between the 10 fwy going west bound and the interchange to the 57 fwy going north and south bound. Now being stuck in the middle of these two busy fwy's I felt my life was in extreme danger as my mind didn't let me concentrate because all I my mind could pay attention to, was the rear view mirror as I seen the cars again swerving from hitting me and all I can hear again is the cars honking at me. I get on the my cell phone and call [xxx] for help !!!!(husband) we called ford roadside service!!!! And the tow company was there with in 20 mins !!! Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
I bought my 2012 ford focus hatchback in july of 2011. Almost immediately I noticed problems. The problems included the car rolling backwards on hills, sputtering when stopped (like at a red light), jumping upon acceleration, & briefly losing acceleration while the RPM??s revved. I took it back to the dealership & they told me that the backwards rolling, revving & jumping of the engine was a trait of the car. I told them it was dangerous depending on where I was when these things happened (for example, at an intersection or in stop & go traffic with a car in front of me). They assured me that there was nothing wrong with the car. On october 17, 2011, the car broke down. I pulled out of a parking lot & pushed down on the accelerator, at first the car started to accelerate, but once it got to about 15/20 MPH, the RPM??s began to rev & the car would not accelerate so I took my foot off of the accelerator & the car stopped revving. If I had been on a highway, this would have been very dangerous. My car had to be towed to the dealership. They reprogrammed the powertrain control module & transmission control module. The car would then drive, but the rolling backwards on hills, sputtering when stopped, jumping upon acceleration, & briefly losing acceleration while the RPM??s revved still continued & after several trips to their service department, the dealership could still not fix these issues. I then received a letter from ford referencing a customer satisfaction program 12b37 dated may 2012. It acknowledged these issues so I took it back to the dealership. Although they reprogrammed the powertrain control module, transmission control module again as well as the anti-lock brake system, the car continues to have the same problems. These problems could potential cause a wreck, injuring myself or others around me.
Car lunges when accelerating or attempting to shift thru automatic or sport mode of the transmission. Transmission also temporarily pauses during shifting routine at all speeds, mostly at low speeds. It is like the cpu is overriding what the driver is prompting thru touching of the gas pedal or brake pedal. We've had it in to our local dealerships service department complaining about these conditions, they insist the car is working as designed. If so, ford is in denial and most certainly appears to be a design flaw. I describe these concerns as if I was having to learn how to drive, all over again. This vehicle is dangerous to drive, safety should always be everyone's number concern. Ditto, the vehicle is not safe either. What is it going to take from ford to admit and resolve this problem, an injury accident? I hope not. Then, top that off, we bought this specific vehicle for towing purposes. The factory requires the cpu and entire electrical system must be disconnected to tow. Unfortunately, each time the cpu is turned back on (reconnect the negative wire at battery), the cpu thinks it is new, thus, the lunging, sporadic shifting starts all over again. Help... Ford won't listen. Thank you
Experienced sudden electrical failure (loss of instruments, brake lights, turn signals, horn, etc.) - same problem as documented by other drivers (for examples, see http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282965). This behavior makes the vehicle undriveable and unsafe (had these issues occurred at night, the consequences could have been very serious). My dealer, franklin ford (franklin, ma) seems to be unaware of the prevalence of this issue. I look forward to a speedy resolution. Ford motor company also claims to have no knowledge of the occurrence of this issue in other cases. A quick web search reveals that the problem is increasingly common.
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