Check a VIN

2012 Ford Focus electrical complaints

Page 2 of 13: complaints 11 to 40 of 352, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2012 Ford Focus electrical problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Feb 21, 2024 · Brakes, Electrical · MD

While driving on interstate ,my car suddenly started hesitating and failed to pick up speed. The engine light came on. I pulled over, but did not turn car off fearing it would not restart, to look at owners manual. The problem continued as I drove home. I have driven it once for a short distance since and there was no change. This could cause an accident since it happened unexpectedly while driving at high speed. Brake light fault warning light is illuminated although light appears to be working. This could cause rear end collision if not operating. Luggage compartment opens while driving which causes visibility issue and chance of items stored there to blow out and cause accident. I can not tell if this issue is included in recall addressing locks and latches. Driver side window no longer operates, preventing escape if needed

Filed Feb 12, 2024 · Electrical, Lights · IL

I have reported before my vehicle is and has been cyber attacked. This time around my horn has been disable. They turn on the radio, they turn on the light lights of the vehicle, they turn on the radio, they turn on the ac/heat control. If I take it in again, they are going to tell me nothing is wrong. This is very dangerous for me as a driver. I cannot drive a vehicle without a horn. I NEVER heard from you guys on the last report I made. Not sure how this one is going to help. This Ford vehicle is dangerous! If you can please assist, I would appreciate it. Thank you!

Filed Oct 15, 2023 · Electrical · IL

My vehicle is under a cyber attack! I went to Ford dealership to have my horn fixed and explained the same thing I am about to tell you. They check and stated that there were some issue with the Sync system but all is well. If I further issues to see them again. Well, I have the same issues. My horn is not working when I know I just had it fixed! I was driving when suddenly my vehicle engine felt as though it was going to be disabled. The check tire pressure comes on and I have fairly new tires on my vehicle not to mention I had them checked prior the circuit board tells me. Folks know about the lighting of the vehicle that transmit looking for a signal when you open the trunk or open the doors. There was nothing wrong with this care when purchased used. I also believe due to the bluetooth signal, folks can hear my conversation and I DON'T HAVE A PHONE OPERATING WITH THE VEHICLE. When using phones in the car though, it automatically somehow enable the bluetooth on when I have it set to off. Another vehicle can ride behind me with his lights blurred onto my vehicle and go to the app of his phone and disable something in my car. Once my radio was changed and i did nothing to it. Sometimes it is set to a different radio genre station that I don't listen to. A truck road behind me and literally cut my radio on and could not turn it off until I pulled over and shut the car off! I have reported this to the police but folks think I am out of my mind. My life has been a living hell because I work for the state and folks there are doing the same thing to my car as a stranger would do when driving behind me. Also the car can pick up bank information if you are using the drive thru. They can track your account. I believe folks at work and neighbors of mind are using an app to do so. Because the car can connect to a garage , it can pick up a signal that can transfer to another vehicle if they have their car on. Again, the lights are the signal transmitter picking up information

Filed Sep 20, 2023 · Electrical, Transmission · 123,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 50 MPH, the transmission was slipping, and the vehicle was shaking abnormally. The contact depressed the horn however, the horn was inoperable. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 123,000.

Filed Aug 10, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · FL

August 3, 2023, vehicle bucking from 1RPM to 2 RPM. No engine lights came on. At every stop and go vehicle hesitated. I was driving a relative to a post operation doctor visit. Went to dealer following day. They could not inspect the car. Gave appointment for 5 days later. Recall letter I received is for the TCM/PCM-Transmission/Power Control Module. Dealer says they have vehicles waiting 2 and 3 years for this part. If this is my issue they cannot provide me with a time frame for getting the issue corrected. When I drove to the dealer the engine light did come on and it continues to be on. Car can leave me stranded or vehicle may jerk forward even with the brake applied are some of the different issues that can happen.

Filed Jun 24, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · MO

I'm wondering since there are so many complaints, even I am one of then, why isn't anything getting done. I'm paying out of pocket. Ford don't want to fix my car, 2012 ford focus sel. It's b.s. it's costing me alot of money. And I don't get reimbursed for nothing. I'm highly mad. I should sue ford company for not doing [XXX]. Thanks INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Filed Jun 12, 2023 · Electrical · MO

The problem is with the transmission and dual clutch and electrical. My car shakes when still, doesn't want to go when I put on the gas, doesn't want to change gears. The electrical keeps going on and off and the fan goes on and stays on after I shut car off and get out and stays on. I took it to schicker ford on south kingshighway to get programmed and I got my car back it was worse.

Filed May 19, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · KY

Causing vehicle to shutter or jerk making the driver lose control for a minute or two when driving. Happens only, when accelerating at from a stop or turn.

Filed Apr 30, 2023 · Electrical · FL · crash

PCM failed dealership didn't replace the recall but cleared it

Filed Apr 2, 2023 · Electrical · AK

The horn has never worked for me since I had the car. I’ve had so many close calls where people almost backed into me and there is nothing I can do but pray! And also the stereo system I’ve had to go in and disconnect due to the fact that I’d come outside with my car off haven’t even started it that day yet the speakers would be blaring a horrible cracking and popping sounds also happens randomly while driving it’s very scary

Filed Mar 15, 2023 · Electrical, Steering · PA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the instrument panel lights were dimly illuminated, the horn was inoperable, and the radio was not functioning properly. The contact stated that the steering assists warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to her residence. The contact stated on March 8, 2023, the steering wheel seized. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and was able to steer to the right and park in a nearby parking lot. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the steering rack to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Feb 24, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · CA

Problem: Reoccurring check engine light and ODB2 Code's P0443 & P0444 Repairs made: MAF Sensor Purge Control Valve Reset Computer Air filter Cap less Gas Fill, W0133-2022154 Related Safety recalls: 18S32, 19V515000, 18V735 or 18V735000 I believe the Problem occurs due to an recall that was not performed or performed correctly leaving the problem. I am requesting the recall repair history from form Motor Company Please. Thank You, [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Filed Sep 2, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · 116,000 miles · MN

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that the instrument panel displayed 30 miles to empty. The contact stated that she added fuel to the vehicle and the vehicle restarted. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a local dealer to be serviced under the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The contact stated that after the vehicle was returned to her, she was driving at an undisclosed speed and the check engine warning light illuminated. The failure reoccurred with the vehicle running out of fuel and losing motive power. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and returned to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The vehicle was not diagnosed since the contact had refused to pay the diagnostic test fee. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 116,000.

Filed Aug 31, 2022 · Electrical, Transmission · KY

Failure of the TCM

Filed Jul 29, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · NC

The vehicle needs PCM and TCM replacement. Stalls while braking or apply pressure to gas peddle while driving, faulty gear changing mechanism has issues switching to proper gear due to the underlying problems above. It has turned off while driving on the interstate without warning. May instantly stop while applying minor pressure to brakes. Has been inspected by mechanic and AutoZone employees confirming the issues. It is unsafe due to the instant stopping or applying to breaks behind another driver almost hitting them or causing someone to hit from behind. Furthermore, inaccurate gear changing causes an increase rapidly in speed or very slow in speed which could lead to accidents.

Filed Jul 25, 2022 · Electrical · KS

The power steering has gone out again. We replace the rack and pinion with a brand new one and it still went out again. There are many complaints in regards to the power steering going out, including a death due to this car. There have been recalls for other Ford’s that were forced to be recalled because Ford continued to ignore the issue. Even with those recalls, my focus is not included and it a huge safety issue and decreases the drivability.

Filed Jul 22, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · TX

I had regular service done on my vehicle 5/27/2022 to which the battery needed to be replaced. That was done without issue however 3 days later as I was on my way to work the check engine light came on and my engine began revving then stalling/losing power as well as shuddering. This was especially concerning as I was on the highway traveling at 70 MPH when suddenly I lost engine power and my vehicle began lurching. I was close enough to home that I was able to turn back and drive very slowly as it was apparent there was an issue in the gears turning over when accelerating. I could not get my vehicle in for service as the dealership could only schedule me later the following week to get it diagnosed. I was able to drive it, again very, very slowly - to the dealership. I was told it was the TCM; 14MO2 Extended Coverage Warranty. The dealership assured me this would be covered yet now continues to tell me that this is not being accepted and that I have to pay out of pocket for this repair. I'm unsure of what to do at this point as my daily commuter has been at the dealership since June 9th 2022.

Filed Jul 16, 2022 · Electrical, Fuel system · LA

The transmission has given trouble since the beginning of owning this 2012 Ford Focus and now it is in the shop as of 6-11-2022 and the Transmission Module Control is on back order. They say they reset it and my daughter could drive it but if it goes out again then it will be her bill bc the warranty will be out

Filed Apr 13, 2022 · Electrical · 75,000 miles · AZ

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while the vehicle was charging, the cooling system continued to stay on and failed to decrease the battery temperature. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact also stated when attempting to charge the vehicle while the temporary was high, the "house message" would say it's hot outside plug in your vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the air conditioning compressor to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience a failure. The vehicle was taken back to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the battery coolant pump and filter to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience a failure. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for the third time, where it was diagnosed with needing the refrigerant to be refilled testing was completed. The contact was informed after that testing the battery chiller block and the refrigerant line was needing to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience failure. The vehicle was taken back to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the coolant filter to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience failure. The contact stated he began to monitor the failure and noticed the coolant was not functioning. The contact noticed the battery coolant diverter valve was the cause of the failure. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

Filed Mar 7, 2022 · Electrical, Steering · WA

A couple weeks ago leaving work a warning light came on that the power steering assist was disabled/malfunctioning, to have it serviced. It became prohibitively difficult to steer my car. I called AAA and had it towed to an independent service center. They reported that the steering module, essentially the computer brain for the steering, has failed. The repair is overwhelmingly expensive, and I haven’t pursued it due to the crippling cost. When I proceeded to drive the car home, the light was off, and it drove fine. One of the shops I spoke with said this could happen, but it would come back unpredictably, and intermittently until it just won’t be drivable. I’m just glad it was in a safe spot when this failure occurred. Reports I’ve been reading online have scared me with drivers being on the freeway when this component fails, nearly causing accidents in some cases. This seems like a serious safety issue, and certainly not a ‘wear and tear’ issue of daily use. The shop reported the repair would cost $2400 before taxes. I bought this car used for $5000 last year, and so far have had to put in a whole new front end, replace the cooling/ heating reservoir system. So throwing in that much more money into it is having a very negative impact on my livelihood. Other drivers report this issue occurring at anywhere from 60,000 miles to 150,000 miles. My car is at 128,000 miles.

Filed Jan 9, 2022 · Acceleration, Electrical · CO

Transmission has spontaneously went from overheating to not while driving, gears are slipping have speed and when it goes to shift all power lost, then it kicks back in. It was coded with transmission control module failure. The module and both actuators have been replaced now car will not relearn shifting patterns. Spontaneous overheating transmission messages just when car is turned on. Transmission control module has been programmed by dealership but all problems continue to exsist.

Filed Sep 19, 2021 · Electrical · AK

Backup camera works intermittently. More often than not it does not work at all. Sometimes it works for a few seconds and then stops working. A message appears on the screen to take the car in to the dealer. But the warning beep sound still works.

Filed Jul 25, 2021 · Electrical · AZ

Our Ford Focus BEV had a recall in 2014 (Ford# 15N03) It is a high voltage wire harness issue. The car will completely cut power to the drivetrain and shut down leaving a message on the dash saying "Stop Safely Now". We took it in for the fix in 2014 however the issue still continued after about a year and continues still. My wife just had this happen to her with the kids in the car. This issue puts the driver and passengers in very serious danger when the car just stops responding while moving in traffic. Ford said they would not recall the issue since the issue was "fixed" and that wire harness was only good for a 1 year warranty which expired in 2015. I am hoping Ford will do the right thing and fix this issue for good. Thanks for your help in this matter. -Dave

Filed Jul 13, 2021 · Electrical, Transmission · SC

First the dashboard panel went out , came back on several times , then it refused to start on the first and second tries , nothing just dead . Then the transmission was acting like it was slipping for no reason just when you stopped suddenly , then reverse went out with no warning . Check engine light came on . Now it won't crank and codes says it's a electrial problem . Low milage on this car . Why has it not been recalled ?

Filed May 17, 2021 · Electrical · MD

I have a 2012 Ford Focus SE that has a severe audio issue which impacts my ability to safely operate the vehicle. I understand radio issues are not technically defined as a safety-related defect. However this issue is so impairing and physically harming to me, I fear for my life and others while driving this car. The issue is a faulty car stereo electronics which create high-decibel thumping, popping, static, and more at random intervals and lengths while the audio system is on or off, with the volume turned all the way down either way. It is like a never-ending audio jump scare. Nothing is plugged into the car like a phone charger or speaker. I have found hundreds of people online with this same issue with their 2012 Ford Focus. In order to safely operate their Focus, many reported completely disconnecting the audio system or replacing their entire car radio/audio transmitter for $800+. This issue has been escalating every drive, short or long distances. On my 40 min commute this morning, with my audio completely off, I was approaching a roundabout to enter when a HUGE audio thump and pop occurred and almost ran into a car in the roundabout. Thankfully they saw me and we avoided a crash. I am terrified of this happening again. I cannot commute to my job without extreme stress and crying. I do not have hundreds of dollars to replace my audio system. This is extremely dangerous. I was able to find a solution to the exact issue on focusfanatics.com, a Ford Focus forum. An electric technician with 40+ years of experience took a look at his son's Ford Focus 2012 PCB and realized the capacitors/electrolytic caps were made of aluminum which is apparently, "notorious for going bad in the electronic repair world." He replaced these and the son has not had an issue since. Another person on the forum reported this electrician's solution worked for them as well. All 2012 Ford Focuses should have this issue repaired in order to have a safe operating vehicle.

Filed May 5, 2021 · Acceleration, Electrical · 143,000 miles · AZ

I had just purchased ford focus used. The dealership told me, that my cause recall does not stand. Because it exceeded over 100,000 miles. They said it out of warranty. They told me to pay $3,400 estimation to fix the car. I told them recall don't expire. Also that ford manufactures tell me up to 2012-2017 have recalls on transmissions issues. I'm just upset they don't hold up to there standards with ford and I love ford motors. They car stalls and won't go into gear. It has difficulty responding to gears. I bought it used ABS notice the problems. So I hauled it in to the ford dealership.

Filed Apr 30, 2021 · Electrical · 7 miles · CA

As I go driving on the highway, the instrument cluster shows a "stop safely now" message. The problem is that happens when the vehicle is in motion and losses all power, the power train goes death. This is a very dangerous situation specially when youre traveling on a pretty loaded highway at 78mph. The only good thing is that steering wheel is still alive and brakes too. I had 90% of battery life and it was a hot day out there at 94f degrees. I did not take a picture of the instrument cluster but I have the message I received in my cell phone.

Filed Apr 9, 2021 · Electrical, Visibility · 130,563 miles · MO

Whenever it rains and I'm using my wipers they will just shut off randomly or they do a very inconvenient delay at the worst of times especially when it's raining hard. It's dangerous and you can't see. Oddly enough my horn don't work either. I got the car january 1st,2020 of course it was previously owned I got it from a used car dealer the horn worked until I think march, 2020. I hit a bump and it's like it just quit after that then a couple week later I got a bump again and it started workin for a little bit. Then a couple days went by and it just stopped never to work again. Checked all the fuses they all looked good none looked blown. It's scary because so many times people will either pull out in front of me like they don't see me or almost hit me and I have no way to alert them that they almost him me and need to pay attention. Then there's the whole having to take off slowly if not and you take off fast it the car will jerk and stall and it does it really when sometimes when turning and now the RPM drop so low when idling it almost dies. I just replace the motor a couple months ago and it was doing this before the ne motor got out in just not as bad. And it's like you can press the gas pedal and push it but the car. Aren't beg jl and goes... It's scary to me and I usually always have my kid with me. It freaks me out because not only does it stall or whatever it's doing I have no horn to let people know to go around I know a girl I work with her daughter has the same car as me and stalking has gotta.

Filed Apr 1, 2021 · Electrical, Steering · 134,000 miles · MT

Steering and hill assist light came on when warming up the car. Went to leave the parking spot and the car was extremely hard to turn in both directions. Shutting the car off and re starting temporarily resolved the issue for a few days at first! But it came back and did the same thing. This occurred again while driving on highway 200 @80mph causing me to almost leave my lane and hit a mini van! The car has been parked for about 4 months now and only used for very short trips in town (1 mile or less!) this is a well known and documented issue that ford is refusing to issue a recall for! Just another corporation not caring about their consumers! Issue a recall already!

Filed Mar 30, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · 66,500 miles · CO

For years my car has randomly shut down while driving and has been needed to be towed twice. It and has had 10 recalls performed, including the transmission. My car shut down again on monday night coasting along a flat road at 45 MPH so I decided to call ford today and ask what new recalls have come out and they stated my car has a field service issue for the transmission that is common but they have not recalled it. Why? They also mentioned that they have to look into whether or not I would have to pay to fix this commonly reported problem.

VIN decoder

See the problems and recalls for an exact car

Buying a used 2012 Ford Focus?

Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.

Check its history