Since I purchased my 2012 ford focus with its "dual clutch" automatic transmission, I have had nothing but problems. It jerks, hesitates, has real trouble shifting in the first 3 gears. Ford has extended the power train warranty to 150,000 miles, maybe they know something is wrong. I have had the car serviced 10 times for the same problem. Mostly, they reset the computer or put in the same defective parts each time. No real solution has ever been presented to actually fix the car. The car jerks, downshifts, upshifts horribly. This happens from 1st gear thru 3rd gear. This car is the worst car I have driven and I am stuck with it because ford will not help. Please help the federal safety agency to bring this huge problem to light. I guess I will have to get lawyers involved to get ford's attention...
2012 Ford Focus transmission complaints
Page 27 of 49: complaints 761 to 790 of 1,448, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While the car is in motion on a city street and I accelerate it jumps, jerks and shakes. It has been checked out many times. It can't be fix. I believe this problem should have a recall. This happens everyday when I drive my car.
Takata recall. Transmission control module (TCM) ford recall fsa 15b22. My vehicle would struggle to shift into second and third gear whenever I was driving, so I took my vehicle to a ford dealership for the TCM to get reprogrammed, as per the manufacturer's recall in june 2016. It seemed to help with the harshness of the vehicle's shifting, until friday, september 23rd, 2016 whenever I tried to get my car to reverse and it acted as if the vehicle was still in neutral. It wouldn't go in reverse and my check engine light was now on. The shifter was in reverse correctly, and the reverse lights came on but the car went nowhere. My ford dealership told me to drive it up to the dealership so they could look at it and diagnose the problem, so I did. It overheated three times in the 45 minute drive up, despite cautious driving. I had to have it towed to the dealership, which was not covered by ford in any way. The dealership service department told me that my car would be diagnosed later that day (monday, september 26th) and any necessary parts would be ordered by the end of the day. I hadn't heard anything back from them in over 3 days so I called for an update. They confirmed that the problem is the TCM and it needs replaced, as the "reprogramming" they did in june 2016 was too little, too late. The problem is that the TCM is heavily backordered, so the factory isn't even shipping our any TCM's until november 4th, which mine might not even be included in that shipment and it is "highly likely" that it will be closer to christmas before I get my car fixed and returned to me. To add insult to injury, they are refusing to provide me with a service vehicle, so I don't know what to do for the next 3 months that my car sits at their dealership awaiting its part. How am I to get to work? Pick up my son from school? Get gtoceries? I'm an only parent and cannot be without a car.
I took my 2012 ford focus to get fixed at wayne ackers ford in lake worth florida upon dropping my car off the gentleman started telling me my car isn't affected when it is and later on says I have to see if it's under warranty then tells me it needs to be at 150k miles that makes no sense at all the car is still there I'm watiing on a response.
The transmission has shuddered and slipped from new. Ford has replaced the clutch twice, made program module adjustments numerous times. Nothing they have done has resolved the problem. I purchased this car for my daughter and constantly am concerned that she drives a car that does nothing but hesitate and shudder
The first time I noticed this problem I was driving down a city street, downhill, with a speed limit of 35 MPH when the check engine light appeared. This normally would be a great condition to coast downhill without applying brakes or gas. My car started shaking and then kept trying to downshift, it didn't have any gear selected and started pulling itself to a stop. During rush hour this was very dangerous. I turned into a parking lot and the car quickly shut off as soon as I got down to 5 MPH. Once the car was back on it wouldn't go over 20 MPH, very dangerous as the to get to the nearest dealership the speed limit was 45 MPH any way I would go. Once I arrived at the dealership they informed me it would take a week to get in on appointment, and there were no loaners. This being my only car is first of all dangerous and unsettling, but also extremely inconvenient. Hours later after letting my car cool off and settle, the problems seemed to remedy themselves until I was reversing out of a parking spot. I reversed, applied the brake, put the car in drive, but when I applied the gas, the car started rolling backwards until I slammed on the break and tried the gas again. While trying to leave that same parking lot just after this, my car wouldn't accelerate up the small hill and began to roll backwards again extremely fast. I believe this is very dangerous and potentially deadly had there been pedestrians behind my car. Previous attempt to replace the transmission and reprogram the TCM were greeted with pamphlets stating jerking and shaking were normal characteristics of automatic cars. I was told the waiting list just to check if my car qualified for transmission problems would be six weeks and I would have to leave my car there with no loaner just in case the wait time was cut shorter. For the average person and targeted group for ford vehicles this isn't a possibility.
My wife traded in her 2009 taurus for a new 2012 focus sedan back in april 2012 at green ford. A month or so after getting the focus, it had a transmission fluid leak. Green ford fixed the problem. In mid-2015 we started to notice transmission issues like erratically shifting in second and third gear, very sluggish shift between low gears and that the upshift bags down like the vehicle might stall, bucking, kicking, jerking, harsh engagement, delayed acceleration and lurching forward into intersections at red lights due to the failure of their braking efforts to stop the car. We took it to green ford on 9/18/2015. They stating that it was working as designed. However, for a precaution, they said they reprogrammed the powertrain control module (PCM) and the transmission control module (TCM). However, it was a recall issue for that stated problem/s. In the official service history for the ford owner's records, there is no mention of the safety recall done on my focus, just the routine maintenance and a mileage of over 96,000 miles on the focus at the time. Jump forward to a year later, on friday, sept. 9, 2016, at 2pm, my wife was traveling in a 45 MPH speed zone when the car's check engine light came. Seconds later, the ford started to stall and have power issues, causing her to find the next side road to pull over. The car completed stalled and could not turn over. After 2 towing events, from the breakdown location to thomas tire, thomas to stearns ford, and sitting over the weekend, on sept. 9, we found out it was the recall TCM that broke. The TCM was in back order until october 28, 2016. Stearns ford sent me to enterprise where they paid for a ford rental. The only ford on the rental lot was the transit 250 or 350 van (very low mpg). I had to pay for the liability insurance coverage daily. After the 3rd day, I borrowed a family member's car.
Lurching and uncontrolled shifting occurs with the transmission. It has left me stuck in the middle of a left turn because it doesn't shift correctly. Now I ran off the road while exiting a freeway because the power steering turned off in the middle of the turn. This has now happened 6 times randomly. It gives me a power steering fault. I have come close to being the cause of 3 accidents because of these two issues.
At 58,000. Horn started to work intermittent, now it does not work at all. What next? Already had work done on tranny. Every thing seems to be computer related. It also surges at start up at stop.
While driving on a feeder road in texas, taking a right hand turn, the drivers side door opened on its own due to a latch failure. No injuries, and a recall has already been issued. The car also has an ongoing issue with the transmission causing the car to lunge forward at both high and low speeds. The transmission has already been "repaired" once under warranty, but has started showing the same issues for a second time. Currently with dealer.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving 75 MPH, the rpms revved and the vehicle lost power without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the trans control module failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred two additional times. The vehicle was repaired each time. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 38,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving various speeds, the vehicle suddenly failed to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the transmission software was updated. After the software update, the transmission suddenly switched to neutral and the engine shuttered while driving over 50 MPH. After turning off the vehicle and waiting five minutes before restarting the vehicle, it operated normally. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000.
My son and I purchased this vehicle used. We had no previous information about all the problems this make and model have had. The cars transmission went out at around 98,067 miles. 07/20/16. Well exactly 600 miles and $2400 dollars later it went out again. Ford has told us that they will not purchase the car back or pay to fix it properly. My son is to leave next week and will be driving from indiana to seattle. If and when the dealership is done fixing a second time I'm absolutely afraid to even let him drive it that far. This is very unfair to us to let this problem not be recalled. It is not only us but many other focus owners that are stuck with these horrible cars. If something happens to my son on his way to seattle there will be hell to pay!!
My son and I were leaving a store in my 2012 ford focus and had just backed out of a parking space and I put the car in drive. The car rolled backward just an inch and lunged forward and we felt a "bump". Got out of the car at that point to see if I had hit something or if something was under the car-there was nothing. Got back in, buckled up and tried to go and the dash lit up with "transmission malfunction" I believe it said and wouldn't go at all. I turned it off and back on and from that point the car dash screen said "service transmission now." I turned the car off and called my husband in tears to come and get us. I just got this car a couple months ago and I ended up with a lemon. After I bought this car I noticed it becoming more and more jerky and lurching and/or rolling back. It was a progressive thing, constantly getting worse until finally it just gave. The car has been in the shop now for two weeks and I have been having to rely on sharing my husband's vehicle and rides from others and the dealership says that the part is on backorder. The latest is that when my husband called last week, he was told that it was on emergency backorder. When asked about a time frame, they said that they had no idea. It could be three days, two weeks, or a month-who knows? I am beyond upset and disgusted!!!!!! I am paying a car payment for a car that isn't driveable, have no idea when it will be fixed, and apparently they cannot get the parts. Someone please tell me what to do!!!! I have never in my life had a car with a problem like this-and no idea when I will have my car to drive again! There needs to be a recall on these faulty transmissions-from searching the internet, I am far from alone in this issue.
I have no clue why these vehicles (including the 2011 focus, and 2011 & 2012 fiestas) have not been officially recalled. I have now taken my car in 8 times for transmission issues. I have had the clutched replaced twice (25k miles apart between 2 amd 3) and had the computer rebooted 3 times. The cars shutter, shake, stall, have a poor response (especially if you need to floor it for safety) and nothing! I contacted ford and pretty much told me tough, it is what it is. There is no fix for the transmission issue as a new system cannot be installed and really crappy parts are being used as a cheap alternative. My car is a safety issue and do not feel comfortable driving it.
We bought my wifes focus with about 22k miles on it in june 2013. Since then we've brought it in 4 times to have the transmission "shutter" fixed. As of today the problem still exists but it isn't bad enough for them to fix it again. It mostly shutters from 1st to 2nd gear reaching upwards of 2800 RPM. Just shy of their 3000 RPM requirement. The car will shake and sometimes make a clunk and we're told to keep driving it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle stuttered without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission clutch failed. The vehicle was repaired under warranty. Seven months later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was serviced for the same failure. In addition, the vehicle was unable to shift gears and the engine indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission clutch and transmission control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 46,000.
My daughter was driving the car at a very high speed, the vehicle died suddenly, and she was forced to "glide" into the median. Took vehicle into dealership, and was told the trans module is on a "replacement program", and that the module is on back order. I was told that I could rent a car because there is nothing I could do. Most importantly, when I reminded the gentleman this was a safety issue, I was told that its really not a concern.
While traveling home from work, my car stalled briefly on main street. I immediately pulled into a parking lot to get my car out of the street. I turned it off and back on and resumed driving. I made it to my destination and got in the vehicle to drive again and the car would run go anywhere. The ford dealership said to bring it to their shop for a diagnosis. I was on the way to take my 2012 ford focus titanium to the service department at empire ford in abingdon, va. They stated the car would be ok to drive if I could get the vehicle to go forwards. I was traveling 65 MPH down the interstate and the vehicle stalled out on the interstate. I tried to give the car fuel and began pressing the gas and the car would not move. Speed limit is 70 and 70-75 MPH cars were coming towards me. I was forced to cross over the on ramp where cars were merging on to the interstate to get to the emergency side of the interstate. It was a pretty scary event and I felt that my life was put in danger. So, now ford is saying there is nothing they can do but fix the TCM (transmission control module). There is no fix!!!! If there was, I feel like it would have already happened. So I am stuck with a vehicle that has been in the shop five times now for transmission issues. It is clearly unsafe to drive. What is it going to take in order for ford to see there is not a fix for these models, someone losing their life?
This has been an ongoing problem. The transmission in my ford has stopped functioning and left me sitting on the side of the interstate many times. I have been lucky in that I have only been stranded in a traffic lane once. I have taken it to ford and gone through the same things that so many people have already stated: first they blamed it on insufficient electrical grounds, then they charged me $200 to reprogram the transmission control module. The transmission then failed in the dealers lot. I finally had the TCM replaced under recall in fenruary 2015 and have been lucky when compared to many others. The vehicle has recently begun shaking violently, lurching forward, and sometimes not moving forward at all. I never know what gear I will get when I press the accelerator or if I will get a forward gear at all. The most dangerous thing is the unpredictability. It happens frequently at highway speeds but city driving is intolerable. The ford mechanic told me I need a new TCM (again?), both clutches, and the slave cylinder replaced. I asked how long I could expect that repair to last. He admitted - away from other employees - that the vehicle should not be allowed on the road because it is too dangerous. The ford service consultant advised me to park the car and to sell it but my conscience will not allow me to put someone else at risk by driving it. I have parked the focus and will not allow anyone to drive it. A used car lot employee told me on 27 august that she refuses to sell them because they are too dangerous. A brief search of the net reveals lawsuits in australia, canada, illinois, and california all for the same problems. These vehicles must be recalled and the transmissions must be replaced with a system that actually works, not with the same bad system. It is a matter of time before one of these defective transmissions gets someone killed.
I purchased this car used in may of 2015.. I immediately noticed the car running shaky and attributed that to bad fuel. It was intermittent and would come and go. May 2016, my husband, son and I are traveling to his track championship and were stopped at a red light. The light turned green and my husband stepped on the gas to accelerate. The car jerked us all forward hard and would not accelerate with cars honking behind us. We had a message 'transmission malfunction service now'. He called a ford service center and was told my transmission was under two separate recallscar fax report shown at the dealership). We had the car towed to the ford service center. They explained that there are three steps to try to get this corrected. They performed the first step which was to reprogram the transmission control module. I was driving to work the next day and pulling out into a busy intersection. My car jerked me forward hard and doesn't accelerate and I am facing traffic from both directions. I crept out slowly, shudder, shake, shudder shake and narrowly miss a collision from both directions and had the same message 'transmission malfunction service now'. I had my car towed for the second step of the recall. The second step is to replace the transmission control module. I am pulling out of a local store and again my car jerks me forward hard and failed to accelerate with a logging truck coming upon the driver's side of my car. Once again, I narrowly escape another collision. Third step of the recall which was to clean the clutches. I got the car back and a week later. Again, my car jerked us both forward hard and wouldn't accelerate. My son is yelling 'mom, get going they are going to hit us' as he is looking back at a car that almost hit us from behind while my car fails to accelerate.
Transmission dangerously erratic, underpowered, bucking, lurching,fading out on acceleration from stand still. Worse when temperatures are above 70 degrees f. Ambient temp. Have had all the service done as per customer satisfaction programs from ford. Have had it services for transmission chatter issues at 46k, 54k, 59k, 77k. At 59k ford service replaced clutch with "f asy". Clutch was supposedly replaced at 30k. Dangerous when trying to speed up to enter traffic, traffic circles, or avoid contact with other vehicles. Turning causes a great deal of shifting vibrations. Regular automatic transmission mode is lagging and unresponsive in normal driving and lagging in city traffic conditions. From standstill I have had the car lurch and buck forward. Also the car rolls backward in drive on a hill. This ford had marketed as a feature to not happen. Ford announced the powershift transmission as " powershift will deliver the fuel efficiency of a manual gearbox with the convenience and ease of a premium automatic transmission ' the announcement goes on to say "powershift provides the full comfort of an automatic with a more sophisticated driving dynamic, thanks to uninterrupted torque from the dual-clutch technology, which consists essentially of two manual transmissions working in parallel, each with its own independent clutch unit. One clutch carries the uneven gears ' 1, 3 and 5 ' while the other the even gears ' 2, 4 and 6. Subsequent gear changes are coordinated between both clutches as they engage and disengage for a seamless delivery of torque to the wheels." the product is the furthest from the description and dangerous on top of the rhetoric. Http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/21/ford-officially-announces-dual-clutch-powershift-gearbox-for-201/
Ford has a transmission with dry clutches. This transmission has stranded many people in very unsafe situations. The transmission just stops working while driving. Many complaints have people left in the traffic lanes and the cars simply will not move. Fortunately for me I was not on the freeway, but on the feeder to the freeway, and the car just stopped moving. The engine RPM's dropped like it was running out of gas. Then the engine rpms picked up but it wouldn't move. Tried putting it in reverse and still wouldn't move. The tow truck driver had towed this very same car to the dealer 8 months ago. The problem is that the transmission is of such poor quality that the vehicles are in the shop on a regular basis, costing us huge amounts of money to fix. I bought the car 7 months ago with an extended warranty. The car has shuttered and the transmission has slipped pretty much from the time I got the car. Reading many complaints about the car, some from brand new owners in 2012. Really need to research this transmission and engine for that matter.
At 9829 miles (11/2013) noticed transmission slipping, jerking, crunching and clutch pac and seals replaced and TCM recalibrated. At 16839 miles (8/2014) brought in for hesitation and shudder and told nothing wrong. At 29324 miles (2/2016) brought in for losing power and surging forward and clutch pack replaced again. At 33k miles car would not move forward in middle of stop and go traffic on coronado bridge. Finally did move after about 30 seconds and then flipping in and out of gear and driving terribly. Afraid to drive. Brought it in and they are replacing transmission control module. Now I am afraid to drive it period. I limit my driving now and would never take it on a long distance drive.
Transmission control module failed. Car was not responsive to gas pedal. Would not reliably accelerate, would not reliably brake.
I was driving on a city street travelling 50 MPH when my car started to stall. I hit the gas and my car jerked and stalled again. Then my car read a message that said "transmission malfunction service now." once I was able to get to a safe location, I parked my car and it made some funny sound almost like a clunking noise. This is not the first time my car has stalled out and had transmission issues. This is actually the third time I have been driving my car and been scared out of my mind due to my car stalling out while driving.
While driving on freeway, transmission failed to provide power upon acceleration
I purchased a used 2012 ford focus hatchback in october 2012 that had 29,000 mile on it at the time. I drove the vehicle up to 39,000 and the power steering failed as I was initiating a left turn across traffic. I looked down to see the power steering assist fault error message. The car was out of warranty at that point, and I was out 2,000$ in repairs. I have seen that ford has recalled other vehicles for the same issue, just not the 2012 focus yet. In october 2014, I found the hard stuttering upon accelerating and then I received my first recall notice. A new TCM was installed, reprogrammed, along with a new clutch. About two weeks after that the clutch failed and I had to bring it back in for repairs. About 6 months after that I was driving on the highway at around 70 MPH and the dashboard lit up with a transmission malfunction, service now error. I took it to the dealership and they replaced the TCM again and reprogrammed. In august 2016, the car is now at around 65,000 miles. I was driving around 40 MPH on a busy city street when I received the transmission malfunction, service now error. I just got the car back from the dealership yesterday, the 4th time, with a new TCM that has been reprogrammed. This car is unsafe, and ford is aware. The technicians I have dealt with all know the exact issue before I explain it to them. I asked for a complaint line, or any options for consumers in my position and was told by both the dealership and the ford customer service hot line that there are none. I asked the technician at the dealership if they knew they were handing me an unsafe vehicle, and he shook his head then stated he wished there was something they could do but I am out of luck.
I purchased the car from ford dealer used.transmission acted up after a month took in in and they said it would cost me 200.00 to look at it.I purchased the 2 year extended warranty,but would still cost me that .I left ,a few month later the car would not move and transmission light came on .my insurance towed the car at that time the dealer kept my car for a week ,charged me 500.00 for cables to the battery.1 week later I was driving back from arizona to nevada in the middle of the desert and the car light came on again car was shuttering losing power thank god I made it home.now about 2 months later I was driving home from work and turned my driver side door flew open..thank god I wasn't close to oncoming traffic and had seat belt on.however now my driver side door will not close or lock.
Transmission is faulty. While driving, the car will slow down, shake, and shudder and will not accelerate. The rpms will increase to 5000-6000. This happens in city driving and highway driving. On the highway the car will slow from 65mph to 40mph without warning and will not accelerate. Very unsafe!!!! The car has been back to ford dealership several times. Each time they say the car is fixed only to be back with in a week or two for the same problem. Seems ford does not have a fix for this problem and I dont want the car because someone is going to get injured driving this unsafe car.
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