2013 Ford Focus: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Mar 18, 2026 · Electrical · FL · fire

The vehicle was serviced at Bartow Ford in Bartow, Florida, where approximately $1,100 was paid for the installation of a Body Control Module (BCM). Less than two weeks after this repair, the vehicle was returned to the same dealership due to issues involving the windshield wipers. According to the dealership’s own written statement, their technician began diagnosing the issue by replacing a blown fuse and tracing the wiring harness. While inspecting the wiring harness near the heater hose area, the technician observed coolant dripping onto the harness. When the technician touched the harness, it immediately caught fire. The shop foreman then had to disconnect the battery to prevent further damage. This fire occurred while the vehicle was in the possession and control of the dealership and during active diagnosis by their technician. Despite this, the dealership is now attempting to charge approximately $3,700 to repair the wiring harness and related components. We find this unacceptable. It is unreasonable to expect the customer to pay for repairs to damage that occurred during dealership service and inspection. This situation raises serious concerns, particularly because the dealership had recently performed electrical work on the vehicle involving the BCM only two weeks earlier.

Filed May 8, 2023 · Fuel system · GA

There was a past recall for the purge valve canister and the fuel pump and I was never notified from Ford about the recall when it was open. Now they are asking me to pay out of pocket for these repairs the dealership is asking $1400 to repair. Ford shoild honor there recalls even if the recall is closed. Now that I have the problem with the fuel system it is affecting my fuel tank as well. I have been buying Ford cars for over 20 years. The least they can do is offer financial assistance. If this is affecting my fuel tank now my car can catch on fire. I can't drive my vehicle more than two miles before it starts to slow down. At the time of the recall my vehicle had 83,000 miles. it now has 140,000.

Filed Feb 7, 2023 · Engine · 133,000 miles · CA · fire · 1 injury

The contact owned a 2013 Ford Focus. The contact stated that she left her dog in the vehicle with the engine off and the windows partially open, as she entered her workplace. Approximately 30 minutes later, she was alerted that there was a vehicle on fire. She rushed outside to discover that her vehicle was on fire. As she attempted to save her dog, the fire grew stronger and the vehicle became engulfed in flames. By the time the fire department arrived, the vehicle was incinerated. Her dog died as a result of the fire and was taken by animal control. A police and fire report was filed. The contact sustained severe emotional trauma due to the loss of her dog but did not seek medical attention. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was deemed a total loss and destroyed. The dealer nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 133,000.

Filed May 6, 2022 · Lights · OR · fire

I just found out about the recall after the fire. Everyone in the car was okay it is currently parked as I am finding somewhere open to be able to look at my car the fire department looked at the car and said it looked to be electrical and there were no warning signs or anything it just caught fire when driving down the freeway

Filed Oct 1, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 175,000 miles · MS

I have been having cooling problems for months. It would run hot without any signal of it getting to hot. Now it wont crank. I was traveling on interstate at about 65 MPH and smelled burning pulled over and wouldn't crank again.

Filed Jul 24, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 25 miles · VA

My car is constantly having electrical issues the radio will cut off in the middle of playing it won't turn back on my car literally hass to be turned off for a certain amount of time before the radio will come back on at all and then it disconnects and makes a loud popping sound like somethings going to catch on fire in the car won't even be on nor will the key be in the ignition I feel that it is very unsafe due to the fact that that kind of annoys is a big distraction and could cause an accident. Also while driving my car has hesitated a number of times while at a stoplight or in the rain or while I'm trying to make a turn or when I'm taking off it doesn't matter it's like it doesn't get enough gas or it has problems switching with the rpms and this is a constant problem this is not just one or two times this is since I have owned this vehicle and it's a little bit ridiculous considering this car has a five star rating definitely not a five star rating car considering how many times I've been stuck out in the middle of traffic and almost gotten into car accidents because of this cari would really like for this to be investigated quickly this is a liability to anyone who owns this year make and model of car

Filed Apr 6, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 125,000 miles · FL · fire

I was driving away from my boyfriends house heading to the interstate 95 . As I was driving I noticed white smoke coming out of the dashboard, I the car around and headed back to my boyfriends house, I put the car in park and jumped out, my boyfriend came outside and he was able to put the fire out.

Filed Jun 10, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 131,000 miles · CA

On friday, may 30. 2019, around 5:00pm, I was driving to a family event. I had just stopped for gas about 15 minutes prior to the incident happening. As ibwas driving and I came to a stop. Just as the light turned green, signaling for me to go, and I released my foot from the brake and began to accelerate, my car stalled. I was in the middle of a very busy intersection. I immediately put on my hazard lights, put my car in neutral, and began pushing it out of the street. There was smoke coming from the hood that eventually dissipated. I made several attempts to restart my car and it never would. I called my roadside assistance provider and had my car towed home. I have been trying to figure out the issue when today I had a reader plugged into my car to test for any error codes. Surely, codes p0100, p2227 and p0456 all came up. As I researched these codes, I was brought to the federal safety agency website and found thid recall that I was never notified of and there's no remedy for. I am without transportation.

Filed May 12, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 63,000 miles · CA · fire

Since ive purchased my ford focus back in 2013 I have taken the car back to ford dealership on numerous occasions in relation to the faulty transmission and electrical issues. On my 5th attempt my transmission was replaced. This was around the end of 2017 to 2018. On may 2nd 2019 I was driving to work and as soon as I turned on the car the windsheild wipers started to go off and for some reason I could not turn them off. Once I arrived onto my work campus I turned the cornee to park my car... When all of a sudden my car flashed an error message on my dash stating the following, " transmission failure repair now". I calmly parked the car and within seconds of turning off the car I see smoke and then flames from the bottom of my engine hood. I quickly exited the car abd the flames got bigger and bigger. The fire department was called and the had to smash the back window due to the flames that had over taken the front of the car. Unfortunetly my car is not a total loss. I was at the end of my contract agreement with ford and inly having to pay 6400 left on my loan. Ive called their customer service to complain and see what can be done and was told I would get a letter in 2 weeks by their legal council. This has caused me to delay my entry into nursing school since now I have to work to handle the car the new car I just had to buy. I need transportation for work and ford took that from me. Ive now seeked out a lawyer to see what can be done. With all the times I asked for help and I ended up seeing my car go up in smoke. Im just so thankful I was able to get out iof the car in time. But believe me im still shaken and this has caused me to never buy ford again.

Filed Apr 1, 2019 · CA

My car got on fire while it's was parked

Filed Aug 2, 2018 · Electrical, Engine · 80,000 miles · FL · fire

On thursday august 2, 2018 around 8:30. The wires in the dash board caught on fire. The card began to fill with smoke. I could smell the burning and I wasn't sure of what was happening. I could hear a spark sound and I could tell that the wires where burning. This was an extremely dangerous situation, the entire car might have caught on fire , if my boyfriend didn't come and contain the fire.

Filed Aug 2, 2018 · Fuel system · 80,000 miles · FL · fire

The gas gauge is incorrect . Now I cant pump more than 2-3 gallons at a time. I noticed yesterday that the gas tank is leaking gas. Today my vehicle caught on fire due to wiring issues , and if the fire from the wires would have made contact with the leaking gas , the outcome would have been fatal.