What 3,789 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 Ford Focus RS

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission warning message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer could not duplicate the failure. The failure recurred. Additionally, the vehicle was unable to reverse. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed that the failure was related to a Customer Satisfaction Program Campaign Number: 14M02 (Transmission Control Module Extended Warranty Coverage) associated with the VIN; however, the warranty coverage had expired. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to file a complaint with NHTSA. The failure mileage was 149,929.

NHTSA ODI 11446932

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.

NHTSA ODI 11446817

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the RPM would rise however, the vehicle would decelerate. The contact stated the transmission fault warning light was illuminated. The contact turned off the vehicle for 5 minutes before restarting and driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the transmission and clutch to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 105,000.

NHTSA ODI 11445313

Transmission slips and car shudders when gears shift. Car stalls slightly when moving forward.

NHTSA ODI 11444748

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed with a quarter tank of fuel; the vehicle shut off as the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel. After the contact refueled the vehicle, the vehicle failed to restart. The vehicle eventually restarted after multiple attempts. The contact then called a dealer and made an appointment to have the vehicle serviced. The contact towed the vehicle himself to the dealer and after a few days of service, he was informed that no faults were found with the fuel tank. Once the vehicle was returned, the failure persisted; the contact then took the vehicle to Berglund Ford (834 E Main St, Salem, VA 24153) and he was informed that his vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V515000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the previous dealer had removed the recall from the vehicle after they failed to discover any fault with the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided the contact a case number. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

NHTSA ODI 11444571

The contact's daughter owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while her daughter was driving 25 MPH, the vehicle began to stall. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact also stated that while adding fuel to the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure and stated that NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V515000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) was serviced in 2018. The failure mileage was approximately 86,000.

NHTSA ODI 11444140

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at 30-35 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently started shuddering. The check engine and other unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road and turned off the vehicle. The contact restarted the vehicle and drove; however, the vehicle was shuddering significantly and increasingly while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the transmission clutch and the TCM had failed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to NHTSA. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 79,950.

NHTSA ODI 11442462

Power Steering Assist Failure warning appeared on dashboard and steering became extremely difficult. Frightened my pregnant daughter to tears.

NHTSA ODI 11441830

Electrical power Steering assist malfunctioning

NHTSA ODI 11440592

After starting the vehicle I had no power steering. I drove the car all the way home with no power steering. I shut down the car at home and restarted it and then the power steering worked. I’m very worried about others in my family driving this car and having an accident. This has happened in the past but after moving the car it would start working but not this time. I haven’t taken it to any dealer yet but I think Ford should fix this problem

NHTSA ODI 11440573

While driving transmission seems to start to slip and then fails. Upon further research, found that there is a known issues with the TCM on vehicle. This issue came about while driving in traffic and could have caused an accident when the transmission stopped working if I was unable to get into a parking lot before it stopped working.

NHTSA ODI 11439574

The transmission fails to engage 2nd gear from time to time so it will start to go then go to neutral many times leaving you in the middle of intersections.

NHTSA ODI 11439548

Was driving along a curvy road when it suddenly down shifted and I had no safe place to get off the road. I continued to try and get to a safe place and then it went in to neutral and couldn't move at all. Thank goodness another car didn't come it could have killed me. It then went back into gear and I did make it to a safe place to pull over and call a tow truck. The said it needs transmission control module. By the look of all the complaints on the TCM they need a recall before someone gets killed.

NHTSA ODI 11439066

Slow acceleration rough shifting in transmission E8 and E9 Code's detected on my OBD reader at auto zone

NHTSA ODI 11438725

We have had many issues with our Ford Focus since purchasing it the summer of 2020. First in October 2020 it needed new clutches & throw out bearing. Which cost over $1,400. Second we have had to have both left & right wheel bearings replaced. In August of 2021, we started having transmission problems. The Ford dealership reprogrammed it. It did not fix the problem. We contacted Ford & was told it is the transmission control module which is under warranty. We were told it is taking 3-6 months for the parts to get in. Our Ford dealership ordered one over 6 months ago & still has not got it in. We need our car for transportation but haven’t been able to drive it for two months. Ford needs to step up & offer a solution. We are very discouraged, disappointed & unsatisfied with Ford right now.

NHTSA ODI 11438601

I need to change my transmission control module

NHTSA ODI 11438314

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that after refueling and starting the vehicle, the vehicle was shifted into drive and drove several feet before losing motive power. There were several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was restarted and then driven to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the canister purge valve had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was informed that there was a recall for similar vehicles however, the VIN was not included. The local dealer was contacted and informed of the failure. The contact was provided the cost for diagnostic testing but declined to have the vehicle diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.

NHTSA ODI 11438274

Was driving on interstate when transmission suddenly quit working. The gears would not engage and then I got a "transmission overheating" message and the dashboard lit up in red warning lights. As I was pulling off to the side on the interstate trying to dodge must faster traffic, the engine quit. I waited for about 30 minutes then cranked it again. I got almost a mile down the road when the whole sequence started over again. I drained and changed the transmission fluid thinking that might be the problem but this had no effect. The transmission overheating warning would come on before I even made it a mile down the road. I have not taken to dealership yet because I am not sure I shouldn't just junk it. Ford is never going to recall these bad transmissions and I am sure I will have to pay between $3,000 to $5,000 for a new transmission and do not want it anyway if Ford is just going to put in another transmission that, like this one, their own technicians found faulty. You can inspect this vehicle any time you want.

NHTSA ODI 11438304

I bought my car from a Ford dealership about 2 years ago and on 2 occassions now i have had problems with my power steering. First time i started my car after work and a steering assist fault message illuminated on the dash and the power steering was near impossible to turn. I was not able to drive the vehicle and had it towed to my mechanic who also found the power steering difficult to turn the next morning and it ran a code for him of steering malfunction. He said he thought the rack and pinion needed replacing and stated that only Ford could do it as it would need to be reprogramed by them as it is electric. So i had the car towed to Ford and they were unable. To diagnose it. A week later upon starting my car to head to work the sane steering assist fault message came on my dash so I turned off my car and started it again after reading online how common this problem is with this make of car and how that remedies it in the beginning. Car was able to start but i had it taken again to Ford as i am scared of it going out while driving or getting stranded agaun somewhere without power steering and so far Ford can still not diagnose it. This is really frustrating as it is a huge safety issue. I no longer feel safe driving my car. I get anxiety about being in an accident or getting stranded again late at night with my car. And i read it costs almost 3000 tp fix. This should ne recalled. I only have had this car about 2 years and i will never buy feom ford again. If i could afford a new car i would get rid of it because it is not a safe car. So upsetting Ford will not do a recall. It is way to hard for a woman to try to drive this car with power steering loss. Someone will be injured before Ford cares.

NHTSA ODI 11438097

Loss of power on major highway. Could have been hit in the back because car just stopped moving. Dash board had lights flashing, no up hill movement, transmission check immediately, no shift, check engine it was lite up like a Christmas tree. I was scared I was going to get killed. transmission- yes, towed to Steet-Ponte Ford dealer, nothing wrong, no reps called, lights first appeared at that moment, took car home worked for one day and repeated the same problem. Took it back to the dealer and they replaced a part in the clutch and said if that didn't work a fork would have to be replaced for $1,500 also I had to pay for the first repair $300. Took it home worked for 3 days and is still sitting in drive way

NHTSA ODI 11437963

I've already lost count of how many times I changed the transmission of this car and now I have to change it again. So I don’t know what to do now Thank you

NHTSA ODI 11437879

Vehicle would shake and completely shut down whenever I would stop at a red light or stop sign. It put myself and others drivers at risk because the vehicle would shut down on extremely busy roads, this happened on multiple occasions. There was an inspection by a service center but at the time I didn't have the funds to pay for it.

NHTSA ODI 11437564

I previously had the 18S32 recall done. They said everything was fine even though ever since I had the tank, purge valve and computer retooling done it never drove right. It didn’t have accurate miles to empty and never seemed like it used to before all this was done. 2 months ago the car stalled while driving below 30mph. I pulled the car over and turned it off. I tried turning it back on multiple times and it didn’t work until finally I got it back on but it had a check engine light. It wouldn’t shift right and check engine light kept coming back on. We got it checked out and the Ford service center claimed it was the transmission and engine. We didn’t have it fixed then and we took it back home the check engine light never came back on. This last week 10/11/21 the car started smelling like fuel outside the car and wouldn’t accelerate well. Took it into the Ford Service center at a different location and they confirmed it was the fuel canister leaking and the fuel line to the fuel insert point was messed up. I noticed they had performed recall 18S32 on it before but it never fixed the issue and they did a 2nd recall on some vehicles because of it called 19S22. The Ford service center and customer care both said they can’t perform 19S22 recall because it doesn’t show up on my VIN number as needing done even though clearly I’m still having issues with the fuel system that was recalled in the first place. I’m now going to have to pay out of pocket for an issue Ford should be covering under recall work.

NHTSA ODI 11436908

I was given engine codes P144A and P1450. Whenever I fill up my gas tank completely I have to turn the key multiple times to actually get the car to start. The lower the tank is before the fill up, the more times I have to turn the key to eventually get it to start. Everytime I turn and it stalls I pray that it doesn't blow up. It will make the quick triplet sound and then won't "vroom." The component to be complained about is the Engine/Fuel system, and it is available for inspection upon request. Well for 1 I wasn't sure if this stalling would occur while actually driving, and based off of online research it could happen, and 2 as I said previously I was genuinely worried whether or not the car would blow up, let alone start. I have seen a recall regarding this issue to other cars with the exact same make, model, and engine type dating back to 2019, but for some reason the recall isn't covered under my vehicle's specific VIN. The component has not been inspected yet because I am hoping to find a way to have the recall cover my vehicle so I don't have to pay as much for it. There hasn't been an exact "failure" more of a problem with unknown consequences. The light first appeared probably about 6 months ago, but the initial engine codes I got (I have since gotten them twice more, the most recent being about a month and a half ago) indicated that the only problem I MAY experience was incorrect display of gas on the dash. I didn't notice it at all, so I figured it wasn't that serious nor a safety concern.

NHTSA ODI 11436727

Before taking a cross country trip in July 2020 the vehicle was taken to a local Ford dealership and asked if there were any outstanding issues to do with the transmission or otherwise. The car was acting up some with shifting. They stated there was nothing and no issues. Of course they did not document this on the service ticket. On September 23, 2021 when pulling into a parking lot, a loud noise happened and warning lights (check engine and transmission reset) came on and then barely made it out of the path of the main road. Once in the parking lot, the car would not reverse. We managed to get the car pushed out of the way. Once the ignition was shut off, it took multiple attempts to restart, finally restarting in Neutral. The vehicle was towed to a different Ford dealership where we are told it's throwing codes related to the PCM Module for the transmission. After calling Ford Motor Company, we discovered the car was originally purchased in July 2011, so we are just outside of the 10 year extended warranty on this issues by a little over two months. We are the second owner and it only has about 90,100 miles, which is under the extended warranty mileage of 150,000. Ford Motor Company Customer Service has stated multiple times that I will get a call by a supervisor in one business day after I've asked to speak to a supervisor. I have yet to get a call back after a week and a half of trying. We have not had the car repaired as of yet since they won't call me back or escalate me to anyone.

NHTSA ODI 11436417