What 2,644 owners told NHTSA about the 2014 Ford Focus RS

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 65–70 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was pushed to the side of the roadway. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

NHTSA ODI 11538327

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that after restarting the vehicle, the “Power Steering Failure" message was displayed, and the steering wheel was very difficult to turn in either direction. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The local dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 147,000.

NHTSA ODI 11538449

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the fuel gauge was displaying an incorrect reading on the instrument panel, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where a diagnostic test was performed, and the purge valve was replaced. Despite the repair, the check engine warning light remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed the vehicle with a defective purge valve and a defective fuel tank. The mechanic then informed the contact of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V515000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.

NHTSA ODI 11537951

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was shuddering and vibrating while shifting gear. Additionally, while driving, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the transmission clutch was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The contact stated the transmission clutch had been replaced on two previous occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under an Extended Warranty. The failure mileage was 19,000.

NHTSA ODI 11537971

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while reversing, the back over prevention camera was inoperable. The contact stated that the “Camera Unavailable” message was displayed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 109,688.

NHTSA ODI 11537750

The Steering Assist went out while driving 65 mph on the 15 south freeway.

NHTSA ODI 11537797

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate from a stop light, the vehicle failed to accelerate, and the transmission erroneously shifted to neutral. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The contact stated that the transmission was previously serviced for the failure on multiple occasions. The failure mileage was 60,000.

NHTSA ODI 11537204

The car slips gears on takeoff. This is a common problem with these cars. The problem is when people google it the results tell them to drive them hard not easy on takeoff. They say drive it like you stole it. I feel the is very dangerous and these cars should be recalled and taken off the roads.

NHTSA ODI 11537273

I am writing to express that ford issued an extended customer satisfaction program (19N08) to get transmission issued fixed within a specific window or time and mileage. Unfortunately that time has passed and the opportunity for smoother, safer driving has been missed by many people including me. Ford is unwilling to extend the warranty and fix the transmission issues which I feel is a concern. The car rattles and shakes when I go at a slower speed which I imagine could be dangerous. This fix is over $3,000 and not attainable for the average American to pay out of pocket. Ford needs to extend the warranty for the transmission clutch shift motor to keep the roads safe.

NHTSA ODI 11536578

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while shifted into reverse(R), the wheels locked, and the vehicle shuddered. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 14M02 (Transmission Control Module). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

NHTSA ODI 11536342

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that after arriving at her destination, the vehicle failed to shift into reverse. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the transmission dual clutch and shifter cable. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 100,000.

NHTSA ODI 11536357

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 1 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was able to restart after an hour. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that an unknown part needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 84,000.

NHTSA ODI 11536133

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while attempting to drive from a complete stop, she depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that she applied more pressure to the accelerator pedal and the vehicle slowly responded. The contact stated that the check engine warning light illuminated while driving and the message "Transmission Overheated" was displayed. The contact veered to the side of the road to allow the transmission to cool off. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic on several occasions, and the grill shudder module assembly, the transmission fluid, and the transmission clutch actuator were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The contact related the failure to Ford Campaign Number: 19N07. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

NHTSA ODI 11535919

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jerked into second gear. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 14M02 (Transmission Control Module). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.

NHTSA ODI 11535537

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 5 MPH, the driver's side air bag erroneously deployed. The contact stated that no collision had occurred to cause the air bag to deploy. During the failure, the driver sustained a neck injury that required medical treatment. A Police report was filed at the scene. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 84,000.

NHTSA ODI 11533996

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while stopped and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed. The contact stated that the “Transmission Hot” message was displayed, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The manufacturer was contacted but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 100,000.

NHTSA ODI 11534173

as I am not 100% sure where the problem comes from. And I know that this car and other Ford vehicles are infamous for these issues. My Ford focus’s transmission will spontaneously without warning completely shut off while driving which has caused me to almost get into crashes multiple times. I have brought my car to a ford dealership to get inspected in hopes of being included in a program which makes ford pay for a rental car while the part that causes the issues is delivered (there is large back order on the TCM) but when my car was done being diagnosed they claim my clutch needs to be replaced for 3200 which is ridiculous first of all but the main problem with this is that the broken TCM is what is causing the clutch to break creating a never ending cycle of replacements I have to pay for and even if i get a clutch replacement it won’t fix my overheating issue. These problems that are caused by ford have caused me to almost get into mulitple crashes and is restricting me from getting to work and I am getting no help from ford customer service and the individual dealerships try and scam me any chance I get so this is my last resort at getting any help

NHTSA ODI 11533710

mY TRANSMISSION SHUTTERS IN TRAFFIC AND FORD DEALERSHIP SAID THEY REPLACED THE TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE .WHEN I GOT THE CAR BACK IT WAS DOING THE SAME THING. NOW THEY SAY IT IS UNDSER RECALL . THAT IT HAS BEEN FIXED.

NHTSA ODI 11533230

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while depressing the accelerator pedal from a stop, the vehicle started shuddering. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer and was informed that the VIN was associated with NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V523000 (Power Train). The dealer repaired the vehicle under the recall however, the vehicle experienced the failure. The contact took the vehicle back to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the transmission control module to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

NHTSA ODI 11533239

I was driving the 2014 ford focus and it slipped out of gear no warning lights when accelerating only rpm’s would go up the vehicle still out of gear I immediately put on my flashers and pulled to the side of the highway with cars going by and the vehicle would restart no go in or out of gear. I had it towed to the nearest dealership after pulling over and turning car off after I turned key back on the engine light was on red and stated transmission fault, repair immediately. It was very dangerous situation I was in four lanes of traffic doing 65 mph when the vehicle slipped out of gear with no acceleration. It completely stalled at 65 mph.

NHTSA ODI 11532960

The transmission has completely failed multiple times causing us to have to push the car out of lanes of traffic because the car would not move forwards or backwards. The transmission would slip during acceleration even after clutch cleaning and fluid flush. There were no warnings, lamps, or messages. Its very clear that there is an issue with these cars as everyone appears to have the same TCM issues.

NHTSA ODI 11532643

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while his daughter was accelerating from a stop, the vehicle vibrated, lost motive power, and the RPM briefly became elevated before returning to normal functionality. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the transmission assembly, related to Customer Satisfaction Program: 19N08 (Power Train), but the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 134,000.

NHTSA ODI 11532829

Hello, We are writing in regards to Ford Motor Company’s inability to resolve their (Automatic) Transmission Control Module issue, as noted in TSB-16-0129, in a timely and reasonable manner. Our 2014 Ford Focus (with 47,000 miles, and we are the only owner) stalled, without warning, in a busy intersection while we were traveling out of state to a major suburb of Chicago. This stall almost caused a major accident, and we had an 18-month-old child in the vehicle. We had it towed to the closest Ford Dealer (Buss Ford in McHenry, Illinois). We have this part escalated with Ford, however Ford and the dealership have no timeline on when the part will arrive. We believe the part to be AE8Z7Z369F. We called a local Wisconsin Ford Dealer to see if they had the part. They stated that there were about 27,000 of these parts on backorder, and it could take more than 3 months to resolve. Our car is out of state, with no timeline of a repair due to Fords inability to get the part, so we cannot even plan when we can pick it up, and we are down a car. The dealer is out of loaner cars, and they are maxed out of the rental cars. We are on a wait list that is 12 people long. We called Ford customer service to request Ford to provide a rental car until the vehicle is fixed, however they are unwilling to do so. Ford sold a defective transmission (this is not the only issue with this transmission) and is not providing a reasonable timeline to get the part fixed, and they even knew of these issues. In addition, they are not providing customers with a rental car or loner car during this unknown time period. I am asking that you require Ford to provide loaner or rental cars free of charge until these vehicles can be fixed, not only for our family, but the 27,000 families that are out there waiting for this part. TSB-16-0129 https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/MC-10109047-9999.pdf

NHTSA ODI 11532364

tHIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN REPAIRED FOR THE SAME ISSUE 3 TIMES AND STILL DOING THE SAME THING. SO OBVIOUSLY NOT PROPERLY REPAIRED, AND FORD HAS CLOSED THIS RECALL ON IT. I CALLED OVER THE CONCERN THAT IT IS STILL NOT PROPERLY REPAIRED AND WAS TOLD THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT. THEY OFFER NO HELP OR SOLUTIONS OTHER THAN, TOO BAD IT ISN'T REPAIRED PROPERSLY BUT IF I WANT IT REPAIRED IT WILL HAVE TO PAY. THIS IS A CONCERN THAT THEY CANNOT REPAIR IT PROPERLY AND STILL CLOSE THE RECALL.

NHTSA ODI 11532365

There are 2 recalls listed for my vehicle, 1) the Transmission Control Module, and 2) the Transmission Clutch Shudder. I had brought my car in to the dealership a couple of years ago to ask about the two issues/recalls listed, as my transmission was overheating and I was unable to accelerate, and the engine shuttered when shifting between 1st and 3rd gear, and was told that the Transmission Clutch Shudder recall had expired and the active recall, the Transmission Control Module, could not be repaired due to parts being on backorder, and I was told that the parts for that specific recall were not longer being made. The clutch recall lasted for 7 years and/or to 100k miles, whichever came first. My car is under 100k, and I had gotten the car in 2017, but it is a 2014 model so that recall cannot be covered by the dealership. I have been informed, though, that the Clutch issue directly correlates to the function of the TCM (transmission), so without that issue being resolved, the TCM will continue to have issues. I understand that the warranty has expired for one recall, but since it directly correlates to the function of the other recall, it doesn't make sense to have one expire before the other. Without it resolved, my transmission runs the risk of overheating again, and in previous instances I have had to pull over on highways, on roads where there were no safe places to pull off, and delayed other drivers due to the cars inability to accelerate properly, which has occurred at stop signs and at traffic lights which poses a risk to my safety and others. The dealership has informed me that the issue is in relation to the two recalls, but again with one expired I am expected to cover it even though the issue lies with Ford.

NHTSA ODI 11531792