2016 FORD FOCUS Complaints

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the dealer previously replaced the clutch twice; however, the failure recurred while driving at an undisclosed speed. The vehicle was shaking and hesitated to accelerate. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 19N08 (Transmission Clutch Shudder/Transmission Clutch Warranty Extension) however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 36,500.

I recently became the owner of this car as my dad had it for the past 5 years. My dad previously inquired about the car shuddering/vibrating when accelerating at times (in 2021) and the dealership was either unaware or dishonest in replying that it just had to do with way the plastic protecting the bottom of the car rattles. We did not know about the Ford nationwide settlement for 2012-2016 Ford Focuses at the time or that others were having similar preliminary issues with the transmission/clutch so we continued to use the car thinking it was just a normal issue with no safety problems. I went for my regularly scheduled oil & filter change at the Koons Silver Spring Ford dealership (Maryland) on Tuesday 10/11. They also completed a complimentary 27 point inspection and told me my car was fine except for a small coolant leak I should get fixed within the year. The next day, my car struggled to accelerate after stopping at a red light. This was an intersection where the speed limit was 35 mph and the most I could go was 15 mph with a lot of effort from my car. My rpm meter kept fluctuating from 1 to 4 even if I wasn't stepping on the accelerator. I turned on my safety blinkers to inform other cars that I was having issues and my car eventually came to a complete stop. I had to call for help and put the car in neutral in order to get it to my parking garage. This could have been a very dangerous situation if I was on the highway. The dealership is about 20 minutes from my place so the next morning I went to local mechanics that helped me to read the CEL codes. I have provided a picture of the codes. They are all TCM-clutch related errors. My car very unexpectedly stopped functioning and the dealership/corporate says I'm not covered by the Ford customer satisfaction action that was supposed to fix the TCM issues for free. Please help me as I cannot afford to fix my car at this time with such an unexpected issue at only 38,000 miles.

The contact's son owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while her son was driving 60 MPH, the vehicle started jerking. The accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. The message "Transmission Fault. Stop. Pull Over" was displayed. The contact's son exited the freeway and veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that she met her son on the side of the road. An independent mechanic was contacted and advised the contact to restart and drive the vehicle to their location in the event the warning message was no longer displayed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the independent mechanic who then referred her to the dealer. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the failure was diagnosed as transmission friction element failure. The dealer diagnosed that the transmission clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V845000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.

Shortly after fueling my car, it will start to act like it’s going to stall. Sometimes it stalls completely, other times I am able to accelerate the problem away. My car runs very loud, shaky, and rough. A few days ago, it stalled without any notice, and i wasn’t able to restart it. I had to have it towed to the mechanic. They are saying it could need a new fuel pump, but with the low mileage on my car no one can understand why that component of my car would be failing already.

I was exiting Parking lot into busy intersection when vehicle suddenly hesitated and stalled completely. Was hard to restart and kept stalling after that. Very dangerous when traveling on busy streets when it stalls and steering wheel locks up. As I accelerate the car violently jerks and has hard time shifting and getting up to speed maybe a “slipping” feeling and engine is constantly misfiring and stalling. Idles very rough when stopped RPM jumps all over the place. No warning lights on dash whatsoever. Had this problem and took to ford about 2 years ago they said they fixed it but the problem still persists. I can see there are various recalls for this vehicle for the exact things that are happening to me. Huge safety concern. Seems to me it’s something to do with fuel tank and transmission.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that on multiple occasions after moving off from a stop signal, there was hesitancy and jerking when the gear shifter was shifted from 1st to 2nd gear, and from 2nd to 3rd gear. The failure persisted; however, no warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission was faulty. The contact was made aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V845000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and was advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The approximate failure mileage was 95,000.

Driving vehicle and it felt like transmission was slipping. Brought to dealer and they told me the transmission needed to be replaced.

The contact owns 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop, the accelerator pedal was depressed, and the vehicle started shuddering and hesitated to respond for approximately 4-5 seconds. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving from a complete stop. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 14,200.

The contact's granddaughter owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 45-50 MPH, the transmission started slipping and the vehicle lost motive power. The contact veered to the side of the road for a moment and then resumed driving however, the failure reoccurred several times while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be rebuilt or replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist as the VIN was not included in an unknown extended warranty program for the transmission. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 38,464.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was jerking, hesitating, and the transmission failed to shift properly. Additionally, the vehicle occasionally stalled and could not immediately be shifted to park(P) or drive(D). The contact stated that occasionally after refueling, the vehicle would not immediately restart. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The contact was informed that the vehicle was previously serviced under NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V169000 (Power Train). The failure mileage was 99,000.