2013 FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC Complaints

THE CAR'S BRAKING SYSTEM IS FLAWED ON ROUGH / POT HOLE SURFACES. EVERYTIME ON THE WAY TO WORK, THERE IS A PORTION OF ROAD THAT IS VERY ROUGH/ UNEVEN/WAVE LIKE. WHEN ATTEMPTING TO BRAKE WHILE ON THIS PORTION OF ROAD THE CAR ACTUALLY SPEEDS UP WHILE APPLYING THE BRAKE (THE CAR SLOWS DOWN IN THE BEGINNING THEN APPEARS THE BRAKES RELEASE PRESSURE AND VEHICLE SPEEDS UP AS IF I JUST RELEASED THE BRAKE PEDAL WHICH IS DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE). THIS IS VERY REPRODUCIBLE, "EVERYDAY". THIS PROBLEM IS SIMILAR TO A FAMILY MEMBER'S PRIUS BRAKING PROBLEM AND ACTUAL LIKE MY INFINTI JX35 BRAKE ISSUE. *TR

WHILE DRIVING IN STOP AND GO TRAFFIC ON THE FREEWAY, THE VEHICLE STALLS UNEXPECTEDLY, FOLLOWED BY A MESSAGE TO 'STOP SAFELY NOW'. AFTER SEVERAL MINUTES OF ATTEMPTING TO RESTART, THE VEHICLE RESTARTS AND IS ABLE TO DRIVEN AGAIN NORMALLY. THIS HAS OCCURRED TO ME THREE TIMES SO FAR, WITHOUT WARNING AND DOES NOT SEEM TO BE ANY COMMON PATTERN THAT IS CAUSING THE STALLS. *TR

THIS IS FOR THE FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC. DRIVING IN THE LEFT LANE OF A 4 LANE ROAD IN MODERATE TRAFFIC, MY WIFE WAS SLOWING TO MAKE A LEFT HAND TURN ONTO A 4 LANE HWY. SUDDENLY THE VEHICLE CHIMED ONCE, SHOWED AN ORANGE CAUTION SIGN IN THE LEFT INFO DISPLAY THAT READ "PLEASE STOP SAFELY NOW," AND IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN MECHANICALLY. SHE INSTANTLY LOST CONTROL OF THE STEERING, BRAKES OR ENGINE AND THE CAR CAME TO AN ABRUPT STOP NEARLY CAUSING A COLLISION. SHE PUT THE CAR INTO PARK AND TRIED TO TURN IT OFF (THE INTERIOR ELECTRONICS THAT ARE POWERED BY THE STANDARD LEAD ACID BATTERY WERE ALL STILL ON AND FUNCTIONING) AND RESTART THE MOTOR, BUT THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT TURN OFF. IT WAS LUCKY IT STOPPED BEFORE THE INTERSECTION, IF IT HAD HAPPENED 3 SECONDS LATER IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PERPENDICULAR TO TRAFFIC ON A HIGHWAY THAT'S MOSTLY TRAFFICKED BY BIG RIGS AND DELIVERY TRUCKS AND SHE VERY WELL COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. THERE WAS NO WAY FOR HER TO SAFELY GET OUT OF THE CAR, THERE WAS ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND WHEN THERE WASN'T THERE WERE CARS HONKING AND SWERVING TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT OF THE VEHICLE. WE HAD THE VEHICLE TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP WHERE THEY DIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM. IT WAS A FAILED COOLING PUMP SO THE VEHICLE SHUT DOWN THE BATTERY PACK AND EVERYTHING DRIVEN BY IT (IE STEERING BRAKES AND THE MOTOR) TO PREVENT OVERHEATING. THIS HAS NOT BEEN THE ONLY CAUSE OF THE "STOP SAFELY NOW" SIGN AND SHUTTING DOWN THE CAR. INSTANTLY CUTTING OFF THE DRIVER FROM ALL THE BASIC CONTROLS OF A VEHICLE IS A VERY DANGEROUS WAY TO DEAL WITH FAULT CODES. *TR

I PREVIOUSLY REPORTED TO THE NHTSA TWO PREVIOUS OCCASIONS THAT THIS CAR SUDDENLY LOST POWER AND CAME TO AN ABRUPT STOP. THE SAME FAULT OCCURRED ON 10/25/13. I HAVE CONTACTED ALBANY FORD OF CALIFORNIA AND THE CAR WILL BE FLAT BEDDED BACK TO THEM TOMORROW FOR FURTHER ATTENTION. AFTER THE PREVIOUS OCCASION THEY HAD THIS CAR TO CORRECT THIS FAULT, NO PARTS WERE REPLACED OR REPAIRED BUT CODES WERE DOWNLOADED AND A DIAGNOSTIC TEST WAS PERFORMED. OBVIOUSLY THIS DID NOT CURE THE PROBLEM. I FILLED OUT A FORM ON THE FORD OWNER WEB SITE YESTERDAY AND HAVE HAD AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY E-MAIL. THIS IS AN OBVIOUS SAFETY PROBLEM WHICH WAS NOT ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED PREVIOUSLY. *TR

THE ENGINE SHUT DOWN WITH A 'STOP SAFELY NOW' WARNING. SINCE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME IT HAPPENED, IT WAS NOT CLEAR WHAT HAPPENED, SO I CAME TO STOP IN MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. THIS HAS HAPPENED A TOTAL OF 5 TIMES NOW..WITH TWO EVENTS WITHIN A MILE OF EACH OTHER YESTERDAY 10/26. YESTERDAY THE FIRST EVENT WAS AT 40 MPH AGAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (LUCKILY NOT VERY BUSY AT THE TIME) AND I WAS ABLE TO PULL OVER TO SIDE OF THE ROAD. THE OTHER TWO TIMES, IT HAPPENED WHILE BACKING OUT OF THE DRIVEWAY ONTO THE ROAD. *TR

STOP SAFELY NOW (SSN) OCCURRED. VEHICLE WAS PARKED, BECAME INOPERABLE, PUSHED TO STREET. STARTED NEXT DAY, DROPPED OFF AT DEALER ON 10/25/13 FOR INVESTIGATION. *TR

WHILE BRAKING FOR A STOP SIGN, THERE WAS A THUD, THE STOP SAFELY NOW LIGHT CAME ON, AND THE CAR STOPPED IMMEDIATELY. IT WOULD NOT RE-START. I PUSHED IT TO THE SIDE AND CALLED FOR A TOW. IT IS NOW AT THE FORD DEALER. THIS IS THE THIRD INCIDENT OF THIS KIND AND THE SECOND TIME I HAVE TAKEN IT TO THE DEALER AND REPORTED THE INCIDENT TO NHTSA. *TR

THE FIRST EVENT OCCURRED ON 7/17/2013, AT 2267 MILES. I HAD CHARGED THE BATTERY OVERNIGHT (AT OUR MOTEL), USING THE 120-VOLT CHARGING CORD. I HAD PULLED THE CAR AROUND TO THE FRONT OF THE MOTEL THE CAR WAS STATIONARY, IN "PARK," WHEN THE "STOP SAFELY NOW" MESSAGE WAS DISPLAYED. I JUST POWERED THE CAR OFF AND POWERED IT BACK ON. THAT CLEARED THE SSN MESSAGE. THEN, I DROVE HOME, AS PLANNED, WITH NO RECURRENCES OF THE ERROR MESSAGE. TODAY, 10/24/2013, AT 4127 MILES, THE "STOP SAFELY NOW" MESSAGE WAS DISPLAYED (FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME), WHILE I WAS DRIVING DOWN A HILL, AT ABOUT 30 MPH. THE CAR HAD BEEN SITTING IN THE PARKING LOT, AT WORK, AND THE SSN ERROR OCCURRED AFTER DRIVING ABOUT 1 MILE. THERE WAS NO PLACE TO PULL OVER, WITHOUT BLOCKING TRAFFIC, BUT, SINCE I WAS GOING DOWNHILL, I JUST CONTINUED COASTING, MADE MY USUAL RIGHT TURN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL, AND PULLED OVER, AT A SPOT WHERE THERE WAS A VERY WIDE, PAVED SHOULDER. SINCE IT WAS TOO LATE IN THE DAY (5:30 PM) TO GET THE CAR (WITH THE POWER STILL ON AND THE SSN MESSAGE STILL DISPLAYED) TOWED TO THE LOCAL FORD DEALER (WHICH CLOSES AT 6 PM), I POWERED THE CAR OFF AND, THEN, POWERED IT BACK ON. THE SSN ERROR, AGAIN, WENT AWAY, AND I WAS ABLE TO SAFELY DRIVE HOME, WITH NO ADDITIONAL SSN MESSAGES. BECAUSE OF A CONSTRUCTION DETOUR, LATELY, I HAVE BEEN DRIVING TO WORK AND BACK, ON A MAJOR HIGHWAY, THAT HAS A SPEED LIMIT OF 65 MPH. NUMEROUS STRETCHES OF THAT HIGHWAY ARE BOTH UPHILL AND HAVE LITTLE OR NO ROOM TO PULL OVER. THE LAST PART OF MY TRIP HOME IS US A STEEP HILL, WITH LOTS OF CURVE AND MOSTLY VERY NARROW SHOULDERS. *TR

MY VEHICLE DISPLAYED A "STOP SAFELY NOW" WARNING DURING MY NORMAL MORNING COMMUTE. THE WARNING WAS PRECEDED BY A FAILURE OF THE RADIO PORTION OF THE SYNC SYSTEM. I BRIEFLY TURNED OFF THE VEHICLE AT A USUAL STOP ON MY ROUTE AND UPON TURNING IT ON, THE RADIO VOLUME, POWER AND TUNING WERE ALL UNRESPONSIVE. I ATTEMPTED TO RESET THE VEHICLE AT THE NEXT TRAFFIC LIGHT BY POWERING DOWN AND OPENING THE DOOR, BUT THE RADIO REMAINED ON EVEN AFTER THE VEHICLE WAS OFF AND THE DOOR WAS OPENED. I ATTEMPTED THIS SEVERAL MORE TIMES AT EACH SUCCESSIVE TRAFFIC LIGHT AND THE RADIO WOULD NOT SHUT OFF. AFTER ONE SUCH RESET, THE STOP SAFELY NOW WARNING WAS DISPLAYED ON THE DASH. I WAS STOPPED AT A TRAFFIC LIGHT AT THE TIME AND WAS ABLE TO RESET THE VEHICLE AND SAFELY ENTER A PARKING LOT AND WAIT FOR A TOW - WITH THE RADIO STILL ON. MY LOCAL FORD DEALER WAITED THREE DAYS TO DIAGNOSE THE ISSUE AND UNSURPRISINGLY DETERMINED IT WAS CAUSED BY A DEFECTIVE/DEAD 12 V BATTERY AND REPLACED THE BATTERY. SOFTWARE WAS ALSO UPDATED. UPON RETURNING HOME AND ATTEMPTING TO CHARGE, MY VEHICLE DISPLAYED A HIGH VOLTAGE SYSTEM FAULT AND HAD TO BE TOWED TO THE DEALER AGAIN. THE DEALER SAID THIS FAULT WAS CAUSED BY A LOOSE CONNECTION ON A TERMINAL BLOCK ON THE ELECTRIC MOTOR THAT WAS USED TO SIGNAL BATTERY CAPACITY TO THE ON-BOARD COMPUTER. *TR

WHILE OPERATING THE 2013 FORD FOCUS EV ON THE HIGHWAY, JUST AFTER BRAKING TO ENTER THE LEFT TURN LANE, THE VEHICLE LOST ALL PROPULSION CAPABILITY. THE INSTRUMENT GAUGE INDICATED "STOP SAFELY NOW" ONE OR TWO SECONDS BEFORE THIS LOSS OF POWER. FORTUNATELY THERE WAS NO ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND I WAS ABLE TO COAST TO A SAFE PARKING SPOT. IN OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES THIS COULD HAVE BEEN VERY DANGEROUS.. *TR