2012 Ford Focus problems
Owners have filed 4,987 complaints about the 2012 Ford Focus with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 29.3% of them, the clear leader, ahead of steering at 18.6%.
Complaints4,987
Crashes179
Fires28
Injuries125
Deaths7
What owners report breaking
Power train 29.3% · 1461
Steering 18.6% · 928
Engine 9.5% · 475
Unknown or other 7.2% · 358
Electrical system 7.1% · 355
Structure 6.7% · 334
Fuel/propulsion system 5.7% · 284
Vehicle speed control 3.3% · 166
Severity
Of those complaints, 179 describe a crash, 28 describe a fire, 125 report an injury and 7 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 19 model years of the Ford Focus in this data, 2012 ranks 2nd by complaint volume; 2000 draws the most.
Filings have fallen off, 194 in the last three years against 490 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 65,206 miles.
In owners' own words
Lurching and uncontrolled shifting occurs with the transmission. It has left me stuck in the middle of a left turn because it doesn't shift correctly. Now I ran off the road while exiting a freeway because the power steering turned off in the middle of the turn. This has now happened 6 times randomly. It gives me a power steering fault. I have come close to being the cause of 3 accidents because of these two issues. Power train · reported at 93,087 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated during acceleration and then lost motive power. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the TCM needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000. Power train · reported at 80,000 miles
I have an automatic Focus se, and at 2000 rpm there is a grinding noise and loss of power (sluggishness in acceleration). The grinding noise started to happen at around 2000 miles but only occasionally. Now, it happens 100% of the time. I took it to Ford service and they confirmed hearing the noise. They also have a code in their database for this issue. However, they say that they don't have a fix for it. Power train · reported at 13,500 miles
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…