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Got Rid Of the Car From Hell (Focus)

6K views 57 replies 27 participants last post by  Deftmetal 
#1 · (Edited)
We had the clutch replacement completed in June, by end of July it started to shudder (early warning signs) and the grinding returned end of August. Took it back to the dealership (for the 8th time total) and was informed that Ford has stated "this is normal" and was told that the dealership could do nothing more with the issue.

The car refused to accelerate on any inclines and would shudder as well while driving up hills. My wife was almost rear-ended in the vehicle while driving up a hill on the way to work...which was the last straw.

Traded in the car from hell last Saturday for a new Acura. I will never buy another American car again. Ford, you've lost a loyal customer of 14 years.

A couple of items to note:
If you're in the Minnesota/Twin Cities area you will likely have Cathy as your customer care service rep. She is terrible at her job. Doesn't return phone calls. Snotty when you finally do hear from her. Good luck dealing with her.
 
#2 ·
So you're banning yourself from buying any American car... because you bought a Focus, one of the most inexpensive cars for what you get, and had TROUBLE with it?

Surprise surprise.

Perhaps buying the first year, of the first design, of the first release of a new transmission design is to blame. Did you do any research before purchasing?

In the end, you took it on yourself to trade the car in for a loss, I'm sure, instead of going after the lemon law. Huge... HUGE mistake.

I smell something.... fishy.
 
#31 ·
In the end, you took it on yourself to trade the car in for a loss, I'm sure, instead of going after the lemon law. Huge... HUGE mistake.
1) lemon law varies by state. What applies to you may not necessarily apply to him.

2) you usually need a lawyer by the time a claim is successful and finished. Not cheap. Also, most states deduct for fair use....meaning every mile on it drops the value, as does every day it was not in the shop.

It is no where near as easy as racking up your 2 or 3 repair attempts, submitting some paperwork, then sit back and wait for a new replacement or all your money back. It simply doesn't work that way.
 
#3 ·
I have purchased Fords for many years and yes, I did do my research thank you very much. I am fed up with Ford and refuse to support any other American car company would took bail out money during the financial crisis. So, yes I am done with American cars.

The reviews at the time of the Ford Focus release were overwhelmingly positive. The transmission issue was not something that came to light until earlier this year, after we had put 20k miles on the car. Just because it was the first model year doesn't give Ford the right to REFUSE to fix our vehicle. One can experience an issue with any car model, but a warranty should ensure that an issue is corrected, something that Ford was unable to do.

The car wasn't safe, so no I didn't have the option of spending months (if not a year) holding on to a car that was unsafe to drive while we jumped through the various lemon law hoops. At the end of the day we would have likely reached a settlement with Ford that would have netted us roughly $3,000 more than what we got on trade. That amount of money isn't worth it when I factored in the safety risk the car represented to my wife and family. So, I would not consider that a HUGE mistake.

You should familiarize yourself with the lemon law, you'll need it.
 
#5 ·
If you did your research, why did you still buy the DCT? Plenty of people have had satisfactory resolutions from Ford since having this problem with the trans. Also, if you're going to stay away from American cars, you'll want to stay away from VW and Toyota, too, who are both reputable foreign brands having their own problems with quality nowadays. But going from an entry-level econo-family car to a luxury car, I don't suspect you'll have any problems. We appreciate you coming here to let us know that you did though. And if you put 20k on the car in a year, you are lucky to have gotten as much as you did for a trade-in...you certainly got a lot of use out of it for a car you hate.
 
#11 ·
That sucks dude... Any pictures of the Acura?

A few ppl here don't have ford's and they still stick around... Don't feel obligated to leave.


Sent from the Tardis using Tapatalk-
 
#12 ·
A few ppl here don't have ford's and they still stick around... Don't feel obligated to leave.
His name is fordnomore and he's used every post he's made so far to bash the DCT...
 
#15 ·
Congrats to the OP for informing the great community of FF, to the never heard before problems with the Ford Focus.

Dang, you should win an award.

Peace out, have fun with you foreign car, maybe if that gives you issues, I can you at AcuraNoMore?
 
#16 ·
Why are so many people bashing FordNoMore? It sounds like a very reasonable complaint about a problem that Ford is not being responsible in dealing with.

I was only looking for a manual transmission. I wouldn't have considered the Focus, after my research earlier this year, if I wanted an automatic.

I understand that not everyone with a DCT has these problems. In fact it's probably a very small group. But the problems are big and it's not fair to pay a company a lot of money to get something that works poorly and may even be (or at least feel) unsafe.

My opinion is that Ford is not taking responsibility because of the significant costs to address this problem and, bottom line, because thus far they can get away with not taking responsibility. I love my Focus 5 speed so far, but this whole issue in dealing with the DCT is a major spot on Ford's reputation.
 
#19 ·
Ford was the only American car company that did not take the bailout, but not only American car companies needed a bailout, it happened in Japan and Europe too.
I have owned American(all of the big three), Japanese and European cars and Ford is on par or better than most of them especially in the last few years.
 
#20 ·
Just to clarify. We purchased our car in April 2011, well before (the vast majority) of transmission issues were ever surfaced. I never would have bashed the DCT if it hadn't given me a reason to do so. When we traded it in last Saturday the car had 27-28k miles. The initial issues didn't start until earlier this year (New Year's Eve actually) when the car had 22k miles.

The car presented a significant safety issue for my family. That was the most frustrating part of the experience.

It's sad that the issue couldn't be resolved. I loved the handling of the Focus, almost drove like a European car. Also felt sturdy, at least initially. Who knew that the first new car I ever purchased would cause so many problems. I should have stuck with those old Ford Taurus, Escort and Explorers. They never caused me nearly as many issues! lol
 
#22 ·
I can't be the only one that actually knows how to drove the dct.

You can't just put it in drive and go, you have to work with it and if you need instant acceleration turn off traction control and down shift to 2nd (below 40mph) and 3rd above that. You can't really expect any car to have acceleration in 6th gear.

I'm constantly switching between D and S and even sometimes N where I'll rev to 3500 and drop it into drive.

I think the focus can get to 55ish in second which is close to a sports car.
 
#26 ·
We had the clutch replacement completed in June, by end of July it started to shudder (early warning signs) and the grinding returned end of August. Took it back to the dealership (for the 8th time total) and was informed that Ford has stated "this is normal" and was told that the dealership could do nothing more with the issue.

The car refused to accelerate on any inclines and would shudder as well while driving up hills. My wife was almost rear-ended in the vehicle while driving up a hill on the way to work...which was the last straw.

Traded in the car from hell last Saturday for a new Acura. I will never buy another American car again. Ford, you've lost a loyal customer of 14 years.

A couple of items to note:
If you're in the Minnesota/Twin Cities area you will likely have Cathy as your customer care service rep. She is terrible at her job. Doesn't return phone calls. Snotty when you finally do hear from her. Good luck dealing with her.

Do Not buy a Ford from Metropolitan Ford. Don't just walk, run away from this dealer.
I love all these "loyal" ford fans. That put down a entire brand over one car. Your not very "loyal" in my book.
 
#35 ·
Great info!
Always good to hear it from someone first hand.
 
#36 ·
Fyi - I did some research in early 2112 before buying this car. At that time it was published to be a tried and true Euromodel being introduced in north america. In hindsight, this is not true.

I don't get the comment about the OP being a troll?? He/she is a Focus owner who got fed up with the transmission issue. Why a troll?

Ford needs to extend the transmission warranty on these vehicles to 10y.

The ongoing "its normal" BS is insulting to consumers.
 
#38 ·
What is with all the thread shitters who blame people for buying the car in the first place?

Why is telling people "they should've done research" a valid response?

Why can't Ford sell a vehicle that functions correctly?

It's understandable that some cars, particularly new model year ones, will have glitches, but it is Ford's duty to fix the issues to a satisfactory level. Repeatedly, they do not.

You all are giving Ford a huge pass on this, when in reality it is all of you who should be hounding Ford for releasing a transmission that is not 100% ready-to-go.

Frankly this entire argument reeks of victim blaming... "if she hadn't been walking by herself in the dark, she wouldn't have been mugged/raped/etc."

Also I can't blame people like fordnomore for being upset. Why is it a company like Toyota can release a vehicle like the Prius with an entirely new, revolutionary hybrid system and knock it out of the park, proverbially, in terms of reliability/customer satisfaction? But Ford changes one aspect (the transmission) of the Focus, and forums are awash with (valid) complaints about how it's half baked. People are upset because they've been loyal to Ford, but Ford has not been loyal to them.

I can't top that so [thumb]
 
#37 ·
What is with all the thread shitters who blame people for buying the car in the first place?

Why is telling people "they should've done research" a valid response?

Why can't Ford sell a vehicle that functions correctly?

It's understandable that some cars, particularly new model year ones, will have glitches, but it is Ford's duty to fix the issues to a satisfactory level. Repeatedly, they do not.

You all are giving Ford a huge pass on this, when in reality it is all of you who should be hounding Ford for releasing a transmission that is not 100% ready-to-go.

Frankly this entire argument reeks of victim blaming... "if she hadn't been walking by herself in the dark, she wouldn't have been mugged/raped/etc."

Also I can't blame people like fordnomore for being upset. Why is it a company like Toyota can release a vehicle like the Prius with an entirely new, revolutionary hybrid system and knock it out of the park, proverbially, in terms of reliability/customer satisfaction? But Ford changes one aspect (the transmission) of the Focus, and forums are awash with (valid) complaints about how it's half baked. People are upset because they've been loyal to Ford, but Ford has not been loyal to them.
 
#39 ·
The thing is, Ford CAN sell a vehicle that functions correctly.

Ford DOES have cars and the focus that meet the satisfactory level and are 100% ready-to-go.

Its not her fault if she chose to walk in the dark ALONE? Please re-read that statement you wrote...

Have you joined a toyota forum and read all the bad reviews about their cars?

Loyal... Find a loyal dealership and you will have nothing to worry about.
 
#43 ·
Oh and for the record, my mazda6 which has a ford 3.0 is a manu-matic. Guess what it also has issues, but as I put in another thread. It can easily be fix with a B&M supercooler. Which I installed and now works better than perfect.
 
#44 ·
Every product has problems.

The average number of problems with new cars is right around 80-90 problems per 100 cars. That's based on an incomplete list of manufacturers so no solid number. There are thousands of components in a car and they each have some risk of defect.

What really matters is how the company/dealer deals with problems. The dealer will only follow the guidelines set out by the company because they don't want to spend their own money.


Read the warranty agreement if you want to know how much they cover themselves.
 
#54 ·
But if the thread is closed, how will people be able to chastise the OP for being critical of his Ford and for not knowing how to properly drive an automatic transmission?

Perhaps the forum mods need to make another sub-forum. Call it 'MK3 Rants and Whines' and start moving threads there.
 
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