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2013 Focus Titanium Transmission Noise (Grinding) Dealer Handout

28K views 105 replies 38 participants last post by  Wckdsmrt 
#1 · (Edited)
This is what my Ford Dealer handed me this morning when I took my 2013 Focus Titanium with 582 miles on the odometer in for transmission grinding, lunging and etc, it's dated 9/27/2012 with no revisions. First thing that was said to me when I explained the issues "that is normal for that model car". Maybe I should have responded "I didn't get the memo"?

Just curious if anyone else received the same two pages or another variation?

I am still wondering why this came after the fact and not before the sale? Appears that Ford had plenty of time to revise their sales brochures and notify sales people of what they consider "Normal" operation. [scratch]

I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this break-in period and hope it improves because I love the car besides this annoyance/issue.

Dealer Handout Scan (note: there are two pages)

http://jpegbay.com/gallery/002452907-1.html#1
 
#40 ·
The car is fine on the highway with the cruise on, I have noticed some lag and lethargic reaction even at higher gears when I need to pass slower traffic though which is not very reassuring.

In city, stop and go traffic....just not fun at all. I do not think there will ever be a fix, I read an article from 2 years ago that said the biggest drag of the Focus was the gearbox and some of what I am experiencing with mine is spot on. They failed to mention the grinding, mis-shifts and head snapping characteristics though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/a...ut-gearbox-is-a-drag.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
 
#43 ·
reading this article got me thinking... maybe a performance tune for the DCT will help solve these problems.... "Ford has calibrated the PowerShift to maximize fuel economy by seeking the highest gear possible as quickly as possible, which keeps the engine speed low."

and they did, sortof, mention the lunging..... "The gearing is not a problem on the Interstate, but can be aggravating on back roads or in stop-and-go traffic. The transmission is often in the wrong gear at the wrong time, resulting in jerks, pauses and lethargic acceleration."

"It would take an utterly oblivious driver not to notice the PowerShift’s problems... suspect that only the most bizarrely charitable enthusiast would find this transmission acceptable" LOL

i'm really hopeful a tune will solve these problems!
 
#44 ·
I agree that the lunging could probably be fixed with a software update, but the chatter is definitely a mechanical issue.

No external transmission leak when I checked 15k miles ago (the dealer has been doing my oil changes), but there have been a few users that took their car in and once the bell housing was opened, oil poured onto the floor. I used to think I was in that group, but can't know for sure unless I check myself. I could try to take it in for the latest TSB with the 250rpm fluctuation in transmission input shaft speed, etc. But I really don't want to pay $200 in diagnostic fees.
 
#45 ·
Someone mentioned to me that there was some tuner, name escapes me, that was working on a reflash for the DCT (probably would void the warranty) so the risk might not be worth it?

Ford probably knows a fix would kill MPG and force another class action lawsuit for fuel efficiency claims. I think they missed the boat on the design, they should have given the driver more options on selecting different modes. I do not find S mode to really solve my issues. Perhaps a ECO button would have been better?
 
#46 ·
At least you have an S mode. All I have is a downhill mode that will force a single downshift at high speeds, it doesn't even slow the car up much on a downhill.

The transmission is craptastic. Thanks Ford, for making the first ford I bought in over 30 years of driving my last.
 
#49 ·
Not on here much anymore, gave up trying to get my "craptastic" DCT fixed too. The car is what it is now, won't be keeping it for the long term, I keep it clean, don't beat it but I will say this the DCT has made me wishing I got something else and this feeling will not go away till the car is gone, which probably won't be in another year or so.
 
#53 ·
I took mine in this morning.

The service manager took me for a drive in my car and listened to the grinding. He said they had quite a lot of complaints and that Ford is working on a solution. He's had Ford engineers out several times to look at various customers' vehicles. He even played me an audio file of a car whose clutches were scraping constantly while the car moved. Since my car only made that noise just after an upshift, I wasn't eligible for any sort of work. Also, there are no software updates, except for resetting the adaptive learning, which would eventually put me back in the same spot I'm in now.

In the meantime, he said:

1) They are only authorized by Ford to replace the clutches if the grinding is nearly constant.
2) Ford will probably try to fix the issue in software first if at all possible
3) If mine gets worse, bring it back in and it may meet the threshold for some sort of service.

I tend to believe him when he said his hands were tied on clutch replacement. He was even willing to let me have a look at a DPS6 and/or clutch pack if they had one out, but after looking around he found none.

I'm generally happy that he wasn't blowing smoke up my tailpipe. He spent the better part of half an hour talking to me. The only odd thing he said was that this reminded him of the early days of ABS where people freaked out at the brake-pedal feel when the system was active. That annoyed me, because no matter what, cars shouldn't make head-turning grinding noises while being gently driven in parking lots. EVER.

My next step will be writing letters to Ford, trying to find out where the buck finally stops.
 
#54 ·
The service manager is just pulling your leg. He is straight up lying to you.

See below.

I took mine in this morning.

The service manager took me for a drive in my car and listened to the grinding. He said they had quite a lot of complaints and that Ford is working on a solution. He's had Ford engineers out several times to look at various customers' vehicles. He even played me an audio file of a car whose clutches were scraping constantly while the car moved. Since my car only made that noise just after an upshift, I wasn't eligible for any sort of work. Why?? Also, there are no software updates, except for resetting the adaptive learning, which would eventually put me back in the same spot I'm in now.

In the meantime, he said:

1) They are only authorized by Ford to replace the clutches if the grinding is nearly constant. - Yeah right, they can do warranty requests any time. They just lose money on each clutch replace so they wont do it. Dealerships looking out for themselves surpise suprise.
2) Ford will probably try to fix the issue in software first if at all possible
I am starting to doubt this, FORD Fiestas have the same issue and they have been around since 2011 and earlier. 2 years and they cant fix it? They havent said a word about it..
3) If mine gets worse, bring it back in and it may meet the threshold for some sort of service. sigh

I tend to believe him when he said his hands were tied on clutch replacement. Nope, he can just order the part, tell is tranny mechanic to work on it, issue the work order and send it in at a loss to Ford to claim the rest. He was even willing to let me have a look at a DPS6 and/or clutch pack if they had one out, but after looking around he found none.

I'm generally happy that he wasn't blowing smoke up my tailpipe. He spent the better part of half an hour talking to me. The only odd thing he said was that this reminded him of the early days of ABS where people freaked out at the brake-pedal feel when the system was active. That annoyed me, because no matter what, cars shouldn't make head-turning grinding noises while being gently driven in parking lots. EVER. Bull, look at VW DCT, butter smooth.

My next step will be writing letters to Ford, trying to find out where the buck finally stops.
I want to get the Media involved so that we can put more pressure on Ford on this issue... at least a respond to us Ford!!
 
#55 ·
Huh? He wasn't lying to me. He didn't say he couldn't service it; he said he wouldn't.

The dealer is running a business. They're there to make money. Ford is sending them cars with defects, and not taking responsibility for those defects. Why would I expect the dealer to pay money out of his own pocket to fix something that's Ford's responsibility? Especially when it might well cost them a couple thousand dollars per car! If he operated like that he wouldn't make any money. He can't even just refuse to sell Foci; if the dealers aren't good little boys they can get hosed by Ford when it comes to getting stock for their lots.

The problem is Ford corporate. Period. Once they bite the bullet and fix this stupid thing, they will (partly) reimburse dealerships for the cost, and I'm sure my dealer will be happy to do something then.

I'm no fan of car salesmen or dealerships, but I think it makes the most sense to focus our attention on getting blood from the stone in Dearborn.
 
#61 ·
It's too bad reading all these issues with the foci, I'm glad the focus I just bought is a 5spd. But my wife drives a 2011 Fiesta, it has 44k miles on it now with the DCT, we had some gear hunting issues from the get go but after a software update we haven't been having any issues, the update was done last year though so I don't know what is going to fix the fords.

And when mentioning VW's DCT you have to realize its a pretty different tranny, wet clutches instead of dry while also requiring tranny fluid and filter changed every 40k.
 
#62 ·
Hi everyone,

Thank you to those of you who have reached out to me via private message already. If we haven't yet been in touch and you're experiencing this concern, send me your information in a PM so I can research ways to help. To get started, I'll need your VIN, dealer, mileage, daytime phone number, and full name.

Crystal
 
#63 · (Edited)
finally gave up on my 2012 focus SE, bought 2013 Mazda 3

I just gave up on my shuddering, shaking indecisive dual clutch transmission on my 2012 focus. The ford memo is garbage wherein they say all these symptoms are normal. Ask any VW GTI owner, same type transmission, no such problems.

The mazda 3 skyactive engine and tranny are great, nice smooth shifts and down shifts, same great mileage-38, solid firm sporty suspension, solid feel to entire car.

you can read hundreds of consumer reviews on the mazda 3 and never see ANY complaints about engine and/or transmission.

whereas, sadly, you can read hundreds of focus transmission complaints here and also at edmunds.com and also at lemon law blog. not to mention focus owners are voicing their complaints at the ford focus facebook page

http://www.lemonlaw.com/wordpress/fo...ssion-problem/

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f7ced/

plus goto any car web site like cars.com, choose a 2012-2013 focus then click into customer reviews

try any dealer website, see customer reviews.

I respect and admire the ford customer reps here and at the ford focus facebook page, they are sincerely trying to help. In my opinion they have demonstrated far more concern than most dealers.

Whereas it seems that most ford dealers have a 4 page memo that all supervisors quote from when you report these problems.
The memo is WRONG in my opinion.
This transmission runs beautiful in VW and Audi models and does NOT have all these problems. Ford has the problem with ITS version.

in my opinion this is a national recall waiting to happen that often times requires tearing apart the transmission.

try the mazda 3, you'll never regret it.
 
#64 ·
try the mazda 3, you'll never regret it.
Never been a fan of the chintzy interiors I've found on most Mazda's. It really is a shame that Ford won't fix these transmissions. Mine sorted itself out at a little more than 1000 miles, and I love it (hated it when it was doing the grinding nonsense though) and the gas mileage/power gain from having no torque converter is nothing to sneeze at.
 
#65 ·
re interiors

I have never owned a mazda before this 2013 model so I can't say much except this is a beautiful interior on this year mazda 3
 
#67 ·
different strokes for different folks

I'm sure you work as hard for your money as I do and if that is what you consider chintzy, thats fair enough. my only concern is not to have spent 19,000 and have a car whose transmission shudders, clunks and shifts indecisively; accompanied by dealers who say its all normal, when I have owned a VW GTI with a dual clutch transmission and it had NONE of the problems.

I am a great fan of sporty cars with peppy motors and firm suspensions and for my money, I want to get in and enjoy the drive, not be annoyed by almost every shift, and again, I do know dual clutches, loved the GTI.

Color, gadgets, blue tooth etc, I don't care much beyond AC, automatic, electric windows and locks , put it in gear and enjoy the ride.
 
#68 ·
my only concern is not to have spent 19,000 and have a car whose transmission shudders, clunks and shifts indecisively; accompanied by dealers who say its all normal
Right, I totally agree with you.
It's a shame that some of the focus have these issues and that Ford does NOTHING to solve the problems. From my experience thus far, the Ford dealers have been the worst dealers I have ever dealt with regarding service.
 
#69 ·
I am nearing 5K miles, still own the car thought about dumping it but I am way upside down on it and hate to lose money. Shuddering is still evident, low throttle sluggish launch and grinding. I think I am stuck with it for now, MPG has increased though, 36 MPG overall for a mix of stop and go and highway driving.
 
#70 ·
i recommend the tune. it helped me a lot with the shuddering/sluggish launch. but I can understand you not wanting to invest more money into tho. But the sluggish launch got in my in a dangerous situation or two so for me its worth it.
 
#72 ·
The only true help I have seen is to get your case escalated by ford rep crystal here at this board or "Eric at ford" on the ford focus Facebook page.
Please seek them out to avoid the dealer runaround
 
#73 ·
Had my 15k maintenance yesterday, again.. complained about the low speed / gear chatter and the ford rep just lost it and signed me up to have an engine / transmission pull apart, new clutch pack assembly, new engine and trans seals, the works.

He said I was not the only one to complain, and he's tired of giving people the run around. He said almost 9-10 focus trade-in's get this treatment only because they KNOW the probability of something failing is too high.

Im glad to see even they're getting tired of this nonsense.


Try different dealerships, guys... I was just lucky to find someone who is getting fed up.
 
#77 ·
I think this post needs to be read by focus DCT owners far and wide. If these conditions are "normal" per the dealer then why did this happen: >>>the ford rep just lost it and signed me up to have an engine / transmission pull apart, new clutch pack assembly, new engine and trans seals, the works.

He said I was not the only one to complain, and he's tired of giving people the run around. He said almost 9-10 focus trade-in's get this treatment only because they KNOW the probability of something failing is too high.
 
#74 ·
If dealerships are resorting to automatically replacing the clutch and seals on virtually all trade-in's it strongly disputes those who claim that DCT problems are rare and only those rare few come here to vent. I suspect the problems occur on a large percent, and maybe even most, DCTs from 2012 and only a few of the afflicted even know about this site. It is, however, disconcerting to hear it still happens on 2013 models.

Ford has been mum about the whole issue, which is SOP if you don't want a problem to become common public knowledge and harm sales; however, this issue is already becoming widely known and we are reaching a point where Ford is doing more harm than good by keeping quiet. If they have found a permanent fix then release a statement to that effect, otherwise a stigma will attach to all Focus and DCT transmissions for at least a decade to come.
 
#75 ·
the reason is simple, in my opinion..........................

imagine the cost of a nationwide recall involving tearing down each affected transmission.
 
#76 ·
I think this post needs to be read by focus DCT owners far and wide. If these conditions are "normal" per the dealer then why did this happen: >>>the ford rep just lost it and signed me up to have an engine / transmission pull apart, new clutch pack assembly, new engine and trans seals, the works.

He said I was not the only one to complain, and he's tired of giving people the run around. He said almost 9-10 focus trade-in's get this treatment only because they KNOW the probability of something failing is too high.
 
#79 ·
I just purchased a 2013 Focus in Feb. Has 6000 miles on it and the transmission "shuttering" has just started to show up for me. So bad in fact that I wondered if I'd even make it to the freeway (luckily it doesn't happen at higher speeds). After researching online, and having one dealership I call tell me it's normal (I've been driving the car for 6 months, it's not normal to jerk and loose power and here loud clunking noises), I'm not looking forward to my apppointment on Thursday with a different dealership.
 
#80 ·
wcksmrt, read over the hundreds of posts here about transmission problems and then contact Crystal here on these boards. She is a ford CS rep and help get your case escalated. There was another rep called "eric at ford" on the ford focus facebook page but he hasn't been seen for a few days.
 
#85 ·
tubeway, that's why I gave up and traded mine in on another brand. The dealers are mostly trying to shine everyone one, because most focus owners have never driven a VW GTI, so they don't know what is normal.
The CS reps are sincere and get you help, but from what people are coming back and saying , it doesn't last.
IE they can tear apart your tranny and replace all those parts, but the problem9s) come BACK.
 
#86 ·
I wish I could trade mine in, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. I came from VW, had 3 of them prior, I should have just got a Golf or GTI in hindsight.

The reps did not do anything for me but escalate my case, which does not change the Dealership's "Normal" stance, Dealer I bought the car from was firm on this and would not budge.
 
#87 ·
#89 ·
If one was thinking about trading in the car, what would be the consequences to your credit and stuff?

Problems started developing again on my transmission and it seriously got me started on thinking about talking to the dealer and trading it in for a different car. If I go with Ford again, would they give me a deal? I might want to either trade down to a Fiesta or trade up to a Fusion.
 
#91 ·
we keep getting the same shit here in canada. its breaking in, getting used to your driving, its normal. bullshit you guys at ford are full of shit .I own a 2013 F-150 and we have a 2013 focus the 3rd ford auto in a year and a half we will never buy a ford again. This coming from someone that has had 7 fords over the years
 
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