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Issues with new 2012 Ford Focus

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#2,121 ·
OU812focus said:
What was the issues?
I've had my 2012 updated and at least it accelerates when needed but has what feels like the transmission shuddering.
Dealer says it's normal.
32K miles as of today.
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rpmarine said:
Hey guys I have 95K on my 2012 SEL. I have had the shudder issue and a bucking problem as well. What TSB's are out there? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
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Hey folks,

I'd like to loop in your regional customer service manager, who is in the best position to assist with this concern. Please send me a PM with your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, and servicing dealership.

Todd
 
#2,122 ·
2013 Focus SE with the regular 6 speed auto and I had a incident the other day close to 3000 miles its never done it before. I was at an intersection and I was trying to accelerate and nothing I have the car more gas and it finally took off when I let off the gas it wanted to stall out. Any ideas? The car has been running ok since then.
 
#2,123 ·
PMTGUY said:
2013 Focus SE with the regular 6 speed auto and I had a incident the other day close to 3000 miles its never done it before. I was at an intersection and I was trying to accelerate and nothing I have the car more gas and it finally took off when I let off the gas it wanted to stall out. Any ideas? The car has been running ok since then.
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"Normal Operating Characteristics" if you ask Ford.
 
#2,126 ·
Hey everyone,

FWIW, I had the same issues with my 2013 SE with the 'tin can rattling' noise on acceleration, violent bucking/shuddering changing gears and generally a loose and sloppy feel to the transmission and drivetrain overall. Took it in (Mullinax Ford in Kissimmee, FL) where it spent 2 weeks waiting on backordered parts. They did a reprogram and replaced the clutches and some sort of seals and now my car runs and drives totally different. It shifts smoothly and strong and the whole car feels incredibly better. The acceleration is greatly improved and for want of another word, the drivetrain just feels stronger. There is a slight intermittent vibration that may or may not be related butI have to say I am totally happy with the way it is driving now. Unless it reverts back to the old issue, I'd say these guys have the fix right. My SE has just over 25K miles now and I have only put about 500 miles on it since I picked it up from the shop, but it is a totally different experience - I just hope it doesn't go back to the way it was.

Good luck with all your repairs and hopefully yours will go as well as mine did!

Thanks Todd for your intervention and help!
 
#2,128 ·
FocusMac said:
Hey everyone,

FWIW, I had the same issues with my 2013 SE with the 'tin can rattling' noise on acceleration, violent bucking/shuddering changing gears and generally a loose and sloppy feel to the transmission and drivetrain overall. Took it in (Mullinax Ford in Kissimmee, FL) where it spent 2 weeks waiting on backordered parts. They did a reprogram and replaced the clutches and some sort of seals and now my car runs and drives totally different. It shifts smoothly and strong and the whole car feels incredibly better. The acceleration is greatly improved and for want of another word, the drivetrain just feels stronger.
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How can this be, when so many of us have been told that the rattling noise, shuddering, and poor drivability are 'normal'?

It could be because only 1 in 10 Ford dealership service departments are capable of fixing any GD thing.

You got lucky.

Many of us still have problems that Ford refuses to address. Some of us have problems that were caused by Ford dealership service. Ford won't address those, either.

Ford seems to accept rank incompetence, lying, and other shady business practices from their dealerships. The last dealership my car was at replaced shift motors to address my complaints regarding the clutch, and then got pissy when I told them they hadn't done anything to actually fix my car. I told my Ford CSM that I wanted to lodge a formal complaint against them, but apparently Ford doesn't have any such process, because I never heard back from them about the matter. My clutch still vibrates.

I hope your fix holds, and congrats on having one of the ~10% of Ford dealerships that seem to be worth a damn.
 
#2,130 ·
OU812focus said:
I really like my dealer. But......
When they tell me it's normal and nothing they can do" makes me believe it's a Corporate issue. Design flaw I'm thinking.
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If it's "normal" and there's nothing they can do, then all DCT Focuses should behave the same way. They don't. Refer them to this website: there are many, many owners that have no issues at all with the DCT,or issues that have been successfully resolved.

If they can't fix yours it seems either 1) they don't have th skills or interest to do so or 2) a manufacturing flaw occurred in the production of your clutch or gearbox.

We all get the DCT isn't a conventional automatic and that some unusual behavior (slight clutch chatter, occasional gear confusion, sometimes abrupt clutch engagement) may be normal behavior. But pronounced clutch chatter, loud gear grinding, etc. is not.

I'm not sure how Ford reimburses dealers for warranty work, but I'd guess they don't get reimbursed much, if at all, for trying to diagnose a subtle problem. A truly good dealer that is in it for the long term will do the right thing regardless. I suspect much of the frustration here is caused by bad dealers that look at each warranty visit as a stand-alone financial event.
 
#2,132 ·
I posted in another thread yesterday but my 2012 Titanium with 16,000 miles on it was at the dealer with the chatter problem. They determined that it has a bad clutch. They found out this clutch is on back order from Ford. This tells me there are a lot of problems with this dual dry clutch transmission.
 
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#2,133 ·
The solution

i also have a 2012 ford focus and i also work at a ford dealer. and my car has about 30k on it. the shudder never got better, even after the recall was fixed it still sucked.
well now as i look on all data, there is a technical service advisory for 2012-2013 transmission shudder and i looked into it and it says to reprogram the powertrain control module and the transmission control module. with that it also said too relearn transmission speed sensor and clutch settings and a few other things. anyways the tcm and pcm were out of date, needed to be updated and after i did this everything is perfect, no more hesitation and its responsive like the fusions and the mustang. all in all take it to the dealer and pay for the 1.6 hours of labor and stop being miserable with the car you are paying lots of money for.
 
#2,134 ·
the solution

i also have a 2012 ford focus and i also work at a ford dealer. and my car has about 30k on it. the shudder never got better, even after the recall was fixed it still sucked.
well now as i look on all data, there is a technical service advisory for 2012-2013 transmission shudder and i looked into it and it says to reprogram the powertrain control module and the transmission control module. with that it also said too relearn transmission speed sensor and clutch settings and a few other things. anyways the tcm and pcm were out of date, needed to be updated and after i did this everything is perfect, no more hesitation and its responsive like the fusions and the mustang. all in all take it to the dealer and pay for the 1.6 hours of labor and stop being miserable with the car you are paying lots of money for.
 
#2,136 ·
FASTONRACEDAY said:
take it to the dealer and pay for the 1.6 hours of labor and stop being miserable with the car you are paying lots of money for.
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The car I'm paying lots of money for came with a warranty.

Why should I have to pay 1.6 hours of labor for a warranty issue?

That's a rhetorical question. I know the answer:

It's because Ford's warranty is useless and Ford dealerships don't fix anything.

If I had known that Ford doesn't honor it's warranty obligations, I never would have bought one.
 
#2,139 · (Edited)
Had the clutch shudder fixed 15KM'S ago, seemed better until yesterday. I was moving the car from one side of the driveway to the other to clear some snow. I stopped put it in park got out to let it warmup. The car continued to roll forward on a uphill incline. I jumped back in and hit the brake pedal, went to the floor no brakes. I pulled on the emerg brake and turned off the car before hitting my wife's Acura Tl in the garage. With the emerg. on and still in park I tried to restart, no luck, shifter stuck in park would not turn over. Dealer towed it in, they say the shift cable came unhooked and the antilock warn light needed to be reset. No explanation as to why these events happened."Car is fine", dealer opinion and also Ford of Canada service rep.

I had this car sold to friend, it belongs to my 84 year old mother. She just gave up her drivers license and now the buyer wants nothing to do with it! I am very uncomfortable selling it to someone. So it sits at the dealer! May have to take a very low ball offer from the dealer and let them mark it up 6 or $7,000 for their profit.

My wife wanted to buy herself an Explorer this year, not a chance now, Ford will never get $55,000 of my money!
 
#2,140 ·
FASTONRACEDAY said:
no more hesitation and its responsive like the fusions and the mustang. all in all take it to the dealer and pay for the 1.6 hours of labor and stop being miserable with the car you are paying lots of money for.
Click to expand...
Folks, the Focus has a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty that covers the DCT transmission. Please do not pay Ford for this update. This is not a luxury or optional upgrade. The software update is necessary for the continued proper operation of the dual clutch transmission. It is still under factory warranty if your car has less than 60,000 miles on the odometer.
 
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