The north american models do not...but if you see the posts with pics from a member in Aus, you will see a little pop out panel up near the headlight that you screw a hook into, much like many european cars. Ive watched to see how folks made out over the winter ...stuck in snow drifts and in ditches etc...but saw no posts....it will be an expensive thing to pull one of these out of the ditch, plastic bits will be everywhere...I for one live in a serious winter climate and sooner or later, the odds catch up with you especially in one of these low ground clearance non 4 wheel drive cars.

 

Seems to me, that if a person could source a pop-out panel, then the bumper cover could be cut to the exact contour to fit the pop-out panel. Then, with this complete, a nut could be welded onto the bumper structure right at the location of the pop-out panel. Would, of course, require removal of the bumper cover, in its entirety, to allow the nut to be welded-on...

One worry, though, is that any electric arc welding performed on the car -- could fry any and all logic modules aboard the vehicle. Better to be able to either make a bolt-on arrangement, or to remove the substructure, take it off the car, to have the welding done.

Lots of work!

 

Hopefully I can at least find out where one can be suitably attached. I have the means to have some custom stuff made, but I would need to know where to mount it to for best results.

 

This is a photo of my Aussie Focus you can see the pop out piece in the front bumper for the tow hook which is located with the spare tyre.

 

That would be nice to have, if only US Ford would of done this.

 

the black fog bezels look sweet on white.

 

Everytime I search 2012 ford focus on ebay, a million tow hooks come up. It is kind of starting to annoy me.

 

If you're burying a ford focus up to the doors in the mud, you might want to look into a Jeep or something ...

With that said - I would look into a small receiver for the back. You should be able to use a hitchpin and tow strap. The front ... eh not sure there.

 

Yeah, I'm not throwing a couple grand (at least) on a 4x4 when a tow hook works just fine...

 

This is one thing I just overlooked when I bought the car. As a previous poster stated, I know in the winter climate eventually not having a tow hook will catch up with me.

 

A good set of snow tires plus reasonable, conservative driving and you'll be fine! I've gone 4 years in a front driver with good snow tires and never had a problem. Last two winters I had a 4x4 and the Focus - the 4x4 sat in the driveway. These front drive cars with snow tires are pretty much unstoppable.

My issue isn't so much the lack of tow hooks, but the issue of ... nothing solid to attach a tow hook to!

 

looks like you thread the hook into plastic.

 

Front and back tow hooks ... nice, makes so much sense! So why don't we (US) have them Ford?

I'm sure someone has needed a tow out of ditch by now and found this to be a real inconvienence.

 

My guess would be that we don't have them because they're not government/DOT mandated.

 

well. personally, i would flatbed my vehicles if they need to be transported.

 

Tow hooks are intended more for recovery than transport.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

 

For what its worth, factory-looking tow hook covers are available HERE. Now, I have no idea whats under our bumper even if you had one of these covers to make a DIY cut out work. Has anyone looked behind the bumper apron to see if any towhook exists?

 

For what it's worth, the cover won't do you much good if there is no tow tube beneath the fascia.
If you want to add a tow tube to your bumper, maybe you should look here to see if you can retrofit this one into a Focus. I believe you could with enough beer and cursing.

 

Install a trailer hitch. You can use it to pull the vehicle out of the ditch, and tow small trailers with it. And, NO it doesn't void the warranty.

The reason there is no tow hook on the NA Focus is because these vehicles aren't shipped by boat. Odd's are good that there is still the anchor underneath the bumper though.

 

The tow tube is probably not present under the fascia on the North American cars. FMVSS/CMVSS standards (US/Canada) do not require a threaded tow tube like UNECE standard (Europe/Civilized World) does. FMVSS requires a simple wire loop welded to the frame at the front and rear. If you look under the car, you will find a welded loop at each corner (sometimes only 2 corners) of the car.

With this being a high volume car, it makes sense to leave the tow tube and required trim pieces out for the entire market. You're looking at ±100,000 cars a year that do not require an extra step to produce their bumpers. That $3 tow tube and $15 worth of labor to put it into the car adds up quickly when you multiply it to the entire market.

 

Hate to beat an old thread to death but did anyone ever figure out if the threaded tow tube was behind the bumper on North America n/a focus?

 

i parked my car in my yard a warm day this winter and the frame was sunk in mud. Needed somewhere to hook up to pull it out and found nothing. if i had a tow hook, I would of been out in minutes, instead i had to dig it out.

No, I wont buy a jeep. No, I wont not park where I parked. It can happen to anyone, anywhere. The problem is I own a focus and I need a tow hook lol.

 

I d just get a J hook with a short section of chain and keep it stored in with the spare.

 

Be prepared.

I d just get a J hook with a short section of chain and keep it stored in with the spare.

If your Focus is a US model, with that you would be prepared --- to be as baffled [scratch] as the rest of us when you got stuck and went looking for someplace on the car to attach that J-hook, which is the whole point of this thread. If you have discovered that, please share.

1) Do the US 2012 Foci have locations for tow hooks (from what I've read NO...) ...

... I spent a good 30 minutes on my back in a mud pit digging out enough of my car to find a suitable place to hook a tow strap. ...

 

Good point I'll crawl under and look.

 

I've also been looking for a suitable recovery point as I live in a rural area and in the winter have worried about that. I do have a Bronco and a Jeep as well, but I leave the commuting to the Focus for the most part.

I haven't had a chance to look yet, but my brother who tows for a living says there should be a place for hooks in front of the rear wheels somewhere.

I do also want to remind people, you should never EVER use chains for recovery, or even a strap with a metal hook. Use a proper recovery strap. Should a chain break, or a metal hook go flying, the amount of force behind it could at best cause severe damage to anything it hits, and at worse, injure or kill someone that happens to be in its path. I've personally seen a hook sent right through the windshield of a truck when a recovery attempt went bad.

Adding a hitch might be the best and safest option as you can wrap a proper recovery strap with loop ends around it. I think that's what I'm going to wind up doing.

 

... I do also want to remind people, you should never EVER use chains for recovery, or even a strap with a metal hook. Use a proper recovery strap. Should a chain break, or a metal hook go flying, the amount of force behind it could at best cause severe damage to anything it hits, and at worse, injure or kill someone that happens to be in its path. ...

Thank you for the reminder.

I've been carrying a steel cable with metal J-hooks crimped on both ends in my trunk for decades. Luckily (or skillfully I've never gotten stuck so it's never been used. It's a pain because it is so rigid and remembers its coiled-up shape, so I was thinking of replacing it with a chain, but your warning convinced me to get a strap instead. Besides being safer (why didn't I think of that?) it takes much less space in the trunk and weighs less. Win-win. [thumb]

I still have the problem of not having a good, easily accessible spot to hook it to like all of my other (modern) cars have had.

Adding a hitch might be the best and safest option as you can wrap a proper recovery strap with loop ends around it. I think that's what I'm going to wind up doing.

My owner's manual says:

WARNING: Never tow a trailer with this vehicle. Your vehicle is
not equipped to tow. No towing packages are available through
an authorized dealer.

I wonder whether installing a hitch could give a dealer room to question paying for some kinds of warranty claims, even if it has only been used for something like a bike rack. No way I could prove that it's never been used to tow a trailer.