Used 2012 Ford Focus Hatchback Consumer Reviews
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3rd PCM Failure within 10K miles, under 100K
John, 12/17/2016
2012 Ford Focus SEL 4dr Hatchback (2.0L 4cyl 6AM)
41 of 42 people found this review helpful
Okay let me begin with this: I have written a previous review, but I lost my login, so I am back with a vengeance this time. As the title states, since my original post titled "I'm losing my job and livelihood over this thing!!!" it has had 2 more PCM failures. The first time, I DID lose my job. The boss was clear. "If you can't come to work I'll just have to replace you." Well at least he was cordial about it and gave me a good reference to a similar company. So two weeks after the initial failure, I was back to work. Just somewhere else doing the same thing. There was the 2nd PCM failure about 4 months afterwards. Same conditions: Car won't start. Either the PCM doesn't believe the transmission is in neutral and therefore safe to start the engine, or it cannot get the transmission into neutral. Had it towed to dealership. Only payed towing fee. Ford covered the repair. Now, only 2 months from that failure, the car is in my driveway with its 3rd PCM failure. SAME. CONDITIONS. People, this is multiple failure of a critical part of the car that has failed on me 3 times in less than 10,000 miles. I'm doing everything I can on my end to keep its maintenance up. I drive it reasonably, take good care of it, and it fails on me. Fails... fails... fails... There is no other explanation besides it is a flawed design, and Ford's response and actions are futile. See all of these good reviews on here? I can't explain them. There are millions of unhappy, stranded and possibly unemployed people all because they bought this car with a horrible transmission. I can't blame them or berate them in any way. I mean, it's a nice car, but it has this one MAJOR FLAW that can be a serious inconvenience at best, and life-threatening at worst. Google it. Spend a couple of hours researching every review you can find. Find a way to contact authors of positive reviews and ask them is their transmission still operating properly. For the third time in one year, my car is literally being described with an old Ford-bashing acronym, and I don't think I need to say which one. Please for love of whatever... DO NOT buy one of these things, used or new. Ford's Powershift transmission is prone to random failures despite operating reliably up to the point of said failure. UPDATE: Okay, so let me update everyone on the 3rd PCM failure. First let me start with having to pay out of pocket for a rental. My insurance company would not cover it, but that was my mistake. Ford, however, straight up declined any suggestion of transportation assistance. I had to take an Uber (google it) to a rental car place and spend, say, $480 to rent a car for a week. I made arrangements to have the car towed down to the nearest Ford dealer, which thankfully my insurance covered the cost of the tow. SO... I get a call at work... my mother was at home when the tow truck came to get my car. She informs me that the tow driver 'jumped it off, started it, and drove it onto the tow truck' Read that again. 'JUMPED IT OFF. STARTED IT. AND DROVE IT ONTO THE TOW TRUCK' You've gotta be bleeping kidding me. I called the towing company, spoke to the driver. He confirmed that he jumped off the battery and started the car, and simply drove it onto the truck. First of all... whatever happened to it not starting? And since when did the battery die? So I took off work, drove my $480 rental car down to Ford, and asked to see the car. I got in it, and it started right up. And then I kinda lost control of myself and flung my arms about, cursing the car as if it were playing a sick, expensive game with me right in front of the mechanic. This is not funny. It's good I guess because I have my car back and it seems to be working fine. My speculation is that when the battery went completely dead... overnight... with the car sitting there doing absolutely nothing... that it must have caused some sort of hard system reset or something. I don't know. FINAL UPDATE: Driving home from work tonight it's been falling out of gear, which is indicated by going to idle at highway speed (engine is temporarily disconnected from drive wheels), jerking, slipping, picking the incorrect gear (I mean the VERY incorrect gear, like, 5th at 20mph or 2nd at 50mph). I can't stand it any longer. It will cost me dearly and put me in another financial pit to trade it in and attempt to finance another car, but I have no choice.
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Piece of crap
Melissa, 08/22/2015
2012 Ford Focus SE 4dr Hatchback (2.0L 4cyl 5M)
25 of 26 people found this review helpful
Beyond what is considered normal grinding noises and hesitation to accelerate by ford, my 2012 focus decided to just stop in the middle of the road while driving. I commute and this could have been a serious safety concern if I would of been on a major highway. Other problems was the interior plastic was shaking and not put together well, coming apart only after a few months. In the winter my drivers side window does not open. And it is the worst car I have ever driven in the snow!!!!! Dont waste your $$$ buying this overpriced POS.
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Buyer Beware, sold the car a piece of junk!
Bill Smith, 10/19/2016
updated 04/20/2018
2012 Ford Focus SE 4dr Hatchback (2.0L 4cyl 5M)
72 of 78 people found this review helpful
Bought car new and have had nothing but troubles with transmission. This car should be on recall as it is a safety issue when driving at highway speeds and car decides to buck and jump. Just traded it on a new Camry will never buy another Ford car. Real disappointment and the dealer could only make excuses. This car could get you killed when driving at highway speeds. Read the internet it is full of horror stories regarding the transmission. Purchased this car with the hopes it would be a dependable vehicle and then had to trade it in to get something dependable. Ford is terrible to deal with, don't buy this car if it is your primary driver as it will let you down and Ford will only make excuses for an inferior product. The Focus rates there with the flaming Ford Pinto death trap. Will never purchase another Ford, would rather ride a horse or bicycle.
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Horrible
Kylie, 05/09/2016
2012 Ford Focus Titanium 4dr Hatchback (2.0L 4cyl 6AM)
91 of 99 people found this review helpful
DO NOT BUY. The transmission is absolutely horrible and ford will do NOTHING to fix it. I have broken down 2 times, my car will not accelerate and the RPMS just go crazy. I have had it in the shop 3 times within the past 2 months and they refuse to do anything for it.
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Dont Buy
penny, 12/04/2015
2012 Ford Focus SEL 4dr Hatchback (2.0L 4cyl 6AM)
21 of 22 people found this review helpful
Please don't buy this car.....clutch problems fro day one!
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