2012 Ford Focus — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 4,985 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)1,460 (29.3%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 2012–2018.
• Steering928 (18.6%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2000–2014.
• Engine500 (10.0%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 2000–2018.
• Electrical system355 (7.1%)Official recall records for this system: 16, covering model years 2000–2018.
• Fuel system340 (6.8%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 2000–2018.
• Body & structure334 (6.7%)Official recall records for this system: 11, covering model years 2000–2017.

Other / uncategorized: 358 classifications (7.2%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (44,183 records, model years 2000–2018) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), electrical system and engine.
• Safety recalls (179 records, model years 2000–2018) are most frequently classified under: fuel system, lights and electrical system.
• Transport Canada recalls (134 records, model years 2000–2018) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, body & structure and engine.
• Manufacturer communications (2,807 records, model years 2000–2018) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and equipment & accessories.
• Investigations (81 records, model years 2000–2018) are most frequently classified under: doors, latches & locks, engine and air bags (restraint system).

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 3,130reports included a mileage
• 77,417average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2000 4,025 records for 2000 4,025
2. 2001 1,971 records for 2001 1,971
3. 2002 1,132 records for 2002 1,132
4. 2003 1,095 records for 2003 1,095
5. 2004 455 records for 2004 455
6. 2005 503 records for 2005 503
7. 2006 229 records for 2006 229
8. 2007 413 records for 2007 413
9. 2008 273 records for 2008 273
10. 2009 247 records for 2009 247
11. 2010 311 records for 2010 311
12. 2011 146 records for 2011 146
13. 2012 3,915 records for 2012 3,915
14. 2013 2,291 records for 2013 2,291
15. 2014 2,772 records for 2014 2,772
16. 2015 1,170 records for 2015 1,170
17. 2016 1,404 records for 2016 1,404
18. 2017 1,096 records for 2017 1,096
19. 2018 954 records for 2018 954

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 107mention a crash
• 15mention a fire
• 88mention an injury
• 5mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 8
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 127
• Investigations NHTSA 3
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 10
• Owner complaints NHTSA 3,767

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• U0198 in 3 records
• U0100 in 2 records
• P0217 in 1 record
• U0101 in 1 record
• U0130 in 1 record
• U3003 in 1 record

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.