I've experienced my new Ford Fiesta 2013 shuddering, shaking, and chugging. Especially when I'm on a hill stopped and I try to accelerate. I have an automatic and it acts like a manual transmission. When I attempted to accelerate on the hill after stopping, the vehicle almost shut down completely. I brought my vehicle to the dealership which I purchased it from on two different occasions. Both times, the service advisor and the service manager informed me that the vehicle is performing as it should and there are no problems. I can't rely on the vehicle to accelerate as it should. Many times I've been afraid of my safety to merge into traffic because I know it won't perform.

- Dallas, GA, USA

I picked up this vehicle brand- new from the dealership on 8/2/13. By 8/5, three days after I got the car, the entire front end had started to shudder and chug, and the "check engine" light came on. It felt like a deep-seated timing issue (the engine rpms had been a bit off since I picked up the car on 8/2, and it appeared to be shifting oddly, even before the check engine light came on). The clutch also engaged at odd times (I bought an automatic), and it didn't appear that the engine rpms and transmission shifting were synching up correctly at all. My diagnosis was confirmed when I took the vehicle to romano Ford in syracuse, NY, where I purchased the vehicle. The next day (8/6), I was told that a "cam phaser" had failed on the engine due to a manufacturing defect, and that the engine oil would need to be completely flushed and changed. After a bit of research, I found out that the phaser is a small gear that regulates engine timing....by being cut incorrectly, metal shavings from the gear had contaminated my engine oil. This, obviously, is not an easy fix. By screwing up my engine timing, the regulation of my entire vehicle is screwed up. The car has been sitting in the shop since 8/6 (it is now 8/22), with no resolution in sight. They brought in a Ford technician from god-knows-where that is supposed to fix it; it was supposed to be fixed 2 days ago to no avail. I am now closing in on the time period for invoking the NY state lemon law; I hope I can get my $ back and send this thing to the dump! Ford needs to recall these crappy things asap!

- Syracuse, NY, USA

When trying to take off car almost shuts off and then all of the sudden picks back up and takes off. Sometimes coming out of first gear the gas sticks and chugs like it isn't getting gas just going down the highway. It is so bad that if you want to take off into traffic you have to cut the air off or heat to get all the power you can. If you have the ac on and make a turn and shift down you have to go a gear lower if the ac is on. Then it chugs along until it catches up.

- Gibsonville, NC, USA

First time it almost completely died on me getting on the highway, then all of the sudden it gunned it and took off. About 3 miles down the high way engine lights and service lights came on. I got to work and they towed it. They said they changed some kind of wiring under the front window and dash. That didn't fix it. The next day I was pulling out of wendy's and give it some gas and nothing happened. I rolled then all of the sudden it gunned it again. I almost got hit. Got it home and parted it. Took it in the next day and they changed the throttle body on it. It still hesitates as you go down the highway. Has very little take off and merging power. The only thing I am glad I did when I bought this car was I got a straight drive. It would have no power if it was an automatic.

- Gibsonville, NC, USA

I almost died in this car today. I rented it for my trip in maui. It was practically new with only 10,000 miles on it, so there should not have been anything wrong, even if the people that rented it before me drove it horribly. Today I drove it into the hills (upcountry maui). I was on a road with a cliff on the left side and a driveway on the right. I pulled into the driveway, which was a hill going up, and everything was initially fine, the car was going up the hill just fine, but a little over halfway up the hill the car stopped accelerating/moving. I was pressing the gas pedal to the floor but it had no rpms and the car began rolling backwards. Suddenly, the transmission (?) kicked in and the car lurched forward at 20mph. Thankfully I was able to control it and make it to the top of the hill, where there was a parking lot. Had the transmission not kicked in at that second, the car would have rolled all the way back down the driveway and off the cliff. There is absolutely no way that I was pressing the brake pedal or not pressing the gas. I was going up a hill and obviously didn't want to roll back, so of course I would have my foot pressed down on the accelerator. This is further exhibited by the fact that the car suddenly lurched forward after a few seconds of not moving, so I definitely had my foot on the accelerator the whole time. I have read online hundreds of people that have issues with the car not accelerating/moving while pressing on the gas, so this is not an isolated issue. What if this happens to someone else who is riding it in the hills or mountains? please do something about this car before someone is seriously hurt.

- Chicago, IL, USA

While driving on the freeway my vehicle got very shaky and uncontrollable to drive, the check engine light came on and we noticed a burning smell and smoke coming from under the hood area. After being able to pull off freeway and check car we noticed a huge trail and puddle of oil coming from my car. Turned car into Ford dealership and was told that it was a oil leak from my engine oil cooler and resulted in a shattered piston in my engine from it being starved of oil. Was told by Ford I needed a new engine, but received a "remanufactured" engine long block from Ford. After almost 3 weeks I got the car back and that same day the car started to shudder and shake badly, everytime I start the car the car would crank over and take 5-10 seconds to actually catch and start. It would not accelerate, exhibits grinding scraping thumping noises from under the hood while driving low speeds. Trying to accelerate from a stop, forget it, the car gets stuck but revs high even though the speed wont change. Almost got into an accident due to not being able to accelerate like a car should. Told Ford and now sending car back again, but was given a tsb that these are "normal" characteristics. Im sorry but there is nothing normal about that and this car is a death trap!!

- Paradise Valley, AZ, USA