Brakes will not work when car first driven in morning. Have to stand on the brakes to avoid hitting someone. Ford will not fix this. This car is extremely dangerous along with the water leak, bad ignition key tumbler and poor gas mileage. It has been rotten from the get go. Needs to be recalled!

- Louisville, KY, USA

The consumer complained about a vehicle speed control problem. This problem has been occurring since the consumer purchased the vehicle on March 1, 2000. The consumer took vehicle to dealer, and they told her there was no problem. There is NHTSA recall 99V346000 on this issue for the 2000 Ford.Focus ZX3. The consumer owns a zts 2000 Ford Focus, which is not included in the recall. Also, there is a fuel system problem. Vehicle experiences hesitation, loss of power, surging, and dyeing this problem first started on June 1, 2004. When the consumer took vehicle to a dealership for repairs they told her they thought it was the filter in the fuel tank. There is NHTSA recall campaign 03V482000. The dealership told her that this vehicle is not included in the recall because it is a zts.

- Brackenridge, PA, USA

Please look into the fuel systems of the 2000 Ford Focus. My son and his friend were killed in an automobile accident on 12/8 in detroit, mi. Early that morning, they struck a fire hydrant and the car exploded (back of the engine fire). Earlier, in the summer of 2004, I had driven the car home, turned off the engine, and gone in the house. About 5 minutes later. I came out to go to dinner with my wife...the car wouldn't turn over. When I got out, I found gas spewed all over the street. I hosed down the area, and had the car towed to bill brown Ford-livonia, mi. The car was repaired, and I was assured that all was well. Now, 5-6 months later, this accident occurred. I am not suggesting that the accident (hitting the hydrant) wasn't my son's doing. However, the speed at which the accident occurred (est. At 35 mph) shouldn't have resulted in a fuel line break and fire. Please check into the incident. The incident report number (detroit police department) is [xxx]. the VIN number of the car is [xxx]. the service record at bill brown Ford will note a long history of fuel system problems, including the issue noted above (gas on the street). More than anything I want to prevent another tragedy. Please look into this matter. Updated 07/24/2012 information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Redford, MI, USA

After the dealership performed the engine stalling recall 03V482000, the vehicle stalls. The dealership inspected the vehicle, but cannot locate a problem.

- Yukon, OK, USA

I purchased my 2000 Ford Focus SE from merlin motors in saskatoon. Production date - May 2/2000, stock no. PP24941, R.O. no. 155631. I believe this car was previously owned by someone in british columbia. Here is a chronological breakdown of repairs. April 17/01 - took car in because driver mirror vibrated badly when driving - so badly that I could not look into it, it was shaking that much. Also, the trunk would not open from the release inside the car. Parts were ordered at this time. Vehicle kilometers- 32854. June 19/01 - they checked for driver mirror vibrating when driving and replaced driver side exterior mirror. The also checked for trunk not opening from the release inside the car, they replaced the trunk stop and adjusted. Vehicle kilometers- 35222 June 20/01 - they checked for power steering leak and replaced steering rack and set toe. Vehicle kilometers- 37782?? (this is obviously an error - I know I did not drive 2, 560 km in one day!) I also did not complain about the power steering and don't recall why my car was in there at the time. Sept 21/01 - they repaired rattle in right front going over bumps, tightened all assemble bolts in front end, removed right caliper and rotor, lubed all bushing, adjusted front splash shields, found tie rod bolt loose and tightened. They also fixed molding on window belt, which was loose and checked inside rear view mirror and found it flawed - part on order. Vehicle kilometers- 43170. Nov 3/01 - we were driving in saskatoon when engine started to boil. We knew this because of steam coming from the hood, all gauges in the car read normal! we took car to merlin - they could find nothing wrong with the car after their checks, and told us to bring it back if it happened again! work order for this date states: Customer saw steam coming from under hood, antifreeze pooled on engine, gauge read normal, steam coming from overflow tank - fill with A/freeze, pressure test for leaks, no leaks found.

- Langham, UN, USA

I have nothing but grief with my 2000 Focus. 1) most recently I had was traveling at 50 km/H when my front right coil spring dropped out of the front end. I phoned Ford repeatedly and even though I discovered a program covering my the coil springs on I was given the run around saying that I was outside the program recall date by a few months even though the car was made at the wayne assembly plant; where other program recalls were coming from. I ended up in a field when the coil spring broke, narrowing missing the car next to me. I was thankful that I had escaped with my life but not to be covered by Ford was a slap to the face. I am very upset about the way they handled this situation and I am determined to let everyone know about this situation. My alignment is also out because of the accident but can't afford to fix it right now. 2) four times since I've owned the car, the car has stalled. Twice rounding a corner going onto a highway and 2 twice on a straight away highway. It always happened when the gas gauge was below 1/8 of a tank and so I thought it was my fault because I was running out of gas. Of course I blamed myself. But four times ? I began to become suspicious when the car began chugging uphill on a recent long distance trip. I barely made it to my destination. When I took into a Ford dealership in sudbury Ontario the serviceman told me that knows of the problem though most of them came in under warranty. Of course the problem at first only presented itself when the tank was near empty and so I always or nearly always made sure to have at least half a tank full of gas when driving. Today the problem is present regardless of how much gas is in the car. Very convenient for Ford seeing as though I am outside the 60,000 km warranty plan. Again I do not feel comfortable driving on the highways anymore. I am hoping that Ford will hear me out a pay for the repair.

- Toronto, UN, USA

Stalling, coughing, sputtering

- Osoyoos,Bc, UN, USA

On October 10th 2003 I was driving in the Ford Focus 2000 wagon from New York city to cleveland, oh, about 500 miles. It drove well for about 300 miles, but started to choke and sputter on hills, like it was about to stall. I was hoping I would make it to cleveland for repairs, but it stalled out on me going 65 miles an hour 60 miles outside of cleveland. I was able to restart, and limped into the nearest town and found a Ford dealer in ashtabula oh. He said it was the fuel filter and repaired it. It drove fine for the rest of journey into cleveland. But I then headed to New York city a few days later, and again after 200 miles, it started sputtering on hills. Then outside of binghamton, NY it stalled again. I again restarted, and terrified of a fatal accident, I called for road side assistance from verizon wireless. They got a tow truck to get me to a garage, but they were closed. The next morning, I waited for them to diagnose the problem and repair the car, but they were unable to replicate the stalling problem. I drove the rest of the way into New York city terrified, and almost stalled out at the foot fo the george Washington bridge. It was after 5:00 pm so the dealership was closed that I bought the car from. So I am planning to have them look at it. But they said that unless they can see the problem, they can't fix it. I also called Ford and they said they never heard of this problem. Which I later found out is a major problem with this car, and there is an active investigation underway at NHTSA. I am hoping to get by under the lemon law in NY, but fear that the dealership will claim there are no problems with my car. Thank you for listening to my complaint.

- Cleveland, OH, USA

Started experiencing problems with the vehicle after purchase. Suddenly in August, all power systems/computer type items began to fail -- power locks, trunk release. Then, car began (and still does) to sputter and shake when stopped/idle until it would shutdown. Also, the radio/cd player would shut off. Checked for tsbs for the vehicle model & year and found at least 15. When I took the car to the dealer (world Ford sandy springs) we were told that they are technical service bulletins and that we would have to pay to have the car repaired. Only official Ford recall notices, not even ntsa recall notices, would be honored. On top of this, we would be expected to pay $90 per complaint batch (the tsb list was batched in to 3 main areas)for diagnostic purposes and if any of the complaints were related to a recall, the $90 would be refunded as applicable. I expressed that if Ford issued a tsb and the ntsa issued a recall notice, then I should not have to pay to have the car worked on.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

Nov 2002 took to dealer the car was purchased from, told them it was sluggish and gas guage didn't always register. I thought at that time it was maybe the transmission. I was told nothing wrong, could not duplicate problem. Took to neighborhood dealer for the same problem replaced fuel filter. Had all this work before warranty expired in Feb 2003. Never notified about possible fuel pump. June 27th started car and engine died. It then wouldn't start again for about 30 minutes. I took it immediately to my neighborhood Ford dealership. Who told me it was the fuel pump and strongly suggest not to drive the car until repair. So the car was left there for repairs. After listen to the service people at the dealership, it came to my attention this was a common problem. I started to invesigate this myself and find 67 cases listed on the NHTSA website. The common statement was that the while driving at any speed and without prior warning vehicle dies out. On car hitting a park vehicle and several near misses on the highway. 2000 Ford Focus engine sputters and then stalls at high speeds. My concern is that I have heard and read hundred if not thousands of these fuel pump failures and after many nice but ineffective answers from Ford I feel that someone will be injured seriously or die to these faulty and possibly dangerous fuel systems. My dealership previously worked on this telling me fuel filter and I feel know well it was more and like the fuel pump. It seem that the gas guage not registering is a clear sign of problems with the fuel pump.

- Casa Grande, AZ, USA

Extreme amount of problems and recalls, vehicle has low mileage. In addition to listed problems, severe rear tire cupping at 7000 miles, may be attributed to loose rear wheel bearing. Power steering pressure hose leaking, A/C still not fixed correctly cold lasted for about a month drivers door lock wont lock interm. Rear trunk latch wont release from inside car. Fuel gauge erratic, caused driver to run out of gas on a bridge. Maf sensor failure, caused driver to be limited to 15 mph on freeway till next exit. Vheicles radio stuck on with key removed causing battery drain---happened twice and was fixed. Vehicle is a lease due back for return in August. Cant wait to be rid of this headache but feel sorry for whoever buys it... I would still like Ford Motor Co to reimburse me for the lease payments made for the amount of downtime and time vehicle spent at the dealership to fix some of these problems......thankyou

- San Diego, CA, USA

We have had problems with engine stall for no reason. When we are at 1/4 of a tank or at 1/2 a tank the engine will sputter or stall for no reason.

- S. Williamsport, PA, USA

Car is only 2yrs,8mo. Have currently expended over $4000 on repairs. Problem with seals allowing fumes in car from other vehicles running beside mine. The noise and wind shear level is very unsatisfactory. Squeal noise and thumping feeling from pressing on brake pedal. Hesitation on accelerating into traffic flow. Poor quality on parts and workmanship from manufacturer

- Killeen, TX, USA

Engine starts to stalls when comming to a stop. They claim it needs a new cylinder head.

- Doylestown, PA, USA

My car started by losing power and the the engine would race up in any gear. The lights on the dash would dim along with the radio and the headlights. Then on Oct 31 2002, the gages went crazy. I parked the car and called Ford and asked if they would run a test to see what was wrong. They said I would have to pay for the test and I told them I could not afford it. Since then I only drive the car to the store about 5 miles from my house and back. Now the engine is stalling again in any gear. The engine light is on. I again asked the dealership and Ford if they could run the test to see what is wrong with car again they refused. I just now wrote a E-mail to Ford. I just want my car that only has about 49000 miles to run. Ford is offering a longer warranty on the newer Focus why not offer it to us that owner the piece of junk older Focus.

- Atoka, TN, USA

We purchased this 2000 Ford Focus on 11/13/00. We began having problems with the manual transmission for the first time in January 2001 and took it to the dealership on 1/25/01 for diagnosis and repair. The vehicle has been in for repairs 4 additional times for manual transmission problems on 8/01/01, 1/11/02,7/09/02, and 2/13/03. The problems have been difficulty shifting into 1st and 2nd gear, grinding when shifting into 3rd gear. One of the times it was taken in we had completely lost the ability to shift into 2nd or 4th gear. Each time they have fixed the problem only to have more problems occur. The vehicle was taken to the dealership on 1/30/03 for road noise and wobbling in the wheel. The tire almost fell off on the way to the dealership. At that time we were advised that there was a recall on the wheel bearings. We had never received notification of this and in fact the service manager said that he was unaware of the recall until he looked up our vehicle in the computer. They subsequently performed the following repairs: Found related damage because of recall as follows, left drum, spindle and bearings refaced right drum R & R right spindle. Rear shoes replaced parts for related damage. This is the information stated on the invoice. At this time the check engine light had also been on so we asked them to also find out what that problem was. They found gross leak found at evap manifold line. Replaced line. This vehicle has also been to the dealership for several recalls including the replacement of a battery cable on 1/30/03 and another unspecified recall on 10/02/01. This vehicle has been in the shop 6 times for a total of 67 days in the 27 months that we have owned it. It now has 35,800 miles and the warranty is about to expire. We have made several calls to the dealership and to Ford customer service. They have offered to extend the warranty on the drive train and charge us a $50 deductible each time that the vehicle requires service on this system.

- Elgin, PA, USA

My 2000 Ford Focus has had problems starting 2 months after I purchased it. It's been in 6 times for excessive brake noise and or squealing. The door hinges were squeeking and had to be replaced due to misalignment..it took 5 times to determine this. Weather strip molding has been replaced due to falling apart around the headlights. The cd player/stereo was replaced with a new factory model when cd player would not work properly. The "new" model was replaced yet again due to coding seen and no numbers in the window digital area. The fuel pump was replaced after stalling more than 50 miles from home...still does not run up to performance. Fuel area reworked again. Would not start due to battery cable. Ford needs to discontinue this model until they can fix the problems it has with it. They also need to get all Focus models off the road, they are safety hazzards.

- Milford, DE, USA

Air has not worked properly from purchasing the car new. I purchased the car in wa state and have moved to Ohio. I am now told that even though the problems started prior to the warranty expiring, since I bought the car from another dealer, I will have to pay for any future prolems myself. Fuel, Ford know this is a problem, and refuses to tell me if the new fuel pump I had them put in is an old pump or a new one without the problems. Other, exhaust leak, I was told I had an exhaust leak, but the engine still sounds very knocky. I am 4th generation Ford, my sister was also and now buys anything but Ford, this will also be my last Ford, but any cash back would be great after buying the most expensive piece of junk I have ever had.

- Weston, OH, USA

Car has had the brakes serviced a total of five times and the car is stalling during acceleration. This car has been in shops for several recalls as well as twice for ignition lock failure. One of our children was trapped in rear seat by defective seat belt & had to be cut out with a knife. Car stalls after it warms up. Dealer says it's fuel pump but if that were so, wouldn't it stall waarm or cold. I spoke to an employee at another dealer who said Ford was finding problems with sensor connected with cooling system. Who do I believe? they want to charge us $700 to replace fuel pump that probably works fine.

- Murrieta, CA, USA

I bought the car in June of 2000 since this time the car has had a number of recalls on the car. I feel that the people that bought the 2000 model of this car should not be liable to pay the amount the contact was signed. Due to the fact that at the time the car was bought, the people that bought the car didn't know that most of the car's life would be in the shop being fixed. Also Ford knew that the Focus was prone to this happening.

- Shawnee, KS, USA