Driving down the road (62 miles each way, which is why I have the damn thing), my radar detector goes off saying "Low Battery", then the radio dies and speaks from the dead with "Low Battery". I shut down everything in the car, and about 10 miles later ALL instruments, etc die, go to 0. Make it to the FORD dealer, and they say "bad battery". So they take it in and an hour later, they announce the verdict "bad alternator, output 0". The alternator is controlled from the PCM (computer module) which seems a very weird way to do it, as high current control is required, and it means the alternator is directly coupled to the PCM by signal meaning any way to hose the PCM is available. Anyways, I told dealer that they need to replace it with factory authorized part, no aftermarket, and PCM as well. Being in the microprocessor business, I suspect it may be in that PCM control loop, and /or the other comment seen about some gizmo in the alternator that breaks, not allowing it to charge battery. One has to wonder, dear Henry descendants, WTF did you do with the damn "ALT" light? Is it too much to ask for some kind of damn warning? This is a great argument for a full set of gauges, as the stupidity virus has obviously been resident at FORD before spreading to the rest of american buisness and government, This same issue also affected the 2003 Focus I sold my son, which had the same meltdown as this last year, and has been screwed ever since, despite 3 trips to the dealership for repairs.

This is our college-aged daughter's first car, which she paid for herself, so we were happy she got a reliable car with very low mileage. She's had the car for about one and a half years, and the car now has about 40,000 miles on it, just over the 36,000/3 year warranty (of course). The other night at 1:30 in the morning the phone rings. This alone is every parents' worst nightmare, as horrible thoughts race through your mind. My daughter's Focus had broken down, thankfully only about 5 or 6 miles from the house. I got dressed and drove over. We jump started the car, but the battery would not hold a charge as we could only get about 1 or 2 miles when the car would again die. We wound up jump starting the car three times (at 2 in the morning on dark lonely roads) in order to get it to our service station near our house. The next morning the station informed us that the alternator was bad; there was a broken piece at the back of the alternator that, if not in the right position, would cause the battery not to charge. Although the warranty was past, they suggested that we contact Ford and complain. Having this website with the other complaints has been a real help in my quest to get Ford to pay for this. I mentioned this to Ford, but they said that if customers don't tell them directly, they don't do anything. I urge everyone to call Ford and report your alternator problems. They work with NHTSA and could be forced to have a recall if there are enough problems with the alternators. In this case (as per my father who was the auto editor of consumer reports until his retirement a few years back), if you have your receipts for the work done you could get reimbursed. We're still in the middle of this with Ford, but I plan on taking this all the way. An alternator should not go on a two and a half year old car with 40,000 miles.

Over all I have to say that this 2007 Ford Focus I bought is great on gas. I had problems with the interior door handles at first, and they took care of that, now the exterior handles are harder to open the doors, and just this month and I only had the car for almost 2 years coming November the Alternator dies, and leaves my daughter with her 5 month old son, my 1st Grandson, stuck at a McDonalds parking lot, this was pissing me the hell off big time, I will NEVER buy another Ford car/Truck/Van EVER, 2 years old and the Alternator dies, I had a 1984 Chevy Pick up that has had over 150000 miles on it, and still the same alternator on the truck, here a new car? Screw Ford, they should replace it for free and pay us for are troubles.. I had to pay 100.00 bucks, thank god I had the extend warr., on the car!

Chris from lower Delware

First off car is in Pa. but apparently came from Ca. since it had Ca. emissions, not Fords' problem. Battery was not charging and was only reading battery voltage at terminals. Car only had 30000 miles and thought too early for alternator. I was wrong. Since Ca. emissions, catalytic converter located very close to exhaust manifold. Alternator located just above it which probably leads to its' early demise and makes for very cramped work space, these are Ford problems. Space issue borders on being ridiculous, I wonder if Ford uses CAD? Anyway, once I located a spare( many trips, ended finding one at junkyard) job took about 2 hours to pull and replace. Also, 1 amp battery sense fuse was blown, since PCM monitors and controls regulator. After replacing everything, got a solid 14.3 volts with meter, before fuse replacement voltage was 14.7 and drifting. By the way, regular low emissions alternator did not fit the Ca. emissions car adding to more headaches. In my humble opinion, replacing an alternator should not be this hard...

Very alarmed to find this such a high level of failure on the web. So far the car has been very good. This is starting to smell of a factory defect and I hope to see Ford step up to the plate and make this right for all. My car has less than 16k on it and is well serviced and kept. Having an alternator go soon soon is unbelievable. I've had many cars go beyond 100k with the original alternator, some even with old generators that went for 60K as well. Really bad impression to make to the users. Such a blemish on a brand will surly hurt future sales I'm sure.

I have only had my car for 15 months, and yes, I put a lot of miles on it each day going to and from work as I have put about 34,000 miles on my car in a year and a half, but come on! The last car I had that needed a new alternator was 7 years old when I had to replace it and it only cost me $104 not $600! The cost to replace it is ridiculous. I know that I will not ever but a Ford again. I really think Ford needs to take a look at when their parts are wearing out verses when the parts of other auto manufactures are wearing out. It seems to me that either they are putting our faulty alternators or there is something wrong with the car that is causing the alternators to wear out faster. Of course it is when the warranty is up also which makes me a little suspicious as well. Oh well, live and learn and never buy a ford again!

I will include a letter I sent to the local dealership that treated me like crap. But first, after I sent this letter, I was contacted by the dealer and told they would do nothing for me. Ford Corporate would do nothing for me as well. Anyway here is my story:

Greetings:

My name is , I have used your dealership numerous times for body work totaling easily $10000 in the last year, not to mention service and being a Ford customer in general. Granted, my girlfriend gets in a lot of accidents and you get to benefit from it with my business, however, today there was an issue that really irks me that has given me a reason to write to you and to Ford corporate. First, before I go into this, I must say, your body shop guys are great, easy to work with, and do an excellent job. However, this is about your service department today.

On Friday the 18th of April, I picked up my car after having a new fender, front bumper, etc installed on the car. As I said, the work was excellent. I drove the car to Hoosick falls with my girlfriend to see some friends, drove back towards Watervliet where we live, and the car dies in the middle of River St. in Troy. I called Ford RoadSide Assistance, they come and jump the car. I go to Advance AutoParts and they tell me that my alternator is dead. Wonderful. So this morning is when the fun begins.

I arrive at your dealership promptly at approx 7:40 AM. I wait in line, and meanwhile I had to jump start the car before I could drive it over there, and as I am waiting in line, the car dies. No electrical power at ALL. So I walk into the service center and explain the situation to a service tech. The tech tells me that I am sh*t out of luck being that my car is 9000 miles outside of the warranty and that they would not look at the car today anyway. Nevermind that its dead out in your parking lot and that I just JUST picked it up the NIGHT before with a clean bill of health and all fixed. So, I leave, after getting a jump of course, rather mad, after being told that my business matters not to the service tech.

I went over to PepBoys who was more than happy to tell me how much it would cost, and how long. They give me the estimate and suggest talking to a manager at Ford before having them doing it. I go back over to , and I talk to a Sales Manager. I explained the situation to him and he tells me flat out, "If you are out of your warranty we will do nothing about it" I try to argue customer service for someone who had been a LIFE TIME Ford customer, who always tried to get servicing and auto body work at . Granted, the car came from , but at the time your dealership could not get a bank to give me a loan and they could. But still� I tell him all this, and I say I would like some customer service, someone who I could talk to about the situation. His response was "You didn't buy the Car from us take it to the f*cking dealer that you got it from we don't care about the business you brought us, we won't fix it."

Now, your sales manager was out of line. I left the sales room rather mad, went to PepBoys and paid the $517 to have an alternator put in my 2007 Ford Focus SES. The Vin is . I would appreciate a call back from a manager, a person in charge of this dealership. I want this fixed ASAP. Leaving a customer with a pretty much BRAND NEW CAR stranded with a DEAD car is wrong, irresponsible, and quite frankly NOT good for business.

I can be reached during the day at until 3:00 pm EST and after that at . You can also reach me via email at: . This letter was also Emailed via your contact link on www..com.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing something from you,