10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
23 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
25 / 5
Average Mileage:
85,634 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2012 Ford Focus:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #901

Feb 012023

Focus

  • 0 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the instrument panel lights were dimly illuminated, the horn was inoperable, and the radio was not functioning properly. The contact stated that the steering assists warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to her residence. The contact stated on March 8, 2023, the steering wheel seized. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and was able to steer to the right and park in a nearby parking lot. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the steering rack to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Middleburg, PA, USA

problem #900

Nov 082022

Focus

  • 50,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 30-35 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer across a parking lot. The contact stated after investigating the failure online, she turned off the vehicle for a moment. The contact then restarted the vehicle while turning the steering wheel and the vehicle responded as needed; however, the failure reoccurred increasingly while driving. The message "Loss of Power Steering Assist" was displayed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the electronic power steering rack and pinion and outer tie rod needed to be replaced. The contact related the failure to Ford Campaign Number: 15S08. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

- Media, PA, USA

problem #899

Dec 192022

Focus

  • miles
electric power steering works intermitently at low speed not safe when having to make turns or change lanes.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

problem #898

Jan 032023

Focus

  • miles
Power steering will go out intermittently. Known safety defect by Ford but they still have not issued a recall.

- Parma Heights, OH, USA

problem #897

Aug 312022

Focus

  • miles
Power steering stopped working while driving at 65 miles per hour and wheel locked almost causing an accident. Power steering malfunction

- Indianapolis , IN, USA

problem #896

Aug 162022

Focus

  • 75,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 15 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The contact was able to pull over safely. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 75,000.

- Danville, PA, USA

problem #895

Aug 092022

Focus

  • miles
Electric power steering assist failed. Vehicle currently has no power steering. Problem confirmed by dealer who says steering rack needs replacement. Fairly common issue per online complaints. Ford issued recall on other models but not the Focus.

- Colchester, CT, USA

problem #894

Jul 262022

Focus

  • miles
The power steering quits working and has no power assist when driving down the road. You are not able to turn the vehicle at all and even get it off the road to a safe spot on the side of the road. It goes out even when trying to turn a corner and it starts to go head on into traffic putting other drives at rick of being hit by a car I can-??t control.

- Brownstown, MI, USA

problem #893

Feb 282022

Focus

  • miles
A couple weeks ago leaving work a warning light came on that the power steering assist was disabled/malfunctioning, to have it serviced. It became prohibitively difficult to steer my car. I called AAA and had it towed to an independent service center. They reported that the steering module, essentially the computer brain for the steering, has failed. The repair is overwhelmingly expensive, and I haven-??t pursued it due to the crippling cost. When I proceeded to drive the car home, the light was off, and it drove fine. One of the shops I spoke with said this could happen, but it would come back unpredictably, and intermittently until it just won-??t be drivable. I-??m just glad it was in a safe spot when this failure occurred. Reports I-??ve been reading online have scared me with drivers being on the freeway when this component fails, nearly causing accidents in some cases. This seems like a serious safety issue, and certainly not a -??wear and tear-?? issue of daily use. The shop reported the repair would cost $2400 before taxes. I bought this car used for $5000 last year, and so far have had to put in a whole new front end, replace the cooling/ heating reservoir system. So throwing in that much more money into it is having a very negative impact on my livelihood. Other drivers report this issue occurring at anywhere from 60,000 miles to 150,000 miles. My car is at 128,000 miles.

- Seattle, WA, USA

problem #892

Jan 012022

Focus

  • 60,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the steering wheel locked and she was unable to steer the steering wheel on three occasions. The warning letter "I "was illuminated. The local dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #891

Jan 052022

Focus

  • miles
When starting the car, the message displays "steering assist fault. Service required". The entire power assistance is not functional. The car can be manually steered under heavy effort. This issue came and went multiple times. Some times, the steering system started to work and all was good. Other times, there was no recovery. The last time the issue occured was while driving down the road. The message appeared and the power assist was gone. It has not come back online. It did not cause an accident as I was able to manually force the steering to do what I needed to exit the road safely. It appears reading online that the only recourse is to replace the entier system requiring the removal of the rack and pinon and the front assembly sub frame. Estimate costs are over $3000 and it must be done at Ford as it needs software to work correctly. This does not seem reasonable for a car with only 120,000 miles on it.

- Castro Valley, CA, USA

problem #890

Nov 242021

Focus

  • miles
Power Steering Assist Failure warning appeared on dashboard and steering became extremely difficult. Frightened my pregnant daughter to tears.

- Cibolo, TX, USA

problem #889

Oct 132021

Focus

  • miles
I bought my car from a Ford dealership about 2 years ago and on 2 occassions now i have had problems with my power steering. First time i started my car after work and a steering assist fault message illuminated on the dash and the power steering was near impossible to turn. I was not able to drive the vehicle and had it towed to my mechanic who also found the power steering difficult to turn the next morning and it ran a code for him of steering malfunction. He said he thought the rack and pinion needed replacing and stated that only Ford could do it as it would need to be reprogramed by them as it is electric. So i had the car towed to Ford and they were unable. To diagnose it. A week later upon starting my car to head to work the sane steering assist fault message came on my dash so I turned off my car and started it again after reading online how common this problem is with this make of car and how that remedies it in the beginning. Car was able to start but i had it taken again to Ford as i am scared of it going out while driving or getting stranded agaun somewhere without power steering and so far Ford can still not diagnose it. This is really frustrating as it is a huge safety issue. I no longer feel safe driving my car. I get anxiety about being in an accident or getting stranded again late at night with my car. And i read it costs almost 3000 tp fix. This should ne recalled. I only have had this car about 2 years and i will never buy feom ford again. If i could afford a new car i would get rid of it because it is not a safe car. So upsetting Ford will not do a recall. It is way to hard for a woman to try to drive this car with power steering loss. Someone will be injured before Ford cares.

- Lansing, MI, USA

problem #888

Aug 242021

Focus

  • miles
Power steering assist fault code pops up everytime I turn on my car, my steering wheel is completely locked, only have had car for 6 months dont have the money to replace rack and pinion which costs so much there should be a recall on this considering so many people have complained about this exact steering issue. My car was parked and running when I lost my power steering

- Tamaqua , PA, USA

problem #887

Oct 062021

Focus

  • miles
The power steering assist failure warning came on and then went away after turning the vehicle off. The same issue came back the day after, with it being completely unsafe to drive the vehicle on the road. Turning the wheel is very difficult, and this problem has been commonly reported by others with the 2012 Ford Focus, yet no recalls have been issued. The car has not been inspected as of today, but others have reported up to $2600 of repair costs for this issue. Previous to this incident, the car did not have any other warning lights or other symptoms of dysfunction.

- Winsted, CT, USA

problem #886

Oct 032021

Focus

  • miles
On engine startup the power steering doesn't function and there is a power steering assist warning. The fault is rectified by turning the engine off and on. I'm concerned that the problem may occur while driving.

- Mesa, AZ, USA

problem #885

Aug 102021

Focus

  • miles
Electronic power steering failed. My daughter almost lost control of the vehicle. If she had been driving on the highway, an accident would have killed her! The loss of power steering is a reoccurring problem with this vehicle. A simple internet search reveals the problem is common. Issue a recall before more people are hurt.

- Altus, OK, USA

problem #884

Sep 012021

Focus

  • 112,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20-25 MPH, the steering wheel was stiff and difficult to be turned. The contact was able to drive to his residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and diagnosed as power steering failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 112,000. The VIN was unavailable.

- Laughlin, NV, USA

problem #883

Feb 092021

Focus

  • 104,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the steering wheel failed to operate properly. The vehicle was turned off and restarted and the steering wheel resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The dealer was contacted, and the contact was informed that a diagnostic test was needed to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure recurred twenty times. The contact felt it was unsafe to drive the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided the contact with a case number. The failure mileage was approximately 104,000

- Concord, CA, USA

problem #882

Jul 292021

Focus

  • miles
This has happened 5 times and good thing it hasn-??t happened while driving or that could cause a bad accident. The steering assist light has come on when I-??m sitting in my driveway and start my car and when I turn the wheel it won-??t move it-??s locked. so I-??ve shut off my car and restart it and then the wheel will turn. I see this is a problem for many people this is definitely not safe and should be recalled.

- Largo, FL, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »