I graduated college in 2013, driving then a 2001 Nissan Altima which was on its last leg. I never thought in a million years after buying a brand new off of the lot 2013 FORD focus that I would miss that Nissan. I needed a reliable car with good gas mileage due to traveling for my job. I got the good gas mileage but the reliability was far fetched and as a faithful ford lover, I AM so disappointed.

From day one we had the shuttering and hesitation. We have taken it back to the dealer multiple times, first not even riding in it they said after our explanation of what was happening that, "That is normal." As the shuttering and hesitation got worse and two more visits of them saying it was fine I had had enough. I did my research and I talked to a few people whom worked within Ford and they said its an ongoing problem that can not be completely fixed.

Since then they have restarted my computer system, and replaced my clutch. It has been approximately two months since the replacements and the worst was apparently yet to come. Pulling out into a blind area, half way into the road my car did not just "hesitate" as listed, but simply would NOT accelerate. I tried reverse, nothing. I tried low, nothing. I shut my car off and restarted it ...meanwhile a car is coming and I was a sitting duck. Thank goodness they saw me and there was no oncoming traffic. This "reliable" piece of garbage almost got me T-boned, let alone the innocent driver coming at me. When I restarted my car it hesitated but then accelerated.

I documented what had happened, I contacted a lawyer and contacted the manager at the Ford dealership I purchased my car. I hope and pray no one gets hurt with this problem Ford is simply trying to keep quiet. In our immediate family we have (6) F-150s, (2) Ford escapes (2) Ford Fusions all 2011 and higher, and are all faithful and happy ford owners. Except me. My car has been parked since, and we will resolve this issue hopefully before anyone is hurt.

Bought this car used 2 years ago. Has less than 47,000 miles. Not really a mechanics person so just let it slide at first and finally took it in to be looked at. Slips upon acceleration which can make your heart race in traffic. Have taken it in to the dealership 5 times this past year alone! 2 new clutches and 3 "updates". Told to give it 500-1000 miles to break in. Hasn't worked yet so not sure what makes this 5th time different. Want it fixed not bandaged before our warranty runs out. Not to mention the safety concerns. Had a mini heart attack a few times when pulling out into traffic.

Update from Dec 22, 2015: Since posting this complaint, we had to take the car back in again on the 15th of December because I was experiencing the hesitation again. After being there a few hours was told nothing was found wrong. The next day when I was leaving a store it jumped and then the check engine light came on. Took it to a Tiresplus and they did the free code scan and it came up being something with the transmission. So...took it back to the dearlership service center where they put us in a rental while they kept it. They replaced a part in the transmission this time. Just know that Ford is aware of the problem and a few, not one, but a few employees admitted that it is a problem that cannot be fixed, only patched.

Purchased used 2013 Ford Focus on October 2, 2015 with 46,000 miles. After 1 week the car started having problems with acceleration while driving. Problem progressed to significant problem accelerating in 1st and 2nd gear with grinding noise shifting to 3rd gear; seemed like the transmission was slipping. Took back to dealer 2 weeks after purchase for repair and was told it was a problem with the internal clutch in the automatic transmission and would take 3 weeks to get the part but I could continue to drive the car, "it will not stall-out while you are driving."

On November 16, 2015 CBS News they reported their investigation of complaints about Ford Focus transmission problems and accidents that have occurred due to transmission problems. I'll be back to the dealer with my complaint and request the transmission be replaced or take back the car. Also contacting an attorney if dealer will not cooperate.

Update from Jan 6, 2016: Almost 3 months trying to get transmission fixed. Started in Oct. 2015 and dealer keeps telling me Ford is not shipping parts to repair transmission. Time to see a lawyer. A lot of people have done sued so I guess it's my only option at this point. Hope to get resolution before I'm involved in an accident.

Bought this car on Labor Day of 2015 as a used vehicle. Was in great shape on the inside and outside. Only had around 35000 miles on it. Rode smoothly for the first couple days and now the transmission is the worst thing I have ever felt in my life. I have people ask me what's wrong with the car or why is it doing that when they get in!

When you take off it hesitates, jerks, shakes, makes grinding noise and sometimes doesn't want to go. The whole reason for getting a newer car was to not have to pay for continues repairs as I was doing with my 2004 Jeep. This car, from what I read, has had numerous complaints and law suits filed against FORD and the transmission needs to be recalled in these cars as they are dangerous. I wish I had read up on the vehicle before I bought it as I would NEVER have purchased this vehicle knowing all the things wrong with transmission. It is not a normal way for a car to drive.

I have had my car in several times to the dealer for this problem. They have always told me there was nothing that could be done because they can't find anything wrong. The dealership told me it takes time for the car to learn my driving habits, once it does this should stop. My car jerks and hesitates after stopping almost as if it is going to die. Continued to get worse now has a ratcheting sound going up a hill. Took back to the dealership last week. This time they took me seriously. Gave me a rental and keeping my car until the problem is found. I received a call telling that my clutch is bad. My car is an automatic, 3 years old and has low mileage. I paid cash for this car bought it with all the extras now I feel like I have a junker. I am so disappointed with Ford. Wanted to trade it in but I get less than half of what I paid. Ford doesn't even want this car back.

I bought this vehicle used in July 2015. I started to drive the vehicle and noticed it was having difficulty shifting or finding the right gear to get into. (Hesitates like someone who doesn't know how to drive a standard). I dealt with it for awhile and started to notice how loud noise was coming from my tires into my cabin. So I took it to the shop.

They said, your tires are eaten up. (Due to the irregular shifting of the transmission caused tire to chew up) So I had to replace two of my four. It appears I am fixing to have to change the other two due to the same thing. So the car continued to sputter, jerk, and hesitate. So I took it to Ford in Carrollton,Texas. They said it was a clutch problem and the only (Maybe) fix was to do a software update. They did the software update and now it is worse.

So I called Ford Customer Service and was given a case # and they said they would contact me back. Never got a call or an email. So I called Ford again. They assigned me another case # and said they were sending it up the chain to someone else who works with dealerships and can resolve problems even faster. Wrong again.

The person who was suppose to get back to me is Wendy. She was suppose to email me back within 24 hrs to give me an update on my case or just say she received it. Guess what it is 3 days later and nothing. I called her back with in 24 hrs and all I got was her voicemail. She still hasn't called me back.

This car was for my 16 year old daughter. It is sitting in the driveway not being used because I think it is to dangerous to drive. My daughter is not going to be the ONE STATISTIC (someone must get killed before they will do a recall) to have FORD step up to the plate to resolve the problem. Come on FORD step up to the plate!

Took this to Ford after buying it used (someone else probably traded the problem). It started jerking when pulling out, so I took it right up for service. They already knew what was wrong (since so many are complaining) and tried to tell me that's just the way they are. NO>>>> so I told them to do something! They reprogrammed the computer.....that did NOTHING. I took it back up again, they told me it is within "spec". NO>>>>>> I just made an appointment again. Told them I won't be back for it until they fix it!!

I'll let you know what they do!!

Now I have almost 112,000 miles and I am out of warranty. I have my Focus in the shop 3 times in the last few weeks. One time it was a recall, another was a flash upgrade. After having the service dept. tell me appointments where weeks out I sent an e-mail to the owner. The owner forwarded my e-mail to the service manager. My Ford dealer is paying for my rental why they waited for an open appointment. The diagnosis is the clutch needs replaced. Cost is $1420, The Ford dealer went to FOMOCO and asked for this to be covered, FOMOCO said "No". My dealer reduced the price but it is still going to cost over $1100. My hats off to my dealer, however FOMOCO needs to fix this. I drive an automatic not a manual shift trans. My next new won't be a Ford.

After owning for only 500 miles and one month, the transmission surges erratically similar to when fuel injection tour is not getting enough gas. Brought back to dealer who states that the transmission is two 3 speed put together to make automatic. Have had back to dealer numerous times with no resolve. Now car has 11000 miles after two years and same problem exists. I heard that there is a class action lawsuit against Ford on this issue but need some advise on what I can do. We are retired and this was to be our primary vehicle.

Help!

I am amazed at the number of complaints regarding the bad transmission problems of the Ford Focus. My problems started a week after I purchased this car. Not only did it have a jerky takeoff , but there was this strange rattle. The service Forman took the car for a drive and told me yes there is a problem and confirmed that there was exactly what I complained about, and he said that perhaps it may go after 14000klms, he also asked me how long I intended to keep the car. That question explained everything .

So far I've taken the car back six times to the dealership, I've had the clutch plates replaced, other times I've had adjustments made to the computer, this temporarily fixes the problem but it reappears a few days later. I feel as though I'm being fobbed off, as I'm sure they have been told By Ford to make it appear that the problem has been fixed.I spent $26000 on this car and it's nothing but a Lemon.

I would like for everyone who has this problem for us to start a class action suite. Anyone interested let's all give each our e mail address. Mine is revenne@icloud.com. ford should take responsibility for this poor transmission design and fix it in accordance with their slogan " Quality is # 1" Fords reputation is at stake over this matter.

I was driving and I felt the slip, then it started stuttering when I went to accelerate. The next thing I know, the check engine light comes on. This happened while driving to work and I prayed that I would make it to work because this seemed a familiar problem that I had with my Taurus.

I drop it off at the dealership and the service guy tells me he can look at the trans since it was under warranty but the check engine light will cost because it was only limited warranty. I didn't care, take it, fix it and I'll talk to the manager. They give me a loaner and the sales manager tells me that there's a known issue with the 2013 model and he would give me 1500 rebate to get me out of the car. The trade-in value was less than half what I owe and it was less than 2 years old!

My gripe is - if this is a known issue, take the piece of sh*t back for what I owe since you sold it to me at that price. It wasn't worth it so they kept it from the 18th to the 25th. Mind you, the service guy was hard to get a hold of and the technician who was take a look at it was off for two freaking days, no biggie got a loaner right? When I finally get it back on the 25th, I was told that they had to reprogram and have the car "relearn" my driving habits..I'll bite for now. Guess what, the piece of sh*t started up again on September 3rd, 10 days after the problem was suppose to be fixed.

I started to research more vigorously and found that Ford knew this issue since 2010 and it not only occurs in Focuses but on Fiestas as well all the way up to their 2014/2015 models. Why isn't Ford recalling this? This is a hazard for everyone on the road and heaven forbid if you are riding with your family!!! Imagine if you are accelerating to change lanes...I use to be a die hard Ford but now I went GM. I traded that crap in for a Volt and loving it. I did call Ford dealership and left them a message.

Update from Jun 24, 2016: This happened several times, meaning every 3-4 days and the dealership would say they "reprogrammed" it. No way am I risking anymore of my family lives. Traded it in for a Chevy Volt and problem solved. Chevy is the way to go not Ford.

I bought this car used in Dec 2014 with about 27K miles on it. My Focus sometimes hesitates at take-off from a stop sign or light, similar to many of the other problem descriptions here. I have the 5-speed manual transmission but I don't get the impression that it's a transmission problem. No grinding or clunking noises noted, and the tranny shifts smoothly. Seems more like the engine control module (ECM) sometimes lets the engine idle too low and when the clutch is released and the throttle is applied the engine stumbles. To date I have handled the problem by feathering the throttle a bit at take-off. If I get the RPMs above 1K it takes-off fine. Seems like an engine software problem in my case. I reported it here as this is where my symptom appeared. Consider this another data point.

This all started just a few weeks after buying the my 2014 Ford Focus. The transmission would lag when shifting and then lurch forward and spin the tires. It would hesitate when taking off from stop signs and constantly upshift and downshift when going up hills. The car several times almost stalled in stop and go freeway traffic. Don't even get me started on the steering problems when braking downhill.

I took it to the dealership at that time and was told that the computer hadn't yet had time to learn my driving habits. I was told to give it some time and see if it got better. They told me they were really backed up on work and it could take them a few days to even get to it. I didn't have any choice but to keep driving the car. This went on for for months before my wife came close to being rear ended because the car was jerking and shifting in traffic.

I took the car to the dealership again and was told these cars have a transmission that is a constant problem for them. the service adviser told me that the car basically has a manual transmission that Ford made automatic by adding two servo motors and a double clutch system with two extra computers. He said the computers don't always sync and they can cause issues with the main computer. They again told me the car would have to be in for a few days at least because they were backed up on repairs.

A few days later they called me to come drive around with the tech so he could see what it was I was talking about. I drove around with the tech and explained what I had experienced. He noticed the jerking and hesitation and told me the computers needed to be synced. Another couple of days and my car was ready. I picked it up at the dealer and was told to give it a few weeks for the car to re-learn how to shift and get used to my driving habits again.

Well a month went by and the car was still doing the same thing. I contacted the service adviser again and he told me they were really swamped and to bring it in the following week. I took the car in again and explained the problem the following week. I was told that there was a new service bulletin from Ford that had come out a few days after my car had been in the last time that required another computer sync to solve some reported issues. They completed that computer re-sync and I got my car back a couple of days later. Unfortunately the car is still making the same clanking noise when you turn and still hesitates and still shifts in and out when driving uphill.

The service adviser again told me the car is still learning how to shift and when to shift based on my driving habits. So my problem at this point is when are they actually going to fix the real problem, i.e.; replace the piece of junk transmissions they put in these cars or buy back there defective dangerous cars. Also if the car needs to learn how to drive based off of driving habits of the individual driver what happens when someone else drives the car? That makes no sense at all to me and sounds like someone blowing smoke to shut your complaints down!

Purchased vehicle new in June 2013.

August 2014 - Mileage was recorded on visit to dealer. Noticed jerking and hesitation on acceleration and took in for testing/inspection to dealer. Testing revealed clutch plate outside mfg specs. Adjusted computer (relearn) not sure what that was. Dealer replaced the Clutch Seal at no cost under warranty

June 2015 - Odom 30,197. Same problem, but worse. Sometimes the gears don't change. Sometimes the gears don't engage. There is more jerking on acceleration. Took to new dealer - (because I moved). Testing revealed that clutch/transmission presents out of spec.

They are going to order and replace the clutch part BV6Z-7B546-F

Update from Jul 6, 2015: Dealer ordered new clutch to be installed on 7/15/15