NHTSA Complaint #10137095 — 2000 FORD FOCUS

DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AT ABOUT 55 MPH, CAR HESITATED, RAN REAL ROUGH, THEN RAN NORMAL UNTIL I REACHED MY DESTINATION. WHEN I REACHED MY DESTINATION CAR JUST DIED IN PARKING LOT, WOULD NOT TURN OVER, WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING. HAD CAR TOWED TO HILLSIDE FORD (NEAREST FORD DEALER). THEY CALLED ME BACK AND SAID THAT COULD NOT FIGURE OUT THE PROBLEM UNTIL THEY PUT A STARTER IN THE CAR BECAUSE THE CAR WAS NOT TURNING OVER. WHAT THE STARTER HAS TO DO WITH THE CAR DYING IS BEYOND ME? SO I SAID OK, THEY CHANGED THE STARTER, CHARGING ME OF COURSE ($180 FOR STARTER), AND THEN REALIZED THAT THE CAR STILL DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. THIS IS WHEN THEY FIGURED OUT THAT THE BATTERY CABLES WERE ALL BURNT UP. SO THEY TOLD ME THEY WOULD HAVE TO BE CHANGED (ANOTHER $90.00 FOR CABLES). SO AFTER THE STARTER AND THE BATTERY CABLES WERE CHANGED THE CAR WAS BACK TO RUNNING NORMAL. MY TOTAL BILL INCLUDING LABOR $618.00. I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO GET THE CAR DONE BECAUSE IT IS MY ONLY SOURCE OF TRANSPORTATION. AFTER FURTHER LOOKING INTO RECALLS ON THE NHTSA WEBSITE FOR MY CAR, I REALIZED THAT THERE IS A RECALL FOR THE BATTERY CABLES ON MY FOCUS, WITH MY ENGINE AND THE SAME YEAR (RECALL #: 02V288000). I CALLED FORD AND THEY TOLD ME THAT ALL RECALLS ARE VIN SPECIFIC AND MY CAR WAS NOT ON THE LIST. THIS IS THE SAME THING THEY SAID WHEN THEY HAD A SILENT RECALL ON THE FUEL PUMP, WHICH THEY FINALLY AGREED TO TAKE CARE OF. *JB