NHTSA Complaint #10246052 — 2005 FORD FOCUS

MY BATTERY LIGHT CAME ON IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS PAST WEEK ON MY WAY TO WORK...THEN ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MY MOTHER-IN-LAW AND I DECIDED TO GO TO ASHEVILLE, NC...WE GOT AS FAR AS WAYNESVILLE, AND MY CAR QUIT...(ABOUT 80,000 MILES ON MY CAR)...I WAS ABLE TO ROLL IT OFF AND POP THE CLUTCH AND GET IT TO START...I DROVE ABOUT 5 MILES, AND IT QUIT AGAIN...THIS TIME, I COULD NOT GET IT STARTED AGAIN...HAD TO CALL A TOW TRUCK...HAD MY CAR TOWED TO ANDY SHAW FORD IN SYLVA, NC, THE TOWN CLOSEST TO WHERE I LIVE...THEY CHECKED OUT MY CAR AND SAID THAT IT WAS THE ALTERNATOR...THEY ALSO TOLD ME THAT IN COLD AND HOT WEATHER, THE ALTERNATORS WILL GO OUT...MY HUSBAND HAS A 1998 TOYOTA TACOMA, WITH 240,000 MILES ON IT AND HE HAS NEVER HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR IN HIS TRUCK...I HAVE HAD THREE OTHER NEW CARS, THE FIRST ONE BOUGHT IN 1986, FORD FESTIVA...IT HAD 149,000 O SO ON IT WHEN IT QUIT....NEVER HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR...THE NEXT ONE I BOUGHT WAS A 1995 TOYOTA TERCEL, HIT A DEER WITH ABOUT 149,000 ON THE CAR...NEVER HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR IN THIS CAR...THE NEXT ONE I BOUGHT WAS A 2000 KIA RIO...TOTALED IT OUT WHEN SOMEONE HIT ME IN 2005...THE CAR HAD ABOUT 140,000 ON IT THEN...NEVER HAD TO EVER REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR IN THAT CAR...SO, WHY DID THE ALTERNATOR GO OUT ON THE FORD FOCUS? *TR