NHTSA Complaint #10577231 — 2013 FORD FOCUS

I WAS DRIVING ON AN INTERSTATE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS IN A COMPLETELY FLAT SECTION OF THE ROAD AND HAD BEEN APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES IN MY JOURNEY WHEN I NOTICED MY CAR STARTED SLIGHTLY SHUDDERING. WHEN SLOWING DOWN FOR A MERGING VEHICLE, MY VEHICLE WENT TO OVER 5000 RPM (AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION BY THE WAY) AND MY SPEED DROPPED, DANGEROUSLY DROPPING MY SPEED IN A PASSING LANE TO 20 UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT. WHILE MAKING MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS ON THE GAS TO ACCELERATE THE SPEED, MY RPM'S KEPT GOING UP AND MY ACCELERATION KEPT DECLINING WITH CARS SWERVING UNTIL I COULD GET INTO THE RIGHTHAND LANE. I HAVE NEVER HAD AN ACCIDENT OR ANY DIFFICULTY WITH MY VEHICLE AS I PURCHASED IT NEW. FURTHER, I HAVE NOTICED THAT EVEN THOUGH I HAVE AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION, WHEN STOPPED AT INTERSECTIONS OR LIGHTS, IF I LET UP OFF OF THE GAS AT ALL, MY CAR ROLLS BACKWARDS MUCH LIKE A MANUAL TRANSMISSION WOULD DO, WHICH NOW THAT I KNOW THE TRANSMISSION DOES THIS, I AM AWARE, HOWEVER ON UPHILL STOPS I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO NOT ROLL BACKWARDS IN SWITCHING BETWEEN THE BRAKE AND ACCELERATION IF A CAR IS CLOSELY BEHIND ME, STOPPED. I HAVE TAKEN MY CAR TO A FORD DEALERSHIP FOR IT TO BE LOOKED AT, AND THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP AT MY LOCAL DEALERSHIP (WHERE I DIDN'T BUY THE CAR) STATES THAT THE TRANSMISSION ISSUES ARE COMMON IN FORD FOCUSES OF THIS MODEL YEAR -- AND FORD IS AWARE/THE DEALERSHIP IS AWARE -- YET THEY "CAN'T FIND ANYTHING ACTUALLY WRONG BY GUIDELINES" FOR THE CAR. IT'S A SAFETY HAZARD AND NEEDS TO BE DEALT WITH IMMEDIATELY! I EXPECT A NEW CAR WITH NO ACCIDENTS TO RUN SMOOTHLY! *TR