NHTSA Complaint #10787885 — 2012 FORD FOCUS

VEHICLE TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN REPAIRED UNDER WARRANTY AT AROUND 26000 MILES FOR LEAKING, AND AGAIN AT 56000 MILES FOR A BULLETIN (NOT A RECALL, IT HAD TIME/MILEAGE PARAMETERS). THE MOST RECENT SERVICE, FOR THE BULLETIN, WAS A REPROGRAM OF THE TCM. FOLLOWING THIS WORK, VEHICLE SLIPS IN AND OUT OF GEAR, SEIZING UP ON HILLS IN BOTH DIRECTIONS (UPHILL AND DOWNHILL), AND STOPPING THE CAR. THIS HAS HAPPENED ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS: FIVE, TO BE SPECIFIC, ALL THIS YEAR: ON A BUSY FREEWAY INTERCHANGE RAMP AND ON FOUR OCCASIONS WHILE TURNING IN AN INTERSECTION. WHEN THIS HAPPENS, THE CAR CANNOT BE MOVED, THE GEAR SHIFT STICKS AND CANNOT BE MOVED, AND THE KEY CANNOT BE REMOVED FROM THE IGNITION. THE VEHICLE TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN RUNNING "ROUGH" SINCE THE REPROGRAM. IT GRINDS, SHUDDERS, AND LURCHES. NOTE: THE FIRST TIME THE VEHICLE SEIZED UP WAS BEFORE THE REPROGRAMMING, AND THE OTHER TIMES WERE ALL SINCE THIS WORK WAS DONE. ON ALL OF THE OCCASIONS WHERE THIS HAS HAPPENED, THE VEHICLE SLOWED TO AN ABRUPT HALT AND I WAS NEARLY REAR-ENDED. IN THE INSTANCE WHERE THE KEY HAS BEEN STUCK, WAITING A FEW MINUTES (MORE THAN 5 BUT LESS THAN 10) HAS ALLOWED ME TO CYCLE THE KEY AND RE-START THE VEHICLE, AND THEN IT WAS MOBILE AGAIN. I SHOULD NOTE THAT THE DOWNHILL ASSIST DASH LIGHT AND THE DOWNHILL ASSIST FEATURE (OPERATED BY A BUTTON ON THE GEARSHIFT) BOTH COME ON WITHOUT THE BUTTON BEING TOUCHED OR EVEN PRESSED. A VEHICLE SUDDENLY AND ABRUPTLY SLOWING TO A STOP ON A FREEWAY INTERCHANGE AT SPEED IS IN MY OPINION A SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN. PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT THE VEHICLE HAS A HISTORY OF SUDDEN LURCHES FORWARD WHILE BRAKING AND THE TRANSMISSION HAS BOGGED DOWN ON OTHER OCCASIONS IN THE PAST, BUT NOWHERE NEAR AS FREQUENTLY AS IT DID ONCE I PASSED ABOUT 48000 MILES.