NHTSA Complaint #10955515 — 2013 FORD FOCUS

ABOUT 1 AM THIS MORNING I LEFT WORK AND STARTED DOWN THE HIGHWAY WITH THE GAS GAUGE READING 44 MILES TO EMPTY. SINCE IT WAS RATHER LATE I DECIDED TO GO HOME AND JUST GET GAS IN THE MORNING BUT ABOUT HALFWAY HOME IT IT DROPPED ALL THE WAY FROM 44 DOWN TO 17 AND THEN ABOUT A MILE LATER RAN OUT OF GAS. THIS WAS AN ISSUE BUT NOT THE ONE I'M OVERLY CONCERNED ABOUT RIGHT NOW. I PLACED ON MY HAZARDS AND TRIED TO FLAG DOWN SOME HELP TO GET TO THE GAS STATION I HAD TO LEAVE THE CAR PARKED IN A CURVE AND THOUGH I WAS OFF THE ROAD IT WASN'T BY MUCH SO I LEFT THE HAZARDS ON. WHEN I CAME BACK ROUGHLY AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER THE BATTERY WAS COMPLETELY DEAD. I GOT GAS INTO THE CAR AND GOT THE BATTERY JUMPED AND THEN STARTED THE VEHICLE WITH ONE MAJOR ISSUE THE INSTRUMENT PANEL HAD GONE COMPLETELY DARK SO THERE WAS NO WAY OF TELLING HOW FAST I WAS GOING NOR COULD I SEE HOW MUCH FUEL WAS IN THE TANK OR ENGINE TEMPERATURE. THE OTHER ISSUE WAS THE TURN SIGNALS ALSO STOPPED WORKING. TODAY I CHECKED ALL THE FUSES AND WHEN I PULLED OUT THE ONE FOR THE INSTRUMENT PANEL IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FINE BUT WHEN I PUT IT BACK IN EVERYTHING CAME BACK TO LIFE LIKE THERE WASN'T A PROBLEM ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER IN HEAVY TRAFFIC IT ALL WENT DARK AGAIN SO I WAS UNABLE TO USE MY TURN SIGNAL OR TELL HOW FAST I WAS GOING. ONCE AGAIN I JUST PULLED OUT THE SAME FUSE AND PUSH IT BACK IN AND EVERYTHING WAS FINE. THIS JUST SEEMS LIKE IT COULD BE A REAL DANGEROUS ISSUE AND AS I READ ONLINE THIS CAR SEEMS TO HAVE A PLETHORA OF THEM ALSO THE ISSUE WITH NOT GETTING AN ACCURATE READING OF HOW MUCH GAS IS IN YOUR TANK IS ALSO A PROBLEM. THE GENTLEMAN FROM THE STORE WHO HELPED ME PUT GAS IN THE CAR AND JUMP IT SAID HE HAS THE EXACT SAME MODEL FOR HIS WIFE AND THAT HE WAS TOLD WHEN SHE RAN OUT OF GAS IT WAS BECAUSE THE PLASTIC TANK MELTED AND CHANGE SHAPES ALLOWING INACCURATE READING OF THE AMOUNT OF FUEL LEFT