NHTSA Complaint #11232678 — 2012 FORD FOCUS

FROM STOP THE CAR WILL HESITATE TO ACCELERATE, SOMETIMES IT WON'T BE IN GEAR OTHER TIMES IT WILL BE IN THE WRONG GEAR (I.E. 2ND OR 3RD INSTEAD OF 1ST). AT TIMES IT WILL ALSO LURCH FORWARD, ONE TIME IT WAS SO HARD I THOUGHT I HAD BEEN REAR ENDED. ONCE IN MOTION THE CLUTCH SLIPS CAUSING SLOW ACCELERATION AND SHAKING (SOMETIME VIOLENT). ON HILLS, EVEN AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, THE CLUTCH WILL SLIP CAUSING THE CAR TO SLOW AND HAVE TROUBLE CLIMBING. I AM ON MY 3RD SET OF CLUTCHES, AND LAST AS NOW THE TRANSMISSION IS OUT OF WARRANTY, PARTS ARE UNAVAILABLE, AND THE COST WILL BE MORE THAN THE CAR IS WORTH DUE TO THE EXTREME DEPRECIATION DUE TO THE KNOWN TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS. IT HAS HAD THE TCM (TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE) PROGRAMMING UPDATED EIGHT TIMES. ON MY FIRST TWO VISITS TO THE FORD DEALERSHIP, ALL THE WAY BACK IN 2013, I WAS SIMPLY MET BY THE SERVICE MANAGER AND TOLD ON VISIT ONE THE TRANSMISSION IS WORKING AS DESIGNED AND GIVEN A PAPER STATING THE BEHAVIOR OF THE TRANSMISSION AND ON VISIT TWO THAT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE THE CAR AND THAT I WOULD NEED TO RELEARN HOW TO DRIVE FOR THIS TYPE OF TRANSMISSION. ON MY THIRD VISIT THEY REPROGRAMMED THE TCM MAKING IT WORSE AND IT WENT DOWNHILL FROM THERE. ON ONE VISIT THEY TRIED TO BLAME THE VISIT ON A FICTITIOUS OIL LEAK AND CHARGED ME TO FIX THOUGH THEY COULD NOT SHOW ME THE LEAK NOR HAD THE CAR EVER LEAKED A DROP OF OIL OR USED ANY OIL. BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD CLUTCH REPLACEMENT THE CAR DROVE SO TERRIBLY I WAS AFRAID TO DRIVE IT, LET ALONE ALLOW MY WIFE AND CHILDREN TO RIDE IN IT. EVEN NOW I CANNOT PULL ONTO A ROAD WITHOUT HAVING A 100 YARDS OF SPACE BETWEEN TRAFFIC. THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING ISSUE SINCE 2013 AND CONTINUES TODAY (2019). WHEN I FIRST STARTED CONTACTING FORD THE CAR ONLY HAD ABOUT 16,000 MILES ON IT, IT HAD OVER 50,000 BEFORE THEY DID THE FIRST "REPAIR".