NHTSA Complaint #11448450 — 2014 FORD FOCUS

Mid August last year my 2014 Focus lit up on the dash “service transmission immediately”. The car hesitated and shuddered through the gears and the automatic transmission wouldn’t go through all the gears. It is still under warranty. Took it to a local Ford dealer, they said the Transmission Control Module is out. This is the second time this has happened. My car has 65,000 miles on it. The dealer said the part was on back order, and could take months, and they could not offer a rental/loaner. They said I could “still drive the car until it finally just stops moving.” I tried driving it, it REALLY “stops moving” like when you’re trying to merge onto the interstate and semis are coming. It took the dealer 5.5 MONTHS to get the part. No loaner car could be offered from Ford or the local dealer. Just “sorry the part is ordered but that’s all we can do.” Almost 6 months without a car that I was still paying on, that was under warranty. It’s fixed now, but this is the SECOND TIME this issue has happened and when you’re driving it is EXTREMELY dangerous to both those in the vehicle and other commuters as well. The car will literally shift out of gear when you’re going 70+ miles per hour and you lose all control. It won’t accelerate from a stop when you need it to. It won’t slow down smoothly so that you can stop on time. It’s extremely dangerous and it’s apparently a common issue in these vehicles that hasn’t been properly addressed. If I could trade my car in I would before this issue recurs again but I owe on it a little more than its trade in is valued. This issue needs addressed asap, Ford should honestly offer a lemon buy back for those vehicles affected. Thank you.