NHTSA Complaint #11489608 — 2016 FORD FOCUS

The contact's son owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while her son was driving 60 MPH, the vehicle started jerking. The accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. The message "Transmission Fault. Stop. Pull Over" was displayed. The contact's son exited the freeway and veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that she met her son on the side of the road. An independent mechanic was contacted and advised the contact to restart and drive the vehicle to their location in the event the warning message was no longer displayed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the independent mechanic who then referred her to the dealer. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the failure was diagnosed as transmission friction element failure. The dealer diagnosed that the transmission clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V845000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.