NHTSA Complaint #11661272 — 2014 FORD FOCUS

On [XXX], we reported the vehicle to a local dealership that it was running rough, with hesitation at acceleration, then a sudden surge of speed; stalls at low speeds/while idling at stop lights; and unexpected increases in RPMs when driving a constant speed. This left my son feeling very unsafe and at risk for accidents. We took the vehicle to the dealership for inspection, suggesting it may be the Transmission Control Module causing issue (for which we've received two notifications about the warranty recall). The dealership said that there was no issue with the TCM and refused to perform the repair. (The dealership said that any repair could not be covered because there was no error code related to the TCM, even though the symptoms were as described in the warranty recall letter.) The dealership instead replaced the canister purge valve. On [XXX], approximately 2.5 weeks later, my [XXX] son was driving this vehicle when he got a transmission warning light indicating an urgent repair. He barely got the car home (at midnight) and was unable to put it in reverse to park. We took the car to the dealership for further inspection. The dealership said that the entire clutch assembly needed to be replaced, for $4100. Based on our research on past class action suits and recalls, it seems like the deterioration of the clutch assembly may be directly related to the TCM issues. However, the dealership has said that... > There's no error code related to the TCM so they can't say whether it is related > Without an error code, the TCM itself can't be replaced, nor can they associate the needed repairs to the TCM > Clutch repair was covered but only to 10 years (this vehicle is low mileage, but 11 years old). Consequently, we are expected to bear the burden of the entire $4100 cost ourselves for a known issue that resulted in thousands of recalls and repairs. Furthermore, this issue should've been caught much earlier given the information we've provided. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION