2009 Ford Focus owner complaints

At approx. 50,000 miles the ignition switch was difficult to turn eventually unable to turn key over. Had a new switch installed and now six months later it's starting to go out again. Very poor quality switch.

The ignition switch is very difficult to turn or start the car. If I do not play with the steering will it will not start. I don't think that it should be this hard to start a car.

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 Ford focus. The contact stated the dashboard, radio, power window, and the button control lights would illuminate extremely bright and suddenly they became dim independently. The contact stated when the lights were bright they were blinding and could possibly cause a crash to occur. The defect was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000. The current mileage was 64,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 Ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the ignition switch needed to be replaced. The contact mentioned that while having the repairs performed, the technician notified him that the ignition housing needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 75,000. Updated 02/19/16*lj; updated 05/02/18*jb

Sometimes the car doesn't crank or start and it has happened around 6 times since we bought the car in 2011. It isn't the battery because I have just replaced it but seems like the ignition switch or cylinder is the problem. Any help would be appreciated

My car was stationary. The doors lock and do not unlock. After hours of searching the manual and google I figured out how to bypass the automatic lock and turned that off so my doors would not lock while I drove. That worked for a while but, then the doors just stopped opening from the outside. I have been told by several mechanics this is an issue with this year focus.

Problem failure of front airbags to deploy. Our 2009 Ford focus was rear ended while stopped in traffic by a pt cruiser traveling approx. 35-40 MPH. The impact pushed the focus into the auto in front smashing the focus front end. The focus was like an accordion smashed on both ends and had to be put on a tow truck flatbed as it was not drivable. The concern here is the airbags in the front did not deploy. The focus had 44,000 miles and was maintained by a Ford dealership in northern virginia. Ford has not been responsive as my questions are met with requests for excessive documentation. My only concern is why did the airbags not deploy and is this unique to the focus we owned or is it a broader problem with Ford focus design. *tr

My 2009 focus ses was seen by the dealer for the airbag light being constantly on in november 2011. They replaced the passenger side airbag module. This winter (2012) the airbag light has come on again. It apparently has something to do with hot/cold temps. *tr

Airbag on front passenger side is bulging out of the seams...on top of the dash...I bought the car used and it was fine...there were no accidents to cause this, it just started busting through the leather seams... *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 Ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle would intermittently shift into neutral at various speeds. The contact had to wait until he could shift into the correct gear in order to continue driving. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 04v176000 (power train). The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 89,000.

Automatic transmission was slipping out of gear. Car would be running at about 40 MPH and the RPM would increase and whir. Car would lose speed and slow down then speed up again. Car was only three years old with 45+ miles on it and transmission was replaced at no cost to owner. (under warranty) now in december 2014, the replaced transmission with 35+ miles and two years, failing again. Gears slipping and car unable to drive safely. Car parked in owner's driveway. Dealer contacted and will not cover replacement of new transmission. Why should a five year old car be in need of it's third transmission? *tr

While transitioning from one road to another, the vehicle suddenly lost power. When trying to accelerate, the vehicle reached approximately 5000 rpms and did not reach a speed above 20mph. This continued to occur at each stopping point. The engine would then "kick" and normal driving capabilities would be restored briefly. *tr

The rear passenger door latches have stopped working. My wife was driving home with my son in rear seat and the door came open around a turn. They are lubricated regularly and they will move properly but internally they will not latch, therefore they will not stay closed. I have a strap holding the doors closed. At first it happened once in a while. Now they don't work at all.

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 Ford focus. The contact stated that the driver, passenger and rear passenger doors could not be opened. The dealer diagnosed that all three new doors would need replacing. The manufacturer was contacted, but denied any assistance with repairs to the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 38,000 and the current mileage was 50,892.

Ford manufacture the focus with a 2 degree negative camber. This makes your rear tires go defective as fast as 10,000 miles especially if you don't rotate your tires very often. You can get an alignment every month and it will not fix the defect. I have 24,000 miles on my focus and I have my third set of tires on it. I've did the research. An alignment shop here in warrensburg mo found the problem and fixes around 4-5 Ford focus a month. They put in a kit that brings the camber within a fraction of a inch which will give you about 3 times the life span of the tires. The don't have the ability to zero the camber. If you don't get this done, you will be buying tires like I did every year. I did make a complaint to my dealer and the Ford company itself with no help so I sent my complaint to t

We purchased the vehicle in fall 2012 and noticed the original tires had delaminated and worn horribly in the front . We replaced all four tires with alignment with top of the line nokia which should have given us 70k wear. We got ready for a cross country trip from washington to florida. We discovered the tires needed replacing because of really uneven wear on the inside. We decided to replace them when we arrived in florida. We got them installed and had another four wheel alignment done. We are hoping they won't need another set for at least 60k miles. Reading these complaints I'm not so sure now. We spent $900 on the set of nokia hoping they would last. I'll be really upset if we only get 20000 miles out of this new se . Is this a vehicle problem?? *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 Ford focus. During brake application there was a grinding sound coming from the brake pads. She then noticed grease and oil on both front wheels. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician stated that brake dust was accumulating on the wheels. He then added that after repeated usage the grinding noise should disappear. The failure mileage was 7,000.

My 2009 Ford focus has had obvious suspension issues since 6000 miles. Rear tires always slip in wet conditions from a stopped position during a normal initial acceleration. Furthermore at speeds greater than (>) 60 MPH the steering wheel vibrates and the car shakes. I am a fairly good driver and in countless "normal" driving conditions my car has gotten into an "out of control state" luckily I was able to recover. I had taken the car to a Ford dealership to be told the tires were causing the problem. I replaced tires, had an alignment performed and again in short order (less than 6000 miles driven) the issues came up again. This is an extremely dangerous safety issue. First of all the need to accelerate without your back tires and rear of vehicle sliding/shifting side to side is ess

My granddaughter owns a 2009 Ford focus. The door locks and latches do not work. It was taken in twice to be fixed. The dealer said it is from dust and they would have to pay $900 to upgrade the locks and latches. This concerns me greatly because I am very worried that if there was an accident my grand daughter would not be able to get out of the car. *tr

I was driving on the freeway at approximately 65mph, when the car lost power. Stepping on the gas pedal had no response. I put the car in neutral and coasted out of traffic and onto the shoulder. When I stopped on the side of the road, the car was shaking violently as if it was getting ready to stall. I tried repeatedly to step on the gas but there was no response. I turned the car off for approximately 30 seconds and tried to restart it. It started right up and the throttle was acting normally. Since that first incident, over a year ago, this has happened six more times with the last one being on 11/14/11. I was traveling at 70 MPH on interstate 15 going north up the hill from baker, ca when this happened. Trying to Dodge the other motorists and the big rigs to even get to the shoulder wa