2012 FORD FOCUS — Complaint #1911891
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:INTERNAL:CLUTCHES/BANDS filed July 21, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1911891 (ODI reference 11533666) concerns a 2012 FORD FOCUS and was filed on July 21, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 25, 2023. The vehicle had 80,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as power train:automatic transmission:internal:clutches/bands, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD FOCUS cohort independently describe similar power train:automatic transmission:internal:clutches/bands failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2012 FORD FOCUS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle seemed to shift into neutral and failed to respond. The check engine warning light was illuminated, and the service engine message was displayed. The contact pulled over to allow the engine to cool down. The vehicle was restarted and taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission control module needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the transmission failure caused the clutch to fail. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1911891 |
| ODI Number | 11533666 |
| Date Filed | July 21, 2023 |
| Failure Date | June 25, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FAHP3N20CL |
Similar POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:INTERNAL:CLUTCHES/BANDS Complaints for 2012 FORD FOCUS
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to respond. The vehicle was under warranty and was taken to
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. While the contact's son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the fail
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.