Focus tales
For the past four years, I've owned a 2000 Ford Focus. At the time I bought it, I actually was looking for something along the lines of a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla. The Focus was more affordable though, and had the features I was looking for. Overall, it hasn't been a bad car, but it has had its share of recalls.
This week, it gave me some interesting grief. After exiting the store I had been shopping at, I got into the car and put the key in the ignition. Much to my surprise, it wouldn't budge. It behaved as if I was trying to use the wrong key in it. I fought and fought, but it wouldn't move. In the end, AAA had to tow it to the dealer where I paid a nice sum to have a new ignition mechanism put in since Ford hasn't issued a recall or extended warranty on the part.
After doing numerous online searches, it turns out I'm not the only one with the issue. See this story from WJLA in Washington, DC, or video here.
Needless to say, I added my complaint to the hundreds of others with the NHTSA. If any other Foci owners out there in the wilderness have had this issue, I'd be curious to hear what your experience was.
posted by Scott @ 7:20 PM
4 Comments:
I will say that at least with my experience, the mechanism seemed to be deteriorating. Sporadically, the ignition wouldn't pop out properly when you removed the key in the days/weeks leading up to the failure.
The best advice may be that AAA membership so you're ready when and if that tow is necessary.
My Party Time Cruiser is almost paid off, so we're looking into new cars now. We were going to test drive a Fusion soon. I'll think deeply about making that possible purchase after hearing this. They need to stop spending money getting that tool from American Idol to sing in their ads, and "focus" on their products. The new Ford ad campaign is supposed to be more on feelings than on what they are actually selling to you. No wonder Toyota and Honda are killing them.
-Andrew
I guess they worked out a lot of the issues with the Focus after the 2002 model year. Consumer Reports now gives it its Best in Class rating for small cars. It certainly isn't helping Ford's reputation when the new models they put out have issues like this though.
The Fusion is basically the same car as the Mazda 6. We test drove a Mazda 6 wagon (total family guy test driving wagons now) and we liked it.
We drove a Honda CRV and it has a removable picnic table in the back. All I could think about was getting that out for Brewer tailgates.
-Andrew
Post a Comment
<< Home