2012 Ford Fiesta problems
NHTSA has received 834 complaints about the 2012 Ford Fiesta, and 33% of them involve drivetrain & axles. After that come body & structure (15%) and engine (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 834 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 27 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 45,000 miles 664 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 130 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 141 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 163 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 87 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 60 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 39 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 20 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 14 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 5 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 664 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 45,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 40,000 miles (211 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 27 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 9 model years of the Ford Fiesta with enough data (604 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My daughter and 2 friends were driving on the highway, the dash flickers and goes back to normal, flickered again and the car started slowing down so she pulled over, ( car still moving) and puts the car in park but the car still continues to move. Passenger notices out the side mirror the car is on fire, she jumped out; the car then accelerates ( still in park) and hits the “jersey wall “ where the rest of the car eventually went into flames.
We were on the highway while it was snowing. All of the other vehicles were slowing down because there was an accident blocking off the highway. Eventually we all came to a stop. After we stopped there was a yukon that was unable to stop because of conditions and its load and hit us from behind. He was probably going 35 MPH. Both the passenger and driver's head flung back against seats. No airbags deployed. Passenger has suffered in the spine from this accident.
The vehicle has a transmission shudder and does not shift gear properly as it accelerates. This causes the vehicle to be subject to unexpected conditions of lack of response which may cause safety issues.
Both low beam headlights stopped working at the same time. High beams still work. I looked it up on the web and fiestas in canada have been recalled for this problem, but for some reason not in the us. Car was moving when this happened. I turned on the lights and the low beam headlights and they were out.