2008 Ford Focus problems
The 2008 Ford Focus has 336 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (17%) concerns electrical system. After that come body & structure (12%) and air bags (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 336 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 25 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 23 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 64,000 miles 267 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 | 36 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 48 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 29 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 52 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 32 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 22 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 19 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 13 |
What the data shows
Among the 267 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 64,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 83,000 miles (45 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 25 complaints mention a crash; 23 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 17th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the Ford Focus with enough data (181 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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 vehicle was in a head on collision in which the air bags failed to deploy on the driver side and passenger side, which in turn caused significant injury to both parties occupying the vehicle at the time of the accident.
The brakes went to the floor and the whole car locked up. When I pressed the brakes to slow down it felt like something on the brakes just fell apart. I was in a car accident because of this I hit another car no no
Went off road in grass to avoid a head on crash when merging back on to asphalt tie rod separated from rack and pinion causing car to loose control crashing in to a telephone pole.
Manual door latches on 4-door, key entry. Use of key to gain entry on both front doors began a gradual failure. Had to work the key, apply pressure to the doors, etc, until both locks failed to open with key. Twice had put children in the car, accidentally locked doors, then unable to open doors with keys. Ford says it isn't covered by warranty, althought the problems first started appearing when the car was only 2 years old. For the past 2 years, had to leave the vehicle unlocked.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the brake pedal failed. The vehicle was repaired. However, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 127,000. The VIN was not available.