2009 Ford Focus problems
The 2009 Ford Focus has 323 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (15%) concerns electrical system. After that come drivetrain & axles (12%) and cruise control (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 323 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 39 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 31 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 46,000 miles 272 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 | 55 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 61 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 46 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 31 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 35 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 12 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 12 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 272 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 46,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 85,000 miles (38 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 39 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 31 injuries reported; 3 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 16th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the Ford Focus with enough data (224 complaints in that window).
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.
Left rear hub came off car on freeway, crossed over to other side, and killed another driver in the opposite direction, and he had his 12 year old daughter next to him. I guess this has happened with the 2001 ford focus, ford knew about it, but yet failed to fix the problem, resulting in this mans death. I feel they should be held criminaly responsible.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford focus. The driver was traveling 80 MPH and crashed into another vehicle. The front passenger side air bag failed to deploy. Both the driver and the passenger were killed. The vehicle was not taken to a mechanic to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was contacted about the issue. The failure and current mileage was unavailable. The VIN was unavailable.
Driving at normal hwy speed, the rental car (2009 ford focus) wandered as if something was wrong in the wheels or steering wheel and then flipped over on the left side of the road. My entire family almost perished that day.
While driving at a steady speed the car lost power, the tach dropped to 1,000 RPM. The yellow wrench light came on. Car started slowing down. Pressed accelerator and nothing happened. Car would not respond at all. Pulled off the road into a parking lot. Took car out of gear and the idle started to vary from 500 to 1500. Shut the car off. A few seconds later started it up and was able to drive home without incident. It has occurred on four more occasions since then. Most recently 2 weeks ago.
Vehicle died in the middle of the road, while daughter was driving. Would not start. This has happened several times now. Took it to ford and they say problem is with the throttle control.