2012 Ford Transit Connect problems
The 2012 Ford Transit Connect has 35 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (26%) concerns wipers, windshield & visibility. Next are engine (17%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 35 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Wipers, windshield & visibility 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 35,000 miles 24 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 | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 5 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 0 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Of the 24 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 35,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 2 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Ford Transit Connect with enough data (24 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.
As I'm driving home, I start to smell an unusual odor. I get home , pull in drive, turn off transit and start unloading groceries. This is when I notice smoke coming from the dashboard. I continue to unload while I keep an eye on the smoke. It worsens and I realize it was on fire and by now there were orange drops of fire falling to the floor. I yell for my neighbor who uses our fire extinguishers on site to try and put out the fire. We had to unhook the battery cables to finally get the fire out completely.
The seat belt buckle/latch in the backseat is a dangerous defective design that can cause injury. It is available for inspection, see photos provided. Merely taking a seat can result in a bruised or broken coccyx. The car was parked when the incident occurred. No, the problem has not been reproduced by a dealer or independent service center. No, the component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance reps or others. No, there are no warnings or messages. The danger is inherent in the design.
I turn on rear defogger and the back window started making a hissing noise and then the whole window cracked and then the window popped out.
Twice in 113,214 miles the throttle body has failed at speed. This is a sudden loss of power anywhere, anytime day or night--just out of power and scrambling for a safe place to stop. The first failure was with 36,366 miles in a snow storm. The second failure was in traffic on the freeway. No notification from ford that this is a known problem has been forthcoming. The replacement part ford installed the first time was also bad and has failed at 113,214 miles.