Data sourced from NHTSA public database. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified mechanic.
2016 Ford Focus — Known Issues & Recalls
Complaints from Jan 2025 to Dec 2024
The most reported issue is power train problems (504 complaints). 26 complaints involved crashes. 3 involved fires.
Open Safety Recalls (8)
NHTSA Campaign: 18V735000
Component: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2012-2018 Ford Focus vehicles with a 2.0L GDI or 2.0L GTDI engine. The Canister Purge Valve (CPV) may malfunction, possibly causing excessive vacuum in fuel vapor management system.
Risk: The excessive vaccuum may result in an engine stall while driving, without warning and without the ability to restart the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Powertrain Control Module. Dealers will also check for fault codes and replace the CPV as needed. If the CPV is replaced, dealers will inspect and replace the carbon canister, fuel tank and fuel delivery module as necessary. The recall began August 19, 2019. Owners may contact Ford Customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 18S32. Note: Until the vehicle is serviced for this concern, owners are advised to keep the fuel tank at least halfway full.
NHTSA Campaign: 18V845000
Component: POWER TRAIN:MANUAL TRANSMISSION
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Ford Focus vehicles equipped with a 1.0L Fox GTDI engine and a 6-speed manual transmission. The clutch may fracture, resulting in damage to the transmission assembly and possibly a transmission fluid leak.
Risk: A transmission fluid leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components can increase the risk of a fire.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will update vehicles with software that detects and prevents prolonged clutch slip, and will replace the clutch, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began January 17, 2019. Owners may contact Ford at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 18S07. Note: This recall is an expansion of Recall 18V-169.
NHTSA Campaign: 17V052000
Component: STRUCTURE:BODY
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2016 Focus and C-Max vehicles. The floor pan may have improperly welded left-hand apron joints.
Risk: Improperly welded apron joints may reduce the front-end structural integrity of the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the apron joints, repairing the vehicle, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began March 8, 2017. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 17S03.
NHTSA Campaign: 18V169000
Component: POWER TRAIN:MANUAL TRANSMISSION
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2013-2014 Ford Fusion vehicles equipped with a 1.6L GTDI engine and 6-speed manual transmission and 2015-2016 Ford Focus vehicles equipped with a 1.0L GTDI engine and 6-speed manual transmission. Also included are four 2017 Ford Focus vehicles that had clutch replacements with potentially affected parts. The clutch may fracture, resulting in damage to the transmission assembly and possibly a transmission fluid leak.
Risk: A transmission fluid leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components can increase the risk of a fire.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will update the Focus vehicles with software that detects and prevents prolonged clutch slip, and will replace the clutch, as necessary, free of charge. Owners of Fusion vehicles will have their clutch assembly replaced free of charge. The recall began August 3, 2018. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 18S07.
NHTSA Campaign: 16V698000
Component: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:LOCK
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2013-2017 Ford Focus hatchback vehicles manufactured February 14, 2012, to August 26, 2016 and equipped with a manual transmission. The hatchback of the affected vehicles may be unlatched with a single press of the interior latch release button. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 206, "Door Locks and Door Retention Components."
Risk: With only a single press needed, the driver may accidently unlatch the hatchback, increasing the risk of injury to any unsecured passengers in the back.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Body Control Module with updated software, free of charge. The recall began February 10, 2017. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 16C13.
NHTSA Campaign: 23V905000
Component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:OIL/LUBRICATION:PUMP
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Ford Focus and 2018-2022 Ford EcoSport vehicles. The oil pump drive belt or drive belt tensioner may fail, resulting in a loss of engine oil pressure.
Risk: A loss of oil pressure can result in an engine stall and a loss of power braking assist, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the oil pump tensioner assembly and oil pump drive belt, free of charge. If engine failure occurs due to a damaged oil pump belt and/or oil pump belt tensioner, Ford has authorized dealers to replace the engine assembly as an interim repair before the availability of remedy parts for the final repair. This repair will be free of charge (parts and labor). Owner notification letters were mailed August 11, 2025. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 23S64.
NHTSA Campaign: 26V011000
Component: EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:ENGINE BLOCK HEATER
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2013-2018 Focus, 2013-2019 Escape, and 2015-2016 MKC vehicles equipped with a 2.0L engine. The engine block heater may crack and develop a coolant leak, causing it to short circuit when the block heater is plugged in.
Risk: An electrical short circuit can increase the risk of a fire.
Fix: Owners are advised not to plug in their block heater until the vehicle is remedied. Dealers will replace the block heater, free of charge. Owners will also have a alternative option to replace engine block heater element with a threaded plug, and remove the block heater electrical cord. Interim letters, notifying owners of the safety risk, were mailed March 6, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 26S01. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on January 16, 2026.
NHTSA Campaign: 26V012000
Component: EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:ENGINE BLOCK HEATER
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Focus, 2019 Explorer, and 2024 Explorer vehicles. The engine block heater may crack and develop a coolant leak, causing it to short circuit when the block heater is plugged in.
Risk: An electrical short circuit can increase the risk of a fire.
Fix: Owners are advised not to plug in their block heater until the vehicle is remedied. Dealers will replace the block heater, free of charge. Interim letters, notifying owners of the safety risk, were mailed February 13, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available, anticipated in April 2026. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 25SA4. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on January 16, 2026. This recall expands previous recall number 25V685.
Owner-Reported Issues (20 of 1176)
Power Train →9 issues
Your car shakes when you start it, and you've noticed a burning oil smell. You've experienced times when the car got stuck at intersections and wouldn't move smoothly—you had to shift between Park and Drive to get it to move, and the front shook during turns. After these incidents, your car wouldn't go into Reverse at all and stopped moving completely. This points to a serious transmission problem that needs immediate professional diagnosis.
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Your 2016 Ford Focus transmission is shuddering and hesitating when you accelerate in low gears, especially at low speeds like when entering traffic or going through intersections. A Ford dealership has confirmed this is a transmission or clutch problem. The repair could cost around $3,700, and the issue happens consistently even though your car only has 26,000 miles on it.
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Your transmission has failed again, less than a year after you had it replaced. This is the second transmission failure on your 2016 Ford Focus with the 2.0L engine, and you're finding that repair shops are reluctant to work on the vehicle due to known transmission issues with this model. Getting the transmission rebuilt or replaced will likely be necessary, along with diagnosis to determine if there's an underlying cause contributing to the repeated failures.
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The vehicle experienced failure of the DPS6 dual-clutch automatic transmission. The transmission began slipping during acceleration, hesitating between gear engagement, and triggering a “Transmission Overheat” warning. Eventually, the vehicle lost the ability to reliably shift between Drive and Reverse and would not consistently engage gears.
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The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle unexpectedly stalled with the message "Transmission Overheating" displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure.
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The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle shuddered unexpectedly.
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Transmission is slipping. Check engine light is on. Code P07A5 (3/3) Permanent Transmission Friction Element B Stuck on.
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Something wrong with the transmission the one that Ford extended warranty on and my car is a 2016 and Ford extended it 10 years and they said it ended a few months ago as well as the TCM replacement I didn't know about because I just purchased the vehicle a little over a year ago.
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Lee County was working on the road and were replacing a section of Lazy D Farm Road and there was a section cut out and try to get across the section the transmission over heating light came on
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Engine →3 issues
In the Ford 3 cylinder 1.0L Ecoboost engines there is a terrible wet belt system, there is a recall on the automatic models but nothing for the manual models, regardless of the fact that the manual models are designed far more poorly than the automatic models in the sense that the manual models have no tensioners and rely solely on the factory tension of the screws, keeping in mind that the belt is both rubber and sitting in hot oil when in use, if not a money grab, my best guess is that they hoped the wet rubber belt would simply not not stretch in good faith.
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The transistor arm or tensioning arm for the wet belt, which drives the oil pump in the oil pan failed, leading to oil starvation to the engine, causing total catastrophic engine failure, and temporary loss of power steering, while driving, fortunately, I was moving at a slow pace in minimal traffic, however, this is a known fail point in Ford 1.0 L ecoboost 3 cyl engines, that Ford claims my vehicle does not have, and refuses to cover, regardless of the fact that it did happen, and I have pictures in mechanic testimony to prove this to be true, had I’ve been on a different road, or had more traffic, this could have to a fatality.
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NHTSA Recall Number23V905 Recall Status recall Incomplete Ford performed an interim engine repair in 2024. Due to the unavailability of parts when the recall was initiated, it took approximately 8 months for the interim engine and repair to be completed. I received my car back in August 2024 and then a supplement to the recall was placed.
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Electrical System,engine →2 issues
I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding an ongoing mechanical issue with my 2016 Ford Focus. Although my vehicle currently shows zero active recalls, I have experienced a recurring and concerning problem. Each time I turn on the air conditioning and the air begins to blow cold, my engine temperature rises significantly and causes the vehicle to overheat.
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This vehicle been having problems with heater
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Unknown Or Other,fuel/propulsion System →1 issue
My car is showing signs of recalls but it’s stating that it doesn’t have any recalls.
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Power Train,engine,fuel/propulsion System →1 issue
Fuel purge valve is malfunctioning. Vehicle loses power and is sluggish. Idles very rough and sometimes has a loss of power.
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Fuel System, Gasoline,vehicle Speed Control,engine →1 issue
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. While operating the vehicle, the vehicle was shaking abnormally while idling, while low on fuel, while driving long distances, or while driving uphill. The vehicle shut off unexpectedly intermittently.
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Fuel/propulsion System →1 issue
The car is stalling randomly with no engine lights coming on
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Power Train,vehicle Speed Control →1 issue
When driving my car all of a sudden it loses power almost like it’s struggling to go but the RPM revs up and makes a loud noise and my car kind of got stuck for a minute and there were cars behind me then it started going but every couple minutes it would do that again rev up really loud even when I barely push the gas and lose power and then go I have no idea why it was doing that I took it to get it looked at, but there was no light on then a light finally came on and it came up with P07A3.
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Power Train,fuel/propulsion System →1 issue
Having fuel problems with this ford se. Adding gas after starting the car it doesn't run right. It misses n doesn't have power.
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