Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 01/24/2013 | 67000 | ||
| Vehicle: 2011 ford fiesta, manual trans., fwd. road conditions: snow covered 1-2, no ice underneath, no slush buildup. incident: at stop sign waiting to turn left onto road. oncoming traffic in either direction is thru, no stop. no oncoming traffic. accelerating across two lanes to turn left- divided 4 lane municipal road 40mph speed limit. midway across road, front wheels began to slip, traction control activated and removed power. car stopped in middle of road. was unable to move vehicle in 1st/2nd/3rd gear without traction control removing power. in first instance, oncoming traffic had to stop while i exited vehicle and pushed vehicle into median where traction was found. this happened twice. after second occurance, determination was made to only turn right to not place self at risk of accident. follow-up research: early production ford fiesta are incapable of deactivating traction control. later models do and in the 3rd printing of the owners manual it is recommended to turn off traction control in snow or mud. this action would allow wheels to spin to pavement and generate sufficient traction to maintain or begin vehicle motion. additional information: above research was obtained by discussion with ford technical support/engineering. they also advised that it was not possible to retrofit my vehicle with the capability to deactivate traction control. i have had vehicles in the past of similar weight/powertrain/profile which were equipped with one-touch buttons to disable traction control when in the appropriate situations. these cars were very capable in 1-2 of snow with the traction control disabled. i have advised ford that i intended to provide this report to nhtsa and they likewise said they intend to self-report it as well. recommendation: i believe this to be a safety issue that needs to be addressed by whatever means nhtsa has available. | |||
| 03/01/2002 | 16000 | ||
| After having no problems with this car for the first 16000 miles it now jerks and the trans feels as if your driving over rumble strips when accelerating from a stop; bumping and jerking. seems like it cant shift gears and has no acceleration. the car performs worse the hotter the engine gets. tis car rides anything but smooth. always feels like its going to stall. | |||
| 02/01/2011 | 500 | ||
| Car sputters to start, then won't engage any gear. battery won't hold a charge. today (01 jan 2013) marks the third incident. the dealer put in a new battery the first 2 times and told me the battery was defective (twice). this car eats batteries. it always happens during cold weather. after the car started, i rolled in neutral out of my driveway onto the street. then the car would not engage in any gear. i was a sitting duck in the middle of the road. i couldn't go forward or backwards. i had to turn off and restart engine 4 times until it engaged a gear. then i drove to autozone where they tested the battery. they said the battery was good (1- year old battery had a 3-year warranty) and the alternator engaged, but the battery lost its charge rapidly upon turning off the engine. | |||
| 02/15/2012 | 22000 | ||
| Purchased this vehicle for my wife a little over a year ago.at first everything was fine but then at about four months we started having issues with the window not rolling up.the dealer took care of that issue with no problems.then we take it in for the scheduled maintenance (oil change/tire rotation) & our tires had inside cupping in which the dealer does nothing about & still have not.at around 22k miles my wife notices the vehicle starting to jerk when stopped or moving.over the past 8k miles this gets worse & gets to where the vehicle has stalled out numorous times (still or moving).i have made an appointment with the dealer to resolve this issue.not sure the cause yet. | |||
| 08/08/2011 | 10000 | ||
| I have a various problems with the transmission. it keeps having a grinding noise like it has a hard time going into gear. i have noticed that the problem is worse when trying to quickly stop as well as accelerating right after. the transmission problem is currently keeping the fiesta in the shop right now but the dealership is saying that this problem is normal and there is no repair is available at this time. i have also had problems with the window not rolling up right. this was fixed but i think that over time it will start to be a problem again. the final problem is the sound system not being properly wired as i plugged my phone to charge and the radio stopped getting reception. | |||
| 11/15/2011 | 8000 | ||
| My ford fiesta is a good automobile. however there is a problematic design flaw in the brake lever travel and size and placement of the brake pedal. i have a size 12 foot and there is inadequate space for proper clearance between the brake pedal and the accelerator. many times my foot must swing completely to the right and hit the center console to clear the brake pedal in stop and go traffic to accelerate the car. also the brake lever to the master cylinder has way too much travel for such a small automobile. when depressing the brake pedal in a emeregency stop the brake pedal depresses past a point where the top of my shoe touches the actual lever arm that the pedal is attached to, thereby resulting in unpredicted sudden increase in braking. the brake pedal itself is too small in width for big feet. i also managed one time while braking to touch the accelerator at the same time. older ford cars and trucks required only to tap the brake a small distance before complete stop. why did this change? i have checked the brake level fluids and they are as specified in the owners manual. i feel when using the brake pedal it should not depress past the point of the accelerator pedal if they are located so close. this situation makes one conscious constantly about foot placement while driving. this complaint should be e-mailed to the engineering department at ford asap so they can take corrective action immediately. i would not want to be responsible for not reporting this in the event someone was not acknowledged of this engineering flaw. | |||
| 05/17/2011 | |||
| Ever since i purchased this vehicle the doors (both inside and outside) have periodiacally failed to unlock after shutting off the car, without hitting the unlock button either on the key or on the dash (this has occured on all doors except the drivers so far). i have taken it back to the dealer many times and since they can't find a problem they either won't or can't fix it. this is a safety issue because it is possible that the all the doors will fail to unlock trapping people in the vehicle. this is also troubling because there are no manual buttons to unlock incase the system fails. whether it is a wiring problem, a problem with the master unlocking module or lack of repair knowledge with the dealership i don't know. | |||
| 05/27/2011 | 7000 | ||
| The head restrain on the ford fiesta 2011 that i have is very inconvenient in order for me to drive the car i have to remove the head restrain so my head can be in a upright position. when i keep the head retrain in place i have to lean my head forward when on the driving seat. this is not a convenient way for me the driver. there has not been any accident realed to thie head restrain from me besides neck ace. | |||
| 07/01/2010 | |||
| Early production models of the 2011 ford fiesta suffer from the same issue with the door activation as the f150's recalled. early production fiestas should also be recalled beginning with 2011 models built after july 2010, design changes were made to improve the robustness of the outside door handles to minimize the possibility of the handles starting to activate in side impact crashes http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=1395 | |||
| 12/28/2010 | 6500 | ||
| Ventilation duct falls onto driver's right foot during vehicle operation, inhibiting the driver's ability to control the accelerator. | |||