Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | ||||||
| AQ10001 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY | 11/18/2010 | Fleet Vehicle Recall Completion Audit | |||
| The agency, particularly in recent months, has been informed of incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death claimed to have been caused by safety defects and failures to conform to minimum federal motor vehicle safety standards (fmvss) on rental car vehicles for which a safety recall to remedy the safety defect or noncompliance had allegedly not been performed prior to the rental car company's lease of the vehicle.nhtsa understands that there is presently a petition before the federal trade commission (ftc) seeking to prohibit at least one rental car company from renting vehicles on which safety recall campaign remedies remain outstanding.the purpose of this audit query (aq) is to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on the above-listed safety recall campaigns.these campaigns were chosen due to their inclusion of vehicles used in the rental market.this information is expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets, in general or individually, perform necessary recall-related repairs or other remedies on the vehicles owned and then leased for use on the roadways.this aq is opened. | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 04/16/2012 | 85000 | ||
| The key will not turn in the ignition. this has been ongoing for two months. it takes several minutes of jiggling to finally get the ignition lock to release. i drive this car on business, including in remote areas. it is scary to try to start the car and have the key not turn. so far, i've always been able to get it to eventually work, but this is ridiculous. we've just started experiencing the same issue on my wife's 2007 ford focus. in researching this, it has been a problem on the focus since the beginning and apparently ford has refused to acknowledge the issue or change the ignition lock mechanisms on later focus models. potentially getting stranded at night or in a remote area due to a faulty ignition lock is a serious safety issue. one should never have a problem in turning the key in the ignition. for what it is worth, i am a career safety and risk management consultant working in the commercial insurance industry with 35 years experience. | |||
| 09/09/2011 | 65000 | ||
| The 2004 ford focus has a problem where the key will not turn once inserted into the ignition. the only way to get the key to turn is to tap it with a hammer or other heavy object or spend over 300 dollars to get a new ignition lock. this problem has happened to me before on occasion but now it happens every single time i take the key out of the ignition. numerous people are complaining about this problem yet ford has not issued a recall to address the issue. i'm hoping the nhtsa will force ford to do something about this problem because i know i am not the only one that this is happening to. | |||
| 08/10/2011 | 99125 | ||
| All of a sudden i am having trouble turning the key in the ignition of my 2004 ford focus. as of now i am able to get the key to turn by gently tapping on the key with a hammer as i try to turn. i have not replaced the ignition because when researching this problem i have come to realize this is a very common fault that ford is aware of, but refuses to take responsibility for. | |||
| 07/05/2011 | |||
| 2004 ford focus key will not turn in ignition | |||
| 06/29/2011 | 89600 | ||
| Ignition is totally frozen up. no advanced warning of imminent failure. stranded. was able to get a ride. ignition is totally stuck will not turn at all. not an electrical problem, but a mechanical failure of the ignition/key mechanism in the steering column. key will not turn at all. huge safety concern as this could happen anywhere, anytime. | |||
| 07/05/2011 | |||
| 2004 ford focus key will not turn in ignition | |||
| 06/29/2011 | 89600 | ||
| Ignition is totally frozen up. no advanced warning of imminent failure. stranded. was able to get a ride. ignition is totally stuck will not turn at all. not an electrical problem, but a mechanical failure of the ignition/key mechanism in the steering column. key will not turn at all. huge safety concern as this could happen anywhere, anytime. | |||
| 03/01/2011 | 54111 | ||
| Attemopted to start car and steering column and ignition was locked. i can't get either to turn. | |||
| 02/26/2011 | |||
| The ignition is completely locked. i've been having trouble the past month being able to turn the key in the ignition and now i cannot turn it at all. my car is stranded at a local tire shop with the window down, which may cause even more damage from the weather or allow for easy theft. this problem is so unpredictable its scary, i could've been anywhere and been stranded. then i looked up the problem and find that tons of other focus owners are having the same issue because ford used a cheap metal. its time that they treated there customers right and recall this part. | |||
| 03/01/2011 | 54111 | ||
| Attemopted to start car and steering column and ignition was locked. i can't get either to turn. | |||
| 02/26/2011 | |||
| The ignition is completely locked. i've been having trouble the past month being able to turn the key in the ignition and now i cannot turn it at all. my car is stranded at a local tire shop with the window down, which may cause even more damage from the weather or allow for easy theft. this problem is so unpredictable its scary, i could've been anywhere and been stranded. then i looked up the problem and find that tons of other focus owners are having the same issue because ford used a cheap metal. its time that they treated there customers right and recall this part. | |||
| 03/01/2011 | 54111 | ||
| Attemopted to start car and steering column and ignition was locked. i can't get either to turn. | |||
| 02/26/2011 | |||
| The ignition is completely locked. i've been having trouble the past month being able to turn the key in the ignition and now i cannot turn it at all. my car is stranded at a local tire shop with the window down, which may cause even more damage from the weather or allow for easy theft. this problem is so unpredictable its scary, i could've been anywhere and been stranded. then i looked up the problem and find that tons of other focus owners are having the same issue because ford used a cheap metal. its time that they treated there customers right and recall this part. | |||
| 03/01/2011 | 54111 | ||
| Attemopted to start car and steering column and ignition was locked. i can't get either to turn. | |||
| 02/26/2011 | |||
| The ignition is completely locked. i've been having trouble the past month being able to turn the key in the ignition and now i cannot turn it at all. my car is stranded at a local tire shop with the window down, which may cause even more damage from the weather or allow for easy theft. this problem is so unpredictable its scary, i could've been anywhere and been stranded. then i looked up the problem and find that tons of other focus owners are having the same issue because ford used a cheap metal. its time that they treated there customers right and recall this part. | |||
| 02/14/2011 | 63200 | ||
| 2004 ford focus, key will not turn in the ignition. this has been an on going problem. sometimes it takes 20 minutes, other times it has taken hours to get the key to turn. with less than 70k miles, this is a safety hazard when i have children in the car! | |||
| 08/30/2010 | |||
| 2004 for focus. ignition occasionally won't start with the key. got stranded a few times. it seems something is wrong either with the keys or the ignition area where you place the key. | |||
| 09/28/2004 | 77000 | 1 | |
| There were no events leading up to the failure of my ignition freezing up. i was running errands and after my last stop i got into the car and the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. i had several people try, including a aaa tow-truck worker. he said he sees this problem a lot in the ford focus, the ignition cylinder prematurely wears out and has to be replaced. the car had to be towed to the ford dealership and is waiting for repair on monday. to my surprise, i came and checked the internet about the problem and there is thousands of the same complaint. all are ford focus owners. all put a key in the ignition and the key won't turn. i find this strange that this car has the exact same problem and the customer has to pay hundreds of dollars to replace the ignition cylinder, which is obviously defected. this could be a safety concern for any ford focus owner. there is forewarning before the ignition freezes up, it just happens once the car is turned off. my car was only turned off for 10 minutes and it happened to me. *tr | |||