Alternator/generator/regulator problems of the 2007 Ford Focus

I was driving in the rain when the internal lights started to flicker. This was followed by the radio shutting off, headlights dimming before turning off, and wiper blades failing. This was quite dangerous as it was dark out and raining, and I had no wipers or headlights. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get off the road before the car failed entirely. The car would not restart, and I had to get towed to a mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed the problem as a faulty alternator, which also caused the battery to fail. The mechanic replaced both components for $630. 80.

Out of no where my battery indicator light came on. I stopped to get gas and all electrical components of the car cut off and the car died. I had someone jump me and I made it to my house and in the parking spot and as soon as I parked my car it died again. I went and bought a new battery on 6/11/2015 today is 7/28/2015 and the same thing happened again I had the battery replaced a second time and had the car tested and found out the alternator is failing. I have found many many complaints about the alternator failing and believe this has become a huge issue. I had my children in the car with very high temperatures outside and the car shut off. I will replace the unit but I have seen where many people replaced it multiple times within a 2 year span. Please look into this situation.

Battery light lightened, abs light came on, all the instrument panel lines went to zero, car jerked a few times, then died. Tried to start it and just clicked, got a jump start and got it home. Brother checked it out, fixed alternator. Now it is almost a month later and same thing.

I was recently driving and my car engine was revving up when I would push in the clutch. After taking it in to the mechanic, they told me my alternator went out. This would not be a big deal but this seems to be something common among 2007 Ford Focus owners. Not only does this repair seem premature but it also is much more expensive than replacing most alternators because it is a dealer only part. . Read more...

To whom it may concern, I am the owner of a 2007 Ford Focus [xxx], it's a pretty good little car. Except for one thing, the battery light comes on. Then it goes off. This repeats. It started in April and lasted until the car wouldn't start leaving my wife stranded 50 miles from home. We had the car towed to the nearest Ford dealer, bill utter Ford in denton, TX. I told them that I had the premiumcare extended warranty, and they understood and let me know if it was just the battery I'd still be responsible as Ford considers that a wear and tear item. They checked the car and determined it was just the battery for which they charged me $246. 61. The car was running all right. Until Tuesday when the battery light came on again. And turned off. This time however my wife was much closer to home and she brought it back. I took it to the Ford dealer we bought it from, bankston and thy examined the car and found that the alternator was not properly charging the battery. They replaced it and I paid a $100 deductible for the premiumcare warranty. So now, for one problem I've paid $346. 61, which in the scheme of things is not so much. But it does seem to me about $246. 61 more than I needed to pay. So I called bill utter Ford and while the man that answered was very nice and had reasonable concerns about refunding my money. He also said that they had replaced many alternators in Focuses (focii?) with the battery light coming on intermittently. I did a google search for "Ford Focus intermittent battery light" where I received 101,000 hits. That is more than a few. Considerably more than a few. Bill utter says they can't just replace the alternator if it tests ok unless there's a recall or a service bulletin. 101,000 google hits apparently hasn't warranted a service bulletin. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

At 41,833 I was driving on the freeway at 60 mph. The abs warning light went on, the radio went off and 60 seconds later I lost all power. Speedometer went from 0 to 60. Towed car. Replaced alternator. At 45, 296 miles the same thing happened-lost power within 60 seconds of abs light going on the freeway. Towed car. The shop said that the previous alternator had been installed incorrectly and also the pcm had burned out. Replaced alternator and pcm. At 45, 536 red charging light came on. Took car in, replaced alternator. At 45, 641 red charging light came on. Took car in. Replaced alternator. All repairs done at Ford dealers.

While driving on the interstate the car had total failure of its electrical system. All dashboard functions failed, lights, radio, anything electrical. Within 5 minutes the car stalled and would not started again. The car was towed to a local Ford dealership. Tests indicated that the alternator was defective. Prior to this incident there was absolutely no warning indicating a problem with the charging system. The car is 5 years old and only has 30,630 miles on it.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph, the radio and all of the lights on the instrument panel began to operate intermittently. The vehicle then stalled. The vehicle coasted to the shoulder and was towed to an auto body shop. The auto body shop stated that the alternator needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred once and the vehicle would not start. The dealer was not made aware of the second occurrence. The vehicle was not taken back for additional repairs. The failure mileage was 58,120 and the current mileage was unknown.

Alternator failed without prior warning, please note that the charging system failure never once was indicated by the illumination of the battery idiot light before the vehicle stalled at 15 mph and in a drive thru at a mcdonald's. . . The vehicle could not be restarted due to depleted battery charge level. . . . . Note battery passed testing phase after alternator replacement. . . . Please note that the battery idiot light does illuminate during the key on engine off prestart system check. . . . . Once the battery was sufficiently jump charged the vehicle restarted and ran without any apparent problem from any system (no idiot lights illuminated and no check engine light). However when a charging system check was performed, the test revealed the alternator had failed and was not maintaining a voltage output sufficient to sustain vehicle operation. Please note that this alternator failure also caused the whole electrical system to shut down including all lights. . . . . Does this or does this not present a sever safety problem caused by the stalling of the vehicle at any speed and or traffic condition since the circuit that should activate the idiot light when the charging system begins to fail and/or fails completely does not illuminate said idiot light system. . . .

Our alternator failed in our Ford Focus zx3 2007 today while driving - got the car to Ford service station with spare battery and jumper cables and did some on-line research only to find out that several other folks have experienced the same problem:. . Read more...

Alternator failure.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Focus. While driving 50 mph, the contact stated that the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was informed that the alternator needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The current and failure mileage was 41,000. The VIN was unavailable.

2007 Ford Focus. . . . Alternator and battery replacement. . . If you check into this, you will notice how many people have had to replace these items in under 50k miles on car.

Car shutdown completely in the middle of the road, it started with abs light coming on. Found out alternator had died and killed my battery.

While traveling through oregon on I-205 in extreamly heavy rain my 2007 Focus with 64,000 miles lost most all electrical systems including head lights, tail lights and turn signals. Air bag indicator also iluminated on instrament panel. This all occurred while traveling at 55 mph. I was able to continue to next exit and found sears service center who diagnossed problem as bad batttery and alternator. No prior warning from battery light in instrument panel. This problem ocurring at highway speeds in low visability is a definate safety hazard. I know altenators fail from time to time but the lack of warning in the vehicle instrumentation of low voltage is not acceptable. I have noted many other accounts from Focus owners on various internet sites with almost identical senarios. I think Ford must know by now that this is a problem with the 2007 Focus.

Ford Focus 2007, 42,000 miles. Lights went off and car stopped ( no power at all), dead) in the middle of urban intersection with heavy traffic. It was sat. Evening and caused shock and inconveniences to driver who missed important appointment. It is a safety issue although this time an accident/crash was avoided. Car was towed to dealer for service. Dealer replaced alternator and battery, disregarding warranty. Dealer wants to charge $683. 00. A recall has to be filed because of the many complaints against Ford Focus 2007 for the same problem. I.

I own a 2007 Ford Focus with 45k miles on it. Around 42k miles I begin to experience problems with my car when I need to accelerate quickly such as merging onto an interstate highway. The car would begin to accelerate but once it reached 3rd gear the car would jerk and start revving very loud but be stuck and would not accelerate. Initially it was occasional and would not be very bad to overcome, simply release the gas pedal for a while then it'd fix itself. But it has gotten progressively worse to the point where I cannot get the car over 30 mph due to this issue no matter how slowly or fast I accelerate. The car will rev very loud usually at 3k+ rpm, but will not accelerate. I have to pull off the road whenever I can; turn the car off and try again. It turns out it is an issue with the alternator of this car particularly the 2007 model. I researched it and many other people who own the same make/model/year car are encountering this problem as well. And have been given a hard time by the dealers when it came to getting answers and help. Its become obvious that this must be a defect with this car. And it need to be addressed formally.

Alternator went out on way home from missouri to norman, ok. Replaced it in joplin, mo. Alternator went out again 7/17/12 on my way home from mo. Took it to Ford dealership in norman, ok and got it replaced on 7/25. Cost over $500. Battery light started coming on again 8/3 and I took it back in. Ford dealershio stated they couldn't find an alternator within 3 hour drive and would call me when they got one. The guy at Ford indicated maybe there was a problem with them since he couldn't find one. Got it replaced again 8/7/12.

The alternator and battery on my 2007 Ford Focus se that has 27,783 miles are dead. I take the car to the dealer for regularly scheduled maintained on time. Brought the car in today for oil change and 30,000 mile required inspection and maintained. I drove the car about 40 miles round-trip and stopped at the library. I tried starting the car and it would not turn on. All that happened was the oil light went on but the car made no sounds and engine was not even trying to turn over. Had car towed back to dealer and after an hour was told that the alternator and battery were both dead. There was no warning that this could occur form the dealer and the car acted perfectly fine. The only reason I knew anything was wrong was because the car wouldn't start. The night manager at the Ford dealer said that due to the alternator failing the car ran on 12volts of power from the battery and now the battery is dead and cannot be recharged. He also said that yes, the alternator does go out without any warning and that it is common to not know it had died until the car completely stops working. The car warranty expired 3 months ago in April and the dealer expects $645 to repair the issue. I feel this is a manufacturing issue that should be fixed by Ford. I have done research tonight, and learned that it is common for Ford Focus car to have the alternator and battery die at about 3 years of age. I was driving during rush hour on several expressways today, had the alternator died 10 minutes sooner, I could have been dead or seriously injured in a car crash. 1. No warning before alternator and battery died. Car was parked and would not turn on. Car was at dealer today for 30,000 oil change/ maintenance car has less than 28,000 miles. 2. This is the first time the alternator or battery has died. 3. Dealer said the car needs new alternator and battery. Would not offer any discount for repair.

Step-daughters took a loan for the low mileage economy car to commute to college and part-time job. Starting having problems with the battery. Replaced it. Wife tried to take it to the market at dusk while her daughter was away just to keep the car from sitting. Four miles down the two lane the electrics started failing. Car died and would not crank. She was able to coast part way onto a side road. As it got dark she sat and waited exposed to traffic on a 50 mph road with no shoulders on a curve. Luckily she was out of the cell phone dead spot. I blocked the side road with my truck so I could hook up cables. Started car. Checked with meter. Only battery voltage. Sat for 15 minutes with cables connected to charge up the battery. Sent wife home in the dark running flashers and hoped for no deer crossing. Pulled alternator which is just about as hard to get out is it could be able to be ( I work on equipment for a living). Took alternator to test machine. It failed. Rebuilt alternator is over $200 and I would rather not put a rebuilt in a low mileage late model, especially since its so hard to get in and out. Then again maybe they are finding the fault during the rebuild and upgrading the failed component. Ford and the others build cars with components that they purchase. Sometimes there is a problem with a batch of components. In order to maintain their reputation and be able to represent that they are doing everything they can to protect the customer they issue a letter and fix the problem. If there are 20 people who took the time to complain here there are hundreds more and enough of these have happened under warranty that Ford is fully aware of the problem. The best of the big three is not living up to its standing in this case and that this is happening in a low end car brings up recollections of the exploding pintos. Probably not a lot of folks with access to expensive legal assistance driving the Focus.

About 4 days before the incident, I noticed my battery light flickering, I wasn't too worried about it because it would not stay on, I thought it was probably the battery and I would replace it the following week, well it did not last a week! the reason I would classify this as a safety problem is: because of the alternator failing and not charging the battery, my 2007 Ford Focus just stalled on a freeway going through cleveland ohio. Not only did I lose engine power, every thing electrical shut down turn signals, brake lights, horn, etc. Trying to navigate across 3 or 4 lanes of traffic is a dangerous situation, and depending on location of this type of failure or if it happened at night or early morning hours a different kind of dangerous situation could occur! I had to be towed to Ford dealership on a Saturday, but their service dept was closed until today Monday, they called to inform me of cost of repair (over $400) when I pick up car I will make sure I get the old alternator.

Battery light goes off and on. Then radio goes out, with low battery reading across the radio. Then lights start to dim. All meters stop working on the dash and then the car jerks while driving and dies as it was pulled to the side of the road. Replaced battery assuming since this was the dash warning. As soon as I pull off with the new battery, the battery light goes on and off again. Had to get car towed and after diagnostic testing it shows the alternator is bad. Read many reviews of the same thing happening. The car is only 3 years old, but over the warranty as far as mileage is concerned. Had previous cars with many more miles than the Focus has with 56000 and had no problems with the alternator.

There appears to be a problem with the alternator on the 2007 Ford Focus. Searching online, I have found numerous complaints regarding the alternator failing on this vehicle, causing a failure of the electrical system (lights, turn signals, brake lights, speedometer, etc. ), often while driving. This happened to me last night while I was driving. First, my battery light came on, then my abs warning light, then my brake warning light, and then the electrical system died.

2007 Ford Focus, 40k miles: events leading up to the failure: within minutes of a text message flashed across my radio monitor, "low battery", all gauges (gas, speed, engine temp) fell to 0. This happened while traveling at the speed limit (70mph) on interstate 75 north of sarasota, florida. Reducing speed to exit interstate engine seized and bolted. Singular failure. Alternator replaced and new battery purchased. Old part of new car purchase in March, 2008; left with repair shop.

While driving car, lost power, eventually lost all power. No indication present (red batt indicator never came on) Ford service manager says this is normal for Ford cars of all makes, trucks seem to work better. Cause was alternator putting out 0 charge to battery. Also, Ford service manager revealed alternators are expected to last only 3-5 years, due to heat build up and no cooling provision for alternator. This is an unsatisfactory safety issue on both counts. Ford should be required to make battery warning work reliably in all cars, and provision/design change to enable alternators to cool themselves and last to normal eol (5 yrs/100k miles). Loss of power unexpectedly risks passenger and drivers safety as I had no external indicators, blinkers or brake lights available at 60 mph on highway.

2007 Ford Focus loses all power, lights, signals, speedometer etc, while driving. Make it to dealership at great risk with no brake lights, turn signals etc. Told alternator is bad, dealer to replace under extended warranty. Ford has a really bad design issue here, as it also happened with my 2003 Focus, but was misdiagnosed and that car is now unable to run more than a couple months without replacement.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Focus. When driving he hears a grinding noise coming from the front-end of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to dealer the multiple times and the alternator was replaced twice an an expense of $500. 00 for each repair. The repairs have not remedied the failure, because the problem has resurfaced. He was in the process of having the same component replaced again. The failure mileage was 90,000 the current mileage was 120,000.

The contact owns a 2007 Ford Focus. The contact stated the vehicle has 40,000 miles and the alternator has failed. The vehicle has shut off on four occasions and continuously failed to hold a charge. The dealer informed the contact that the repair cost will not be paid per the warranty since it expired at 36,000 miles. The failure mileage was 40,000.

Alternator suddenly failed while driving. I had no control of the car while in traffic including the steering. The alternator was replaced. Approximately 3 years later on July 2, 2012, the same thing happened. Sudden alternator failure while driving with no ability to control the vehicle. Because the electrical system had a total failure I could not steer the vehicle, turn on the hazard flashers, or signal the traffic behind me that I was slowing down because the brake lights could not function. Terribly dangerous. On July 6, 2013, alternator #3 failed and burned out the battery as well. Ford motor company apologized for the inconvenience and said it was my problem because it was out of warranty and there was no recall. Inconvenience? that takes the cake. I don't know why there is not a recall on this defect and it is clearly a safety issue. Sudden electrical failure on a highway at high speed with no way to steer the car or warn other drivers merits a recall. The web is awash with complaints about sudden and repeated failure of the electrical system in the 2007 Ford Focus.