Two problems related to transmission stuck in gear have been reported for the 2001 Ford Focus. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Ford Focus based on all problems reported for the 2001 Focus.
I was driving, and wanted to shift to lower gear (from 5th to 4th - manual transmission) for braking. The transmission was stuck in the 5th gear. I used the clutch to coast to a safe stop and had the car towed to a service location. The mechanic diagnosed it due the broken cables from the shifter to the transmission. The mechanic replaced these cables and the car is ok. We did not save the cables.
I took my car to sequioa national forest on memorial day weekend. My car was acting great til I til the grapevine my car suddenly did not want to change gear it would get stuck making my rpm really high I was afraid I was going to burnout my engine after I got into into the mountains the car was fine again maybe cause I was driving under 30 mph but as soon as I got into the highway again I was fine as long as kept the same pace of the car which was 80 mph as soon as I got like 85 or lower to 65 mph it would get stuck. Unfortunetly all of this happen when my warranty expired by 1000 miles. I thought Ford would be understanding but unfortunetly they didnt give a rats behind. So now im stuck with a "dependable" car with a crapped out transmission. Thank you Ford you always make good cars (sarcasm by the way) next time ill get a real dependable car like Honda or Toyota. You suck Ford motor company.