Car Stall problems of the 2009 Ford Focus

Exactly as described in other entries on this site, and similar to the problems described in the the nytimes today about gm cars (although mine is a Ford- probably the same faulty component is in both gm and Ford). Numerous times and at various speeds, including on the highway, the car will inexplicably "stall out"- the engine completely shuts off and no longer accelerates. First time was with my wife driving with our babies on the highway. She was terrified, and did a heroic job of getting over to the shoulder. She turned the key off and then was able to restart the car. A few weeks later it happened to me on a country road- without any warning, the car completely shut off while going about 40 mph. I took it to a mechanic. They drove it over a hundred miles and couldn't find anything wrong with it. In another week or so, it did it twice in one day, both city driving in heavy traffic. I'd put on the hazard lights, come to a stop and restart the car. Took it back to the mechanic. They drove it another 75 miles with the same lack of diagnosis. The next time it happened I was on an empty stretch of open road going about 40, and I was able to just shift into neutral while coasting and turn the key off and back on to restart the car while never actually stopping it. Realizing that this was actually better than stopping traffic and potentially causing an accident, this is how I have restarted the car and resumed acceleration in the several times it has done it since. But I am a very skilled driver- shifting into neutral and restarting the engine while coasting in traffic is definitely not a solution for the average person having this problem, and I am not advising anyone to do it. I've put a ton of miles on this car quickly, so other people with 2009 Focuses may not have had this problem. But more will likely begin to experience it as their cars get older. Please recall.

This happened on two separate occasions. The first occasion, my wife was driving the Focus at around 50 mph, when all of the sudden the car stopped accellerating (it didn't stall) and the wrench panel light came on. Luckily she wasn't in an accident, so she pulled over and restarted the car and it ran fine, and the light was off. Three weeks later we were driving on the highway at 75 mph when the exact same thing happened, the car just stopped accelerating, the wrench light came on, and again we were lucky we weren't in an accident and were able to pull off the road. We restarted the car and it was fine again. At this point I called Ford and they agreed to take a look at it and provide me a rental car. After a week, they said they thought it was a throttle body, but were unable to diagnose it because they needed to have it happen to them. I told them it was unreasonable because it happened three weeks apart, and the chances of it happening were slim within a week. I was trying to urge Ford to cover this since the car only had 54k miles on it, and it was dangerous to drive. They said since they couldn't diagnose it, they couldn't fix it, and even if they could diagnose it, it wouldn't be covered since its not under the powertrain warranty. I feel like this is a safety issue that they are very aware of, and the fact that they are 99. 9% sure its a throttle body (the dealership employees told me they're getting tons of throttle body repairs coming in and the parts are on back order), they should be responsible to fix them for the safety of the consumer. There was no maintenance we could have done to prevent these dangerous situations from happening. Now I have to find a way to pay for this repair on my own so my wife can drive a safe vehicle. So Ford's defective part has already put my wife and I in danger, and now is costing me money I don't have!.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure mostly occurred when accelerating. The contact stated that the vehicle would also suddenly decelerate while the accelerator pedal was being depressed with the illumination of the wrench warning icon. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The failure mileage was 49,000 and the current mileage was 50,700.

Wrench light came on when starting. . . And went off. . Gradually came on and stayed on until I turned off engine and restarted. . . Bob ridings Ford here in decatur said they could not check it unless the wrench light stayed on. . . Which never happened. . . Gradually the light would come on when car was being driven. . . And stalled down at a place I could not get off road to restart. . . Luckily not in heavy traffic which could have caused an accident. Next the wrench light went off and the engine light came on. . . Before I could get it to the garage to be checked, all the lights went off. . . Sid palmer from palmer tire and auto checked it and got one code which he tried to get Ford to help him with. . Before he could hear back (if ever he would have) I took it to bob ridings in taylorville (I had bad experience with one in decatur)and they called sid to get his diagnosis. . And discussed the fact that both had replaced throttle control on other Focus cars which Ford motor did not recommend doing! this cost me $569. 10 which I believe would have been under warranty if it had been repaired in 2011; and this should have been a recall as it is a dangerous condition when driving in traffic. , I think Ford owes me. . . And probably others. . . And is a problem warranting a recall! I guessed at mileage and time but know this problem occurred the year after I bought the car and it only had 9000 miles on it when I purchased it. . . Making it have around 15,000 when problem began.

I was driving on the freeway at approximately 65mph, when the car lost power. Stepping on the gas pedal had no response. I put the car in neutral and coasted out of traffic and onto the shoulder. When I stopped on the side of the road, the car was shaking violently as if it was getting ready to stall. I tried repeatedly to step on the gas but there was no response. I turned the car off for approximately 30 seconds and tried to restart it. It started right up and the throttle was acting normally. Since that first incident, over a year ago, this has happened six more times with the last one being on 11/14/11. I was travelling at 70 mph on interstate 15 going north up the hill from baker, CA when this happened. Trying to Dodge the other motorists and the big rigs to even get to the shoulder was very scary. I have researched this problem and apparently it is not unique to my vehicle. Someone is going to get seriously injured if this issue is not resolved. As other complaints have stated there is no code left on the computer after I restart the car so my mechanic wants to drive my vehicle until it happens, but it only happens every couple of months. I can't be without my car for that lenghth of time so I am very frustrated.