general problems of the 2009 Ford Focus

Driving on highway in rush hour traffic at 65 miles an hour when suddenly losing throttle control down to 35 miles an hour the gas pedal would not respond. Yellow wrench light and wavy car warning lights appeared. Coasted to side of the road and sat for 10 minutes. Started car and tested pedal. Eased back on freeway. Scared to drive this car.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. While driving approximately 45 mph, the vehicle idled and would not accelerate properly. The vehicle would operate only if the accelerator pedal was depressed to the floorboard. The vehicle would not accelerate past 15 mph. The contact stated that an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle several times before the warning light dimmed. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 44,600.

Before taking a right out of the parking lot, I turned my blinker on (with my foot on the brake) and the car accelerated forward instead of turning. I kept my foot on the brake and the car speeded up even more. I finally crashed into a fence onto private property. Then I came to a full stop when I hit an SUV. This crash completely damaged the front of my 2009 Ford Focus.

I was driving my 2009 Ford Focus coupe approx 70mph on interstate 10 in the California desert at 3pm when the car suddenly and rapidly decelerated. I was in the 2nd to the left-hand lane and the rapid deceleration very nearly caused a multi-car collision with the cars behind to my right and left as the car directly behind me swerved to avoid rear-ending me. I had the car towed to a Ford dealership which was unable to find any codes or duplicate the problem and returned the car to me as is. This car is highly unsafe to drive.

As I was traveling down the highway the throttle suddenly and unexpectedly stopped working. (thankfully I was not in heavy traffic at the time. ) I coasted the car over to the side of the highway. The car remained idling, however I still had no throttle control. The wrench light was on. I turned the car off, waited a few minutes and restarted the car. The wrench light was off and I once again had throttle control. I eased the car back onto the highway but noticed the car had difficulty holding a constant and steady speed. There were intermittent subtle surges and pauses in the speed. Once I reached my destination I had a Ford dealership run a diagnostics on the car and they could not find any codes or problems with the car. I thoroughly researched this issue and found others were having similar problems and it was related to the throttle sensor. I had contacted a number of national parts suppliers and they could not sell me just the sensor but would have to sell me the entire throttle body. I contacted the Ford dealer and they had a throttle position sensor. Since replacing the throttle sensor I have put over 1200 miles on the vehicle and have had to this point no more problems with throttle control.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while traveling various speeds, the vehicle suddenly lost acceleration power. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was found that the throttle had seized in the closed position. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle would not accelerate from a complete stop as the service sensor warning light illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer where he was informed that the defect was due to a faulty throttle body. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 72,000.

I purchased my 2009 Ford Focus from the Ford dealership in stockton, CA. As I was driving home from work during rush hour in the fast lane, without warning, the car went in to (what my mechanic called) limp mode. The car instantly went from 70 mph to 15 mph - very scary! again, this happened while I was driving in very heavy commute traffic. Definitely a very dangerous scenario. I was able to move over into the slow lane and limp off the freeway, doing 15 mph for about a quarter of a mile. Quite honestly, I don't know how I did it without being slammed into by other vehicles. All I could do was coast. I came to a stop on the shoulder of the exit ramp. The car idled very rough. I turned it off, waited for a few seconds, and then turned it back on. It started right up as if nothing happened. I was able to get home without further incident. Our mechanic said there were no error codes in the computer. Apparently, they were cleared when the car was shut off. After this event occurred a few more times after driving the car for about an hour at high speeds, I decided to make it happen while I was close enough to home so my mechanic could come and check the car for codes while it was still running. It was like clock work. The car went into limp mode after being driven for close to one hour and my mechanic was able to pull the codes while the car was still running. The throttle body assembly was replaced (by our local mechanic) to the tune of about $600. Looks like there have been a lot of complaints about this issue. I think it's fair to say there have probably been fatalities associated with this problem, although we don't hear about them. A recall is in order!!!.

As reported by several others, my 2009 Ford Focus will unpredictably go into "limp” or failsafe mode, with power surges or hesitations and the wrench & check engine light. After then engine is re-started the car will run normally for various periods of time, sometimes miles, days or weeks. This first happened several times in November 2012, I brought the car into a Ford dealer, but because the wrench or engine lights were not on, they were unable to read any codes or otherwise diagnose. In may 2013, I again experienced several instances of the limp / failsafe mode with one or both of the wrench and check engine lights on. On may 11, 2013 car was delivered to a different Ford dealer with the wrench light on. This dealer “cleaned” the throttle body even though as I now understand the throttle body is a sealed unit. Just over 4 weeks after the maintenance I again experienced the limp mode and wrench lights. At this time I started to keep track of each instance. For approximately 1 month the car experienced frequent power surges/hesitation and instances of limp mode. The car then went 1 month without any repeat of that experience. After several more instances of the problem in early September 2013, the issue disappeared for over 6 months, until April 2014. I now have a log documenting approx 25 – 30 instances of limp mode over a period of about 8 weeks. This happens when the car is both warm or cold, in any weather conditions, sometimes when the car is running for only 1 minute or after a long drive. Unfortunately I have had to shift into neutral and re-start at highway speeds. Again as others have commented, this is a dangerous situation and should be corrected by a recall. I have an appointment in the next few days at which time they will likely replace the throttle body for approx $600, after sticking about $300 to the 1st 2 service calls. . . . Thank you.

I was driving home Friday and I notice a light on the left side of the dash and it look like a wrench, so after about 10 minutes the car began to slowdown, so I pressed the acceleration but the car would not speedup and it acted as tho the transmission was slipping so I was able to coast to the right lane and over to the side off, the freeway after I stop the car, then I turn the engine back on and the car would drive normal,if I accelerated slowly it acted like the trans was slipping,and after I got home I was going to back the car but it would not move when I placed the transmission in reverse it would not move. , this is a 2009 Ford Focus, and after reading the reviews on line I see that I am not the only that this have happen to, and this is a very dangerous place to be in on the freeway doing 70mph. And this happened Ford should recall this mod of vehicles.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle stalled and the power train warning lamp illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the electronic throttle body sensor needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 58,000 and the current mileage was 59,000.

Upon starting the vehicle, the engine light was on and the vehicle would not travel more than 30 mph. The vehicle would not accelerate at all in response to pressing the accelerator. The vehicle would only coast when lifting off the brake pedal. After taking the vehicle to the dealership, the throttle body required replacement which was done under the warranty.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving 20 mph, the vehicle began to idle high and accelerated abnormally. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis however the failure could not be replicated. The failure recurred numerous times. Each time the dealer was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was notified and extended the warranty on the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was 13,074 and the current mileage was 33,600.

Approaching a stop sign I applied the brakes, did not come to a stop, as the motor continued to accelerate(motor revved up beyond 1500 rpm. Got the ar under control, turned off the engine. Restarted the car 4 times and each time the motor was racing. If I had not had my foot on the brake I would have continued moving forward. I did not take my foot off the brake to see how fast the car would have gone as traffic was too congested. Did not wish to take a chance and drive the car . I called for an emergency tow and had the car delivered to my Ford dealer where it is being looked over. A similar situation occurred on 4/16/2009 the dealer at that time could not determine the problem. (odi # 10328218).

Approaching a red light at about 30mph I applied the brakes and the engine revved to a higher speed and I could not stop the vehicle until I put it in neutral and stood on the brakes. Luckily there was no one in front of me as I went about 6 feet into the intersection have had the car since 07/2009. This is first time this has happened. Informed dealer and car will be looked at 04/22/2010.

Car frequently revs engine high when coming to a stop, when at idle the engine revs from 400-1100rpms uncontrollably. Has occasionally dropped all power at highway speeds. Ford dealer said the pcm is bad and that there's a service bulletin on it. However, the dealer says Ford motor will not release a replacement part. I've loudly complained that the vehicle is unsafe to drive.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph when the vehicle jumped a curb and crashed into a pole. The driver sustained no personal injury. There was property damage, and a police report filed. The vehicle was completely destroyed. In addition, the engine revved without warning on a separate occasion. The failure and current mileages were unknown. The VIN was unavailable.

While driving at speed, driver loses all control of gas pedal and has to put car in neutral and shut ignition off in order to restart car to reset control of gas pedal. This situation has happened several times over the last 5 months. On oct 2 it happened 5 times on the same drive that day. This is a very serious problem that could cause injury or death. It is lucky that we have been aware of this and it hasn't cause us an accident. But now we must get it repaired because fate will catch up to you at the wrong time. I have researched this on the internet and found other people have had similar experience with this. After research some people have been told it is the throttle body which has a non replaceable sensor on it that controls a signal to the gas pedal. To repair it the throttle body has to be replaced. Please please investigate this. I have called Ford dealership about this and they show no concern or interest in finding out if this is a national problem they may kill someone. Please investigate before someone dies that is not aware of this.