Front Suspension Control Arm Problems of Ford Focus

The contact stated that her mother-in-law owns a 2007 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while her mother-in-law was driving at an unknown speed, the front passenger’s side wheel detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the independent mechanic who diagnosed the failure as a control arm failure. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that 2 weeks later the driver’s side wheel detached. The vehicle was towed back to the independent mechanic who stated that the control arm had detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that 3 months later while stopped at a traffic light, the driver was unable to control the vehicle as the front passenger’s side wheel detached from the vehicle as well as the transmission slid into the engine. The transmission observation was by the tow truck company. The vehicle was towed to the owner's residence. The failure cause was not diagnosed by the dealer or an independent mechanic. The contact stated that the tow company informed her that the vehicle was unable to be towed on the flatbed due to the fact that the front end of the vehicle might detach. The contact stated that the headlights would also flicker on and off while driving. The contact stated that the independent mechanic replaced the light bulbs however, the failure continued. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

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2003 Ford Focus. Consumer writes in regards to inadequate structural steel. The consumer stated the steel on the control arms were poorly manufactured. While driving the vehicle, it suddenly dead stopped, turned right, making a cracking noise. The control arm had snapped and dug into the tar, braking the tie rod and creasing the breakline.

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Tl-the contacvt owns a 2000 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken tfor scheduled maintanance to an independent mechanic, they advised himt that the rear control arms and the craddles were severely rusted and needed replacement. The vehicle was norepaired. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for a diagnostic. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000. Bp.

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The left rear tire leans in at top 2-3 degrees. Dealer checked, it showed out of camber/alignment, but was "within specs". At under 1200-miles, tire is already showing uneven inside tread wear. Dealer knows but refuses to correct it unless Ford authorize. I found this on Ford world; "Ford motor company told dealers that they may need to replace the rear upper control arms on Ford Focus models. The models include: Focus sedan se series, wagon, zx3 and zx5 series. According to Ford, consumers have been experiencing more than normal wear to the inside of the rear tire(s). Should owners experience such a condition, then they should bring their vehicle in to a Ford or Lincoln Mercury dealership for a possible adjustment. Ford will check the rear camber and, if possible, make an adjustment. If an adjustment to the vehicle's rear camber is necessary beyond the negative end of specification, then the dealership will need to source replacement rear upper control arm(s). " the Ford motor company parts service kit required for this replacement is 3s4z-1a154-aa. Ford will perform the replacement of parts under provisions of the bumper to bumper warranty under TSB t31305. This is considered a "silent recall" where upon Ford may not notify owners of this condition. Owners should contact (313-322-3000) at Ford world headquarters or click here for a Ford executive assigned to your area. ".

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The left lower control arm on the front suspension failed at approximately 45 mph on a 5 lane city road causing the wheel to fold under the vehicle. The car made an immediate left turn into oncoming traffic and control of the vehicle was lost. Fortunately the car came to a stop without hitting anything and no one was injured but the potential for a serious accident was certainly there. The control arm failed due to corrosion and upon inspection, it was found that the right front lower control arm is also rusted through and cracked and nearing failure as well. Pictures are attached. The car has approximately 105,000 miles on it and we are the second owner. It has been extremely well maintained throughout its life. In my 50 years of experience working on automobiles I've never seen a control arm failure like this.

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The contact owns a 2007 Ford Focus. While slowing down to 5 mph to approach an intersection, the vehicle drove over a pothole. The contact lost control of the vehicle, but managed to apply the brakes to stop the vehicle. The control arm assembly was rusted and split in half, the plastic shroud was ripped, and the fender on the passenger side was pushed into the front passenger door, which made the door difficult to open and close. The vehicle was towed to a residential home where it was diagnosed. The independent mechanic determined that the lower control arm failed. The control arm failure was repaired by the independent mechanic. The contact did not notify the manufacturer of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 98,000.

Excessive rear tire wear: the vehicle made a trip from greenville TX. To louisville ky and back (approx. 1400 miles) in September of 2016 (with high ambient and road temperature). The inside shoulder of both rear tires were worn down to the cords. The tires had only around 5000 miles when it began the trip. I took the vehicle to the local Ford dealer here in greenville, and had them to assess the problem. They said it falls within Ford specifications of (-2. 1 --+0. 6 camber. . . . . Toe -0. 01-+0. 39). I called Ford consumer relations 800-392-3673 (cas-10568914-w6x6b2 on 9/16/16). Talked to jean (866-631-3788 ext. 77727) explained the problem, and she called the dealership who also told her the problem was as I had described. She did call me back and said the car was out of warranty by months however, the mileage was only 27111 and had never been on a long road trip with these conditions. Jean said the car was no longer in warranty and that I had a tire problem. I said, "no, jean, I do not have a tire problem, but Ford has a engineering problem because the alignment settings are fixed (camber and toe is not adjustable)". I then called clint (central region for Ford) and explained the problem, but also had the same consensus. After this, I ordered a pair of adjustable control arms and decreased the camber by 1. 5 degrees negative, and took out of each side 1/10th toe in (both adjustment still within Fords specification range). I documented tire wear before it made a round trip to denver, CO from greenville, TX (approx. 1,640 miles). Upon its return the wear was even across the tread. I am writing this memo to report that Ford has a safety problem with the excessive rear tire wear because in this case the vehicle would not have made another round trip from greenville to louisville without having tire failure.

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Tl-the contact owns a 2001 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle was pulled to the right independently and the contact lost control of steering wheel. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the lower control arm and ball joint assembly and axle needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact was unacquainted if the vehicle was repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 02v289000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 165,611. Ak.

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All 4 eagle gt tires that are only 6 months old are worn and scalloped due to a know problem to Ford technical service bulletin 10034585 July 10, 2010 and service bulletin no. : tb-21399 component(s): tires NHTSA id number: 10034585. Our mechanic ran a diagnostic and service bulletin search for possible manufacturing issues to cause the tire wear. The solution that Ford has come up with it to add 4 additional upper control arms at $140 a piece plus labor. When I spoke with Ford they indicated that the problem is a known one but are unwilling to do anything to correct the problem. They are waiting until people are either injured or killed to correct the problem. Advised them that I will keep all receipts for new tires. This is the 4 set of tires in 3 years due to this problem. I advised them I will wait until the tires are totally worn and cause an accident and damage and then let my insurance carrier deal with their faulty vehicle.

Vehicle has much greater tire wear than normal on rear tires. This is a result of the wrong camber on the rear wheels of this car!! Ford manufactured it this way!!! the only way to correct the problem is with new control arms, which Ford refuses to replace at their cost. With the wrong camber, each rear tire acquires cupping either on the inside or outside of the tread on the tire. I have severe cupping on the inside lr and moderate cupping on the outside of the tread on the rr. This wear pattern produces an out of balance condition and as such a safety hazard. These vehicles should be recalled and corrected, I feel that I've been sold a defective product !!.

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The contact owns a 2000 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the suspension dropped to the ground. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis where it was stated that the ball joint had become detached from the control arm. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 127,000.

Front right lower balled joint separated and broke the control arm almost separated the wheel from the car. The car has not been repaired.

This is our first year driving this Focus in the snow, we bought it in 2011. We had a snow fall on 11/1/2012 and we took the car out for a drive. Any speed above 35 mph and the rear of the car floats (wiggles) back and forth up to a foot. It is completely unstable on snow or ice. I did some research online, and Ford apparently knows the problem,: defective rear upper control arms, since they did a silent recall on these in 2006. Nhtsa should investigate this since there are many more Focus's out there like ours, and Ford should have to recall and replace the control arms on all of these units from 2000-2004. I have over 35 years of winter driving experience and I have never had a vehicle (even the old rear wheel drive models) behave so dangerously on snow and ice, even with all season tires on it. I contacted Ford motor company and they said there is nothing they have to do since the car is out of warranty. Here is an attached article I found on line. October 03, 2006 Ford motor company told dealers that they may need to replace the rear upper control arms on Ford Focus models. The models include: 2000 through 2004 Focus sedan, wagon, zx3 and zx5 series. Ford will check the rear camber and, if possible, make an adjustment. If an adjustment to the vehicle's rear camber is necessary beyond the negative end of specification, then the dealership will need to source replacement rear upper control arm(s). " this is considered a "silent recall" where upon Ford may not notify owners of this condition. .

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Car purchased new from out of area dealer in December 2008 - no accidents or pothole contact. At 10090 miles, had right rear tire blowout, tire was replaced. Six months later, replaced both rear tires due to uneven wear, competed alignment at quality provider with no problems noted. Did not use dealer for the alignment because of local (barstow, CA) dealer's poor customer service and integrity reputation. December 2010, noticed same problem - severe diagonal cupping of rear tires. This time we took to different tire place and was told they could not do 4 wheel alignment due to a rear suspension componant issue. Immediately took the car to dealer where purchased, got excellent service however, they said they could not allign either, probably because we ran something over, which we knew we did not. We were not satisfied so they kept the car close to a week for testing, measuring, calibration etc. They finally said upper rear control arms were wrong size (I think they said too short), which they replaced at no charge for the parts, and said they were able to do the alignment, which cost $240. Now September 2011, 41000 miles, and again there is severe diagonal cupping of the rear tires, which have to be replaced. We will take the car to the dealer purchased from and update this complaint later.

For two weeks I heard and felt a slight pop in the front driverside wheel when accelerating from a stop and then when applying the brakes after gaining some momentum. Took it to get looked at by mechanic and actually looked at the area in question myself. (control arm, ball joint, cv, sway link, steering assembly and struts) we could not determine the problem nor could we recreate the 'pop' with the car on the lift. Was suggested that I have my engine mount bushings replaced which is fairly cheap and easy. While waiting for the bushings to arrive my ball joint 'failed'. It did not break, it just slipped out. I was driving approximately 30mph on secondary residential road which was free of bumbs, dips, etc. Suddenly I hear a bang, the car jerks and tire screeches. I thought it must be a transmission problem so I put the car in neutral and steer it onto the shoulder. Upon exiting the vehicle I see the driverside wheel has disattached from the ball joint and is now kicked out @ 90degrees. The cv is torn from transmission, stabilizer link is twisted, strut was bent way back, tire has hole worn in it, slight body damage. I was extremely lucky that I had not made it o the highway yet. The ball joint was not broken in any way; it had just slipped from its cuff. I now have the ball joint and bolt that holds it to the suspension knuckle at home for my own inspection. There is clearly a safety issue here. This is an engineering and design flaw and should have never made it past the drawing board. Basically, you have barely 1/16" of the side of the 1/2" bolt exposed to a groove for roughly 1/4". I measured these with a pair of high grade calipers and was appalled, I was appalled when I just looked at the assembly,but those numbers are weak. My sister was in a near fatal auto accident last year. It was never understood what caused the accident. She was in a coma. Guess what. . . She was driving a Ford Focus.

I have changed tires on this car 3 times since I bought it April 5, 2010. I have taken the car in to our local Ford dealer and they informed me the last time I put tires on the car that the Focus cars have this type of problem. I asked how they could fix it and they informed me that they would have to remove the rear control arms and replace them, because they can't adjust the arms to align the car properly and it would continue to have this problem if we don't change the control arms on the car, the cost of repair quoted was $600. 00. After putting $600. 00 worth of tires on I couldn't afford to have the control arms changed. I was told it was a manufactures problem.

The contact owns a 2009 Ford Focus. While driving approximately 65 mph, the steering wheel and front end of the vehicle began to vibrate excessively. In addition, there was a strong burning odor inside of the vehicle. The speed was reduced and the vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road. The contact noticed the front passenger's side tire completely deflated. There was no flames present. The roadside assistance replaced the defective tire with a spare. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer three times for the similar. The technician stated the defect was related to faulty suspension. The repairs were performed on different occasions which consisted of replacing the front lower control arm, front rack and pinion. In addition, a four wheel alignment and camber kit installation was performed. The failure recurred after the repairs. There were a total of six set of tires replaced on the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Car purchased new from out of area dealer in December 2008 - no accidents or pothole contact. At 10090 miles in August 2009, had right rear tire blowout, tire was replaced. Six months later, replaced both rear tires due to uneven wear, competed alignment at quality provider with no problemsidentified. Did not use dealer for the alignment because of local (barstow, CA) dealer's poor customer service and integrity reputation. December 2010, noticed same problem - severe diagonal cupping of rear tires. This time we took to different tire place and was told they could not do 4 wheel alignment due to a rear suspension componant issue. Immediately took the car to dealer where purchased, got excellent service however, they said they could not allign either, probably because we ran something over, which we knew we did not. We were not satisfied so they kept the car close to a week for testing, measuring, calibration etc. They finally said upper rear control arms were wrong size (I think they said too short), which they replaced at no charge for the parts, and said they were able to do the alignment, which cost $240. Now September 2011, 41000 miles, and again there is severe diagonal cupping of the rear tires, which have to be replaced. We will take the car to the dealer purchased from and update this complaint later.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Focus. The contact stated the rear bearings seized and needed to be replaced six times. On one occasion the contacts rear passenger wheel broke off causing the contact to replace the control arm. The dealer did not diagnose the failure, but stated the failure occurred frequently with that model year vehicle. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 85,000.

Took my 2009 Ford Focus to dealer for oil change; told dealer I had lumpy left rear tire; was told I didn't rotate my tires; asked how often I should rotate; dealer said whenever oil changed; dealer cost was $25 for tire rotation; I did it myself; next day put car up on hoist, rotated the tires, and drove; front end shook and was uncontrollable; went back to shop and put tires back as they were; vibration was minor in left rear corner; at 12000 miles took car to dealer for oil change; was told I needed tire rotation; told them I tried @ 6000 miles and front of car shook so had to put tires back where they were; dealer said too much in car and was throwing alignment off; that needed to buy new tires & would take care of shaking in back; since purchase, car was new I have to drive with white knuckles at a very slow speed if the road is wet or has snow on the road . After 1/4" of dry powdery snow the car is all over the road and can't drive over 25mph without the back of the car swaying back and forth. I have never drove any car in my life I am so afraid to drive in any amount of snow or rain. At 20000 miles I had to put on 4 new tires . The salesman told me that they were excellent on snow and rain . I took off for home and they were the same. At 30000 miles I complained again and they said I needed to rotate the tires more often because the left rear tire was cupping. At 40000 I bought 2 tires and put the front tires on the rear and threw the left rear tire away. I took to dealer and insisted it check alignment with whatever was in the car; technician checked & said left rear control arm must have been damaged by hitting curb which was not true; told needed to spend $530 to correct (warranty had run out); could not find problem when under warranty.

My 2005 Ford Focus which I bought new off the dealership now has 100000 miles on it. Within the past year, while driving, the back end fishtails back and forth as if it is being hit by a strong wind. As soon as I told a repair shop this they immediately recognized the problem because they have had many other Focus owners complaining about the same thing. The rear control arm assembly is defective. This is not something that should need to be ever changed on a vehicle. The repair shop said that when they order a new one from Ford, the new one sent is much stronger and bulkier which tells them that Ford is aware of this defect. The repair bill for this is over $1200! this is very dangerous as you feel you are loosing control of the vehicle at any time. Upon hearing this, I contacted my parents who also have a Ford Focus and they said that though they have only half the number of miles on their vehicle it is also a 2005 model and it has started to do this also to them but they didn't know what to think, if it was just bad roads or what. Very dangerous and Ford has no response to my questions!.

For about a month before bringing my car to Ford I had been noticing a vibration feeling in the steering wheel though the wheel was not shaking. This was only happening when I was going faster than 50-55mph. I checked the air pressure in the tires and all was ok. Finally, I brought it to Ford and they found a bent control arm in the front r/s. In addition, they found a slipped belt on the l/r tire and r/f tire had uneven wear. Ok, so here's my complaint. . . . There is no way that I hit anything so hard that I bent my control arm in the first place!!!! since there is no way to prove this I had to live with the fact that I would have to pay for this repair - almost $400. 00. The problem I have is with the tires. Since the repair in the front was the same place that the tire had uneven wear, I had to eat this one too - $125. 00. The problem is, what about this slipped belt in the rear tire? I guess I was to blame for that one too. Maybe these pirelli tires are the problem. I should have read the complaints here before I brought the car back to Ford. Ford didn't have any other tires that fit these rims, but the same pirelli's that were on the car in the first place. Since the car was already in the shop and my time is limited, I was stuck getting the same junk. My message. . . . Don't make the mistake I made - do not replace the tires on your Focus with the pirelli's that came with the car. If I can save some people a few headaches and some money, I will feel much better for the mistake that I made.

The contact owns a 2001 Ford Focus. While driving 2 mph the vehicle hit a patch of ice, slid into a curb, and caused the suspension front control arm to bend. A new suspension front control arm was installed by the dealer. On March 14, 2008, while making a turn the vehicle made a clunking noise, the steering failed, caused the vehicle to hit the curb and the suspension front control arm was bent again. The failure mileage was 60000 and the current mileage was 87587.

Dt:the tires on the consumer's 2002 Ford Focus 2002 were showing severe signs of wear after only 17000 miles. The first set of tires were replaced at 5000 miles due to wear. After about 12000 miles the same wear pattern reappeared. These tire were rated as 60000 mile tires. The vehicle is currently on it's third set of tires. One of the tire was taken to a Ford dealership for inspection. The dealer found a service bulletin #. 03-13-5 on Ford's computer that covered all models of Ford Focus 2000-2004 that experienced inner tire wear. The upper control arms of this model were engineered incorrectly creating adverse camber to the rear tires. The remedy was a restructured control arm:upper arm kit. The newly restructured control arm :upper arm kit would only be sent to those who were eligible under the bumper to bumper warranty,3 year, 36,000 miles. Consumer felt the vehicle was bought with a factory defect.

Rear inner tire wear. The control arms on top was defective, causing the tire to rub against the body and rear to swirve when riding over a bum or pot hole.

Vehicle's control arm broke causing steering to fail. Please provide additional information.

Right rear lower control arm/rear trailer arm broke in half, near the rear right wheel, of my Ford Focus 2001 after driving on sandy road during a rain shower.

My father owns this vehicle, but he bought it for me for safety reasons, I am a 16 year old female. Traveling at normal highway speed on a dry, two lane highway with no traffic at night my 2002 Ford Focus lost control due to the front control arm fracturing. My right front tire ended up totally unattached to the control arm and only staying attached to the vehicle by the hold of the tie rod. My vehicle swerved into the median and into the oncoming traffic (thankfully no traffic was around). Being by myself with no cell phone I waited until someone stopped on the side of the road. A police man, officer strom from the titusville police dep't stopped and noticed the skid marks and verified the front wheel had in fact come loose of the control arm and caused the accident. The tow truck operator, herb daniel's also verified the fracture in the control arm. I was not physically injured, but it was pretty emotionally traumatizing. My dad looked up information on the internet the following morning and found that accidents similar to mine had been reported before and no recalls had been made. We have video footage to show the skid marks and scene of the accident. At this point our main concern is to keep this type of accident from happening again and to make sure the new part that will be added to the car will not be defective.

Consumer lost control of vehicle at 40 mph, and was able to recover, not involving another vehicle. Dealer stated both front control arms were bent and had to be replaced. Consumer also had to purchase a new frame due to incident and has reciepts to prove.

Our son was driving his 2001 Ford Focus on a small back road near a shopping center. He was driving appromimately 20 mph thru a slight curve approaching a stop sign. As he was approaching the stop sign, he lightly applied his brakes and turned the steering wheel to negotiate the slight curve in the road, but his steering had failed - unable to negotiate the curve his car veered into oncoming traffic lane then back to hit the curb. The impact activated the air bags, shattered the windshield and the wheel was completely broken off. It appears that the control arm had a completely clean break - usually not seen in an accident. This was reported to me by several Ford employees as a "very suspicious break" as well as the tow driver from the Ford road side assistance. Our son also reported two days prior to the accident that he felt a "severe vibration in the front right end " of the 2001 Ford Focus. He pulled over to check the car- but could not see anything wrong - continued and the vibration had ceased. We are thankful that this did not happen on the highway as he usually travels on a daily basis.

Front end bounces and makes noises. Took vehicle to dealer, and dealer replaced bearings/ control arms and struts. Please provide further information.

The ball joint broke, the car rolled about 3 times.