2013 Ford Focus

[cr2250]

We bought this car brand new. Overall the car has been OK except for this DCT issue.

We have had the car in for service multiple times, with a result of "re-calibrating" the systems software. To no avail, that didn't fix the stuttering or grinding noises that could be heard from the transmission.
I contact ford corporate and the dealership finally approved a clutch assembly replacement.

This was replaced back in November.
Today, I'm driving the car and the stuttering and grinding noises are back! I called the dealership, explained the history and what's happening again. The service tech seems to think that everything I just described sounds within normal operation.

Grinding noises and stuttering are completely normal.

At this point I may just contact Ford again and ask for a buy out or a replacement vehicle. The car only has 16,000 miles on it. I'm guessing the dealer will be against replacement parts again unless I bring in corporate.

Any suggestions? It appears the DCT was an overall failure for Ford.

 

[vi edit]

Can check with local lawyers that have experience in lemon laws and start building up a case. Is it less than a year old?

I took a DCT focus out for a drive and hated it. I knew from a 5 minute experience I wanted nothing to do with that hunk of crap.

 

[Ferzerp]

Can you make a video? Ford's economy DCT does have its quirks, and what you're describing might just be normal operation that may seem odd if you're used to a torque converter transmission, but without seeing how it works, it is hard to tell.

They're all noisy. They're all less than smooth in certain scenarios. Knowing that it is hard to say whether or not you're describing just how they are, or an actual broken one.


edit: I'm not trying to be condescending or anything. It's just that I have one of the Ford DCTs in my commuting car, and I've let people borrow it before. Everyone who has borrowed it has thought the transmission was broken.

 

[LTC8K6]

It's not normal. You can find lots of videos and posts about it even through 2014 models.

You can find plenty of people who had no problems until they got a few thousand miles on the car. So it's clearly not normal.

They will get the transmission repaired, only to have it slipping again a few thousand miles later. Or even a few hundred.

Overall it seems like about 10% of the DCTs have major problems that the dealer can only temporarily fix.

 

[Ferzerp]

How can you possibly know that from that description? They *all* act funny even when they're working properly. They also are prone to failure (enough so that Ford has extended the warranty on them past the original length), but the description is so vague that he can also be describing the normal operation.

 

[heymrdj]

I have a 2014 Fiesta with the DCT, dealt with my share of issues with it (car is still better for me than any subcompact on the market).

Take it to the dealer and ask for a spike test, the spike test will determine if the clutches are bad. There is a new revision for it (Revision F I believe is what you're looking for) and so far it seems to be the miracle worker. Problem is there's a 30,000 unit backorder currently. But the spike test will start the process of getting you in line, or getting you the paper ammo you need to start a buyback.

The warranty on the transmission is now 5 years 100,000 Miles.

 

[cbrsurfr]

VW offered 10 years 100,000 on their DSG cars after some initial issues. With 5/100,000 you will run out of time before mileage.

 

[cr2250]

I have a 2014 Fiesta with the DCT, dealt with my share of issues with it (car is still better for me than any subcompact on the market).

Take it to the dealer and ask for a spike test, the spike test will determine if the clutches are bad. There is a new revision for it (Revision F I believe is what you're looking for) and so far it seems to be the miracle worker. Problem is there's a 30,000 unit backorder currently. But the spike test will start the process of getting you in line, or getting you the paper ammo you need to start a buyback.

The warranty on the transmission is now 5 years 100,000 Miles.

Ah she just got revision F installed back in November. It was working really well in December through early January. Come February, the grinding, lurching forward and shudder issues are back. Totally disappointed in this car.

I have a focus St and it's been great so far, it just seems Ford screwed up their DCT transmission.

 

[inachu]

the ford focus is on the top 10 deadliest car to drive.

 

[Pulsar]

the ford focus is on the top 10 deadliest car to drive.

http://www.designntrend.com/articles/37500/20150130/study-reveals-safest-dangerous-cars-top-10.htm

It's ranked at number 10. Not surprisingly, it's a small car, and as most of the other cars on the list. 'Small' and 'Mini'. I'm not sure I would hold that against any of them. That study really just proves that smaller cars are more dangerous than bigger ones. We're talking about 1 death per million differences....

 

[LTC8K6]

the ford focus is on the top 10 deadliest car to drive.

2011 and equivalent earlier models, 2009-12

There are differences between a 2009 focus and a 2012 focus.

They also don't have poor crash test ratings.

Seems odd that they'd have a "high" crash fatality rate.

 

[Ferzerp]

There are differences between a 2009 focus and a 2012 focus.

They also don't have poor crash test ratings.

Seems odd that they'd have a "high" crash fatality rate.

It could be a number of things too. The fatality rates don't tell us driver demographic, etc. It's one of those correlation vs causation things. We know that a few more people die in them than some other options, but is it caused by the car, or are there causes that are outside that (e.g. the Focus is a cheaper vehicle, so it has a lot of younger drivers which statistically are involved in more accidents)? We have to be careful with statistics like this.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

64K miles on my 2012 DCT Focus Titanium.

No transmission problems to report. Stutters at low speeds (under 10mph) going up inclines but that's normal.

Ford extended the warranty on the DCT models due to issues.

 

[heymrdj]

Ah she just got revision F installed back in November. It was working really well in December through early January. Come February, the grinding, lurching forward and shudder issues are back. Totally disappointed in this car.

I have a focus St and it's been great so far, it just seems Ford screwed up their DCT transmission.

The problamatic DCT's love cold temps, keeps them running properly. You're looking still at a spike test, if the engine is turning 250RPM's or more faster or slower than the clutch, the clutch packs have to be replaced.

You most likely have revision F1, instead, I believe, Revision F3. Clutches are the same, but there was a flaw in the seal kits from Luk (who manufacturers the clutch pack). There is a lot of room for error sadly where dealers install these systems wrong. F3 comes with seals pressed to the clutches instead of allowing a dealer to screw them up. Take it back and get the spike test. Talk to Ford Support at Focus Fanatics. Meagan does the work there, Crystal takes care of Fiesta Fanatics. Both do a fantastic job of doing the shouting match for you when it comes to dealers not doing the job: http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/member.php?u=79824

 

[Brian Stirling]

64K miles on my 2012 DCT Focus Titanium.

No transmission problems to report. Stutters at low speeds (under 10mph) going up inclines but that's normal.

Ford extended the warranty on the DCT models due to issues.

I have about 42K miles on my 2012 Titanium with DCT and have had a few minor but no major issues with it. The clutch design is marginal and should have been designed as a wet clutch but Ford wanted the better mpg a dry clutch would provide so Gertag gave them a dry clutch.

I think it's likely I'll have to replace my clutch sometime but am waiting until I need it. Hopefully they'll make a better version before I need it and it will be a one time deal -- under warranty.

All that said, I love my little Focus and have managed about 38.7mpg over the 42K miles.


Brian

 

[heymrdj]

I have about 42K miles on my 2012 Titanium with DCT and have had a few minor but no major issues with it. The clutch design is marginal and should have been designed as a wet clutch but Ford wanted the better mpg a dry clutch would provide so Gertag gave them a dry clutch.

I think it's likely I'll have to replace my clutch sometime but am waiting until I need it. Hopefully they'll make a better version before I need it and it will be a one time deal -- under warranty.

All that said, I love my little Focus and have managed about 38.7mpg over the 42K miles.


Brian

That's why I love my Fiesta. Just rolled over 15,000 miles, and hand calculated I'm about 32.7mpg lifetime. That's 91% city, 9% highway miles. Average speed for the lifetime of the car is 27mph.

 

[cr2250]

Just got done speaking with Scott Curry, a regional manager. He was absolutely no help.

Told me that everything i'm describing (grinding, shuddering, sudden bursts from idle) was within normal operation.

Was actually really aggravating and seem to be at a loss.

 

[Ferzerp]

That's why I requested a video. They're a really bad design and after a few thousand miles all make funny noises and shift harshly under higher amounts of throttle (often feeling like slippage, and often involving extremely slow shifts that when completed are extremely harsh). I'm not saying yours isn't broken, but without seeing it, you could be describing any of these transmissions.

 

[Brian Stirling]

That's why I love my Fiesta. Just rolled over 15,000 miles, and hand calculated I'm about 32.7mpg lifetime. That's 91% city, 9% highway miles. Average speed for the lifetime of the car is 27mph.

Yeah, my highish mpg is mostly down to the fact that most of my miles are on sparsely populated back roads where I can cruise at 55mph with few stops. My car isn't all that great around town and is actually pretty bad in stop-and-go rush hour traffic -- low 20's in that mode of driving.

I do have the 6-speed DCT and have had only minor issues with it. When I'm cruising I often put it into select shift mode (sport/manual) and leave it in 6th. Going down hills if you're in normal driving mode the car will downshift to prevent the speed from increasing but that's not great for mileage so leaving it in 6th in manual mode means the car won't downshift and will instead increase speed depending on how steep the hill.

Similarly, when driving in rolling hills where you have a dip followed right away by a small climb the car will tend to hunt for proper gearing, but in manual mode the car will stay in 6th. If the speed declines below cruise setpoint I'll manually downshift as needed.


Brian

 

[cr2250]

Yeah, my highish mpg is mostly down to the fact that most of my miles are on sparsely populated back roads where I can cruise at 55mph with few stops. My car isn't all that great around town and is actually pretty bad in stop-and-go rush hour traffic -- low 20's in that mode of driving.

I do have the 6-speed DCT and have had only minor issues with it. When I'm cruising I often put it into select shift mode (sport/manual) and leave it in 6th. Going down hills if you're in normal driving mode the car will downshift to prevent the speed from increasing but that's not great for mileage so leaving it in 6th in manual mode means the car won't downshift and will instead increase speed depending on how steep the hill.

Similarly, when driving in rolling hills where you have a dip followed right away by a small climb the car will tend to hunt for proper gearing, but in manual mode the car will stay in 6th. If the speed declines below cruise setpoint I'll manually downshift as needed.

Brian

Right now, we get 24.7mpg 50/50 city/highway

I think we may just trade it in.

 

[Spike]

I know I'm not the OP, but thanks for all the comments here. I have a 2014 Focus Titanium with about 8500 miles on it, had it for almost a year now (been traveling out of town a lot so lower mileage year for me). I get the stutter at low speeds but I've learned to just punch it, or go gentle and it's just fine, somewhere in the middle and it likes to stutter/shake while starting rolling. I had heard this was normal and experienced it on two separate rental focuses so I did not worry.

Should I take it in at some point and see about getting the newer revision replacement? Or because I have a 2014, will mine already have a newer model in it?

Also, to date I've been in the low 30's MPG with a 80% hwy/20% city commute plus some other driving. The problem I've had here is with my avg speed, most of my commute time is at ~65mph, which seems to drop the mpg a fair bit. I've had a few tanks where I drove almost entirely at 55 and I was getting 37-38 trip computer calculated, 36 hand calculate.