Ford Focus

Which Ford Focus years should you avoid?

Going by 22,108 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Ford Focus years to avoid are 2012, 2000, 2014 and 2013.

• 20123,770 complaints, 4.2× a typical Focus year, most often about the transmission.
• 20003,686 complaints, 4.1× a typical Focus year, most often about the electrical system.
• 20142,606 complaints, 2.9× a typical Focus year, most often about the transmission.
• 20132,112 complaints, 2.3× a typical Focus year, most often about the transmission.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2011 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →