2005 Ford Focus
This year drew an ordinary 441 complaints for a Ford Focus — the model's median is 1,568. What they were about is the unusual part: 29% of them mention ignition, against 9.9% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Ford Focus was redesigned for 2005. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 441 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,568 |
| Involving a crash | 43 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- ignition — 29% of this year's complaints, against 9.9% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: ignition, key, stuck, stuck ignition.
- wires — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the model's other years (7.9×). Owners wrote it as: wires, wiring, harness, hatch.
- end — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: end, front end, rear end.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE CONTACT EXPERIENCED DIFFICULTY REMOVING THE IGNITION KEY, WHICH WAS STUCK IN THE IGNITION SWITCH. SHE MADE SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO RELEASE THE KEY, BUT WAS [VIN]. THE FAILURE OCCURRED WITHOUT WARNING. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE AND THEY ADVISED THAT…
THE KEY WAS STUCK IN THE IGNITION SWITCH, WHICH FAILED TO RELEASE. THE FAILURE OCCURRED WITHOUT WARNING. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED AND THE VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN REPAIRED. THE VIN AND MILEAGES WERE UNKNOWN.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12E007000 EQUIPMENT
- 05V030000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 08E050000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 06E056000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 06E026000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Focus was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Ford Focus? What happened to yours?
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