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Ford Focus

Every model year 2016–2018: recalls, owner complaints, NHTSA crash ratings and EPA efficiency side by side, each value traced to the file it came from.

3 Model years 2016–2018

28 Recalls NHTSA campaigns, all years

2,938 Complaints owner reports, all years

F Newest grade 2018 Safety Signal

2018 Best on record cleanest filed year

The 2018 Focus →Which year to buy used Compare it

Ford Focus — photograph via Wikimedia Commons — Ford Focus · Photo: Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Every Ford Focus model year

Source: NHTSA · EPA · one row per year

Year	Powertrains	Safety	Recalls	Complaints	Crash	Best efficiency
2018	Electric Gas	F	7	837	★★★★★	115 mi
2017	Electric Gas	F	10	907	★★★★★	115 mi
2016	Electric Gas	F	11	1,194	★★★★★	76 mi

Which model year the record favours

Source: recalls and complaints per year on the road

Best on the record 2018

On the filed record so far, the 2018 is the cleanest Focus year we hold, and the 2017 the one to check hardest.

Both figures are divided by the number of years the car has been on sale, because otherwise the oldest year on the page loses every time simply for having been around longer. The current model year and any year under three on the road are left out: their records are not finished.

Year	Safety Signal	Recalls /yr	Complaints /yr
2018	F	0.9	105	2 critical
2016	F	1.1	119	2 critical
2017	F	1.1	101	2 critical

Which Ford Focus years reported which system early

Source: NHTSA complaints, odometer at report

Earliest on the record: 2017 electrical system complaints at 0.87× the mileage of same-age vehicles (median 30,600 miles). Latest: 2018 steering at 3.28× (47,500 miles).

Year	Power Train	Engine	Fuel/Propulsion System	Electrical System	Steering	Vehicle Speed Control
2018	1.71×	1.2×	1.82×	1.89×	3.28×	—
2017	1.25×	1.17×	1.57×	0.87×	2.06×	1.77×
2016	1.25×	0.98×	1.38×	1.15×	1.03×	1.24×

Each cell is that model year’s median odometer when owners reported the system, divided by the median for the same system across every make’s complaints on the same model year. under 0.67× reported early; 1.5× or more late; a dash means too few readings. When problems get reported, not how often — complaint counts are in the table above. Across the whole fleet: which systems go first.

What owners filed about the Ford Focus, by system

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls, investigations and manufacturer communicationsEvery system, every year →

The systems the federal record is deep on for this nameplate: the complaints per model year, the mileage owners reported them at, and every recall, investigation and manufacturer bulletin filed under the heading — each one linked, none a failure rate.

transmission and drivetrain problems 1,463 complaints, every model year engine problems 961 complaints, every model year fuel system problems 608 complaints, every model year electrical problems 174 complaints, every model year

What changed year to year

Source: computed from the filed record

2018: 11 → 8 EPA configurations
2017: best range 76 → 115 mi

In the studies

Source: computed from the same record, method on each page

Odometer at first complaint · rank 70 of 79 2.02× the mileage of same-age vehicles Ford Focus owners reported problems to NHTSA at a median 56,664 miles across 2018–2018 (fleet 23,512), later than vehicles of the same model year. 414 readings.

Common questions about the Ford Focus

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Which Ford Focus year is the best used buy?

On the recall record, the 2018 Focus comes out top of the years before the current one: Safety Signal grade F (51/100), 7 recalls and 837 owner complaints on file. That ranks paperwork, not condition — a specific car's history and service record still decide it.

What Ford Focus years should I avoid?

2016, 2017, 2018 have the weakest recall records in this range. The year pages list every campaign, its severity and whether a repair exists yet.

How many recalls does the Ford Focus have?

Across model years 2016–2018, NHTSA has posted 28 recall campaigns for the Ford Focus. They are counted per model year in the table above, because a campaign almost never covers the whole run — it covers a build range.