Other powertrain problem on the 2000 Ford Focus
11 crashes 3 fires 1 injury 15 of the 139 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Ford Focus report other powertrain problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles, from 29 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 85,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,400 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
34% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,200 miles | 27,736 miles | 45,000 miles | 66,000 miles | 84,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 11 a crash, 3 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 17,500 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 1,062; the 2000 has 139. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Both front rotors were cupped and tapered, the dealer suggested that the brake pads were too hard for the rotors which caused unusual wear. In less than 3 years, 27,736 miles the transmission has slipped 6-8 times, the vehicle was taken to the dealer but they were unable to duplicate the problem on two different occasions. Nlm
I had to take my 2000 ford focus to a mechanic because of a sudden loud scraping noise and an inability to properly steer. I was told that 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the axle support brace were missing and the axle was in danger of collapse. Mechanic added 3 bolts - problem was fixed.
When the car had 15000 miles on it and still under warranty the third gear was making a grinding sound. I took it in to the dealer and they repaired it. 30,000 miles later( mostly highway miles) third gear started making the same sound again.the dealer said it would cost me 900 dollars to fix it since it was not under warranty anymore. I can not believe that the transmission, and only third gear in a manual five speed is only good for 30,000 miles, most of which is on the highway when third gear is not used much.I believe that is a defect with the car itself.
Also reported on the 2000 Ford Focus
Other electrical problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other engine problem
Fuel pump failure
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 139 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 2000 Ford Focus?
Across 29 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 65,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2000 Ford Focus?
139 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed