Fuel pump failure on the 2005 Ford Focus
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When fuel pump failure gets reported
There are 5 reports of fuel pump failure on the 2005 Ford Focus, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 26th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 79,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $600–$2,600 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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2016 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 324; the 2005 has 5. 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.
I was driving home with my three boys when our 2005 ford focus started jerking and sputtering, lost power, and died on some railroad tracks. My husband and I had it towed to goodyear where they said the fuel pump fuse blew. They replaced the fuse and sent us on our way. Not even a half hour later the fuse blew again. We had it towed back to goodyear where they replaced the fuel pump and filter. Not even a week later the fuse blew again. We let the car sit for a few days trying to figure out what to do. My husband decided to replace the fuse himself and drive it to see what it would do. Well, the car lost power and shut down completely over another set of railroad tracks. We called goodyear to bring it back, and they refused; so we had it towed to another mechanic. This mechanic has again replaced the fuel pump and told us the system was filthy! The fuel pump jerked dramatically when he'd start it, which is why he replaced it again. The computer is still saying the module is bad; so he ordered a new one from ford, who at first claimed they didn't know what he was talking about. They wouldn't even tell him where it was located; so…
I'm having problems with the car hesitating while driving. This has repeatedly happened. I have a little over 90,300 miles on the car. It really scares me when I'm going at least 60 MPH on the highway and press the gas to accelerate and then get the hesitation or pullback as if it is going to cut off. I'm afraid it is going to cut off while I am driving it. It also happens when I'm driving 35 MPH. When this happens and I cut the car and start it back up, the clock resets to 12:00 and the radio comes on blasting. My lights flicker when it happens at night. I took it to the dealership and they replaced the fuel pump module. This has not helped one bit and I am out $462. They have quoted me a price of $1500 if the fuel pump module replacement did not work. They tell me it will probably be the PCM that needs replacing. *tr
I'm having problems with the car hesitating while driving. This has repeatedly happened. I have a little over 90,300 miles on the car. It really scares me when I'm going at least 60 MPH on the highway and press the gas to accelerate and then get the hesitation or pullback as if it is going to cut off. I'm afraid it is going to cut off while I am driving it. It also happens when I'm driving 35 MPH. When this happens and I cut the car and start it back up, the clock resets to 12:00 and the radio comes on blasting. My lights flicker when it happens at night. I took it to the dealership and they replaced the fuel pump module. This has not helped one bit and I am out $462. They have quoted me a price of $1500 if the fuel pump module replacement did not work. They tell me it will probably be the PCM that needs replacing. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Ford Focus
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other speed control problem
Other powertrain problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 5 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 fuel pump failure happen on the 2005 Ford Focus?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 2005 Ford Focus?
5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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