AtWhatMileage
Engine · 285 owner reports

Other engine problem on the 2014 Ford Focus

13 crashes 4 fires 6 injuries 1 death 24 of the 285 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.

Reports of this failure 285
With an odometer reading 208
Reports per 1,000 built 1.6 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 48%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 24
Typical repair $300–$4,000
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 2nd

When other engine problem gets reported

Owners of the 2014 Ford Focus report other engine problem at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 12,000 miles and a quarter after 82,000 miles, from 208 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 1,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 106,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,130 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.

48% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 208 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
1,470 miles 12,000 miles 40,000 miles 82,086 miles 105,600 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, 13 a crash, 4 a fire, 6 an injury and 1 a fatality 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 $300–$4,000 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 2006, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 75,000 miles.

By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 327; the 2014 has 285. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 ford focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled and the stop safely now warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was unable to be replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 1,323. Returned by usps on 11-13-2013. Second attempt on 11-19-2013 failed. *kb

1,323 miles NHTSA complaint 1009304 filed 2013-09-12

Low grinding noise coming from front of car after turns, inclines, accelerating after a stop. Sounds like aluminum cans grinding. Also, loss of power in car acceleration for brief periods when driving, especially when accelerating on the freeway to merge into traffic. *tr

528 miles NHTSA complaint 1017239 filed 2013-10-22

While driving on the freeway the car began to decelerate, gas pedal was non responsive. Traveling approximately 60-65 MPH in 5th gear. Deceleration occurred in 5th gear. Was only able to maintain speed in 4th gear, but was unable to go any faster than 50- 55 MPH with gas pedal to the floor. Vehicle displayed some shuddering and slight sputter effect. If vehicle was placed back into 5th gear deceleration would continue. Tachometer showed 3000 RPM regardless of gear placement. No warning lights, or check engine lights. Two days later vehicle had the same symptom but only momentarily. *tr

2,148 miles NHTSA complaint 1024247 filed 2013-11-28

Also reported on the 2014 Ford Focus

Other powertrain problem

1,062 reports median 32k

Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure

199 reports median 65k

Other fuel system problem

177 reports median 60k

Other electrical problem

148 reports median 58k

Other steering problem

126 reports median 51k

Other speed control problem

126 reports median 18k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 285 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 engine problem happen on the 2014 Ford Focus?

Across 208 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 12,000 miles and a quarter after 82,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other engine problem on the 2014 Ford Focus?

285 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.6 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