Friend Bought a 2015 Ford Focus Auto… Should I Tell Him to Panic?

So, I’m not a real mechanic—just a YouTube-trained one who can handle basic jobs. I know the 2015 Focus has a reputation (class action lawsuit and all), but I’m not sure what exactly causes the transmission issues.

My buddy just bought one from his brother for $7K. It has 115K miles and shudders every time he takes off, especially around 13-14 MPH (I’m guessing that’s second gear). He says he loves the car anyway.

He knows nothing about cars, so I’d like to point him in the right direction. Is this just how these transmissions behave, or is it on borrowed time? Does he need a specialist transmission shop, or can a regular mechanic deal with it?

That’s a dual-clutch transmission, and it was pretty much doomed from the start. Ford released a bunch of service bulletins on it, but nothing actually fixes the issue long-term. The usual ‘fix’ is replacing the transmission control module (TCM) and reprogramming it, which might help for a while… or not at all.

I had two of these. One completely destroyed itself even after trying all the fixes, and the dealership quoted me $6K for a new transmission. I barely managed to sell the other one before it met the same fate.

@Teal
Good to know. So is the jerking just part of the ‘experience,’ or does it mean his trans is about to die?

Maverick said:
@Teal
Good to know. So is the jerking just part of the ‘experience,’ or does it mean his trans is about to die?

For me, the jerk was always there, but I still drove it for three years. If he goes easy on the gas, it might last a while. But if he drives uphill often, that’s going to wear it down much faster.

@Teal
I’ll pass this along. He’s not exactly a lead-foot, but you never know.

Appreciate the info!

Maverick said:
@Teal
I’ll pass this along. He’s not exactly a lead-foot, but you never know.

Appreciate the info!

Actually, if you drive it harder, the shudder isn’t as bad. Tell him to try sport mode and accelerate a little more aggressively—it might help.

His own brother did him dirty like that? Damn. Keep that guy away from his wife or there’s gonna be some real jerking going on.

Nuri said:
His own brother did him dirty like that? Damn. Keep that guy away from his wife or there’s gonna be some real jerking going on.

The wild part is he told me before buying it that it was a 2015 Taurus. I was excited for him—I own a Taurus and love it.

Then we meet up for work carpool and… nope. That is NOT a Taurus. He said he gets them confused.

Tell him to start saving now. That transmission will need a rebuild or replacement sooner rather than later.

The trick is learning how to drive it so it doesn’t shudder as much. Some people say driving it more aggressively helps.

The problem is that this is basically a manual transmission, but the computer controls the clutch and shifting. The computer isn’t great at predicting what you want to do, so it often hesitates or jerks.

If he can figure out how to drive it in a way that minimizes the shudder, it might last longer. People who mostly drive on highways tend to have fewer issues.

One thing that kills these transmissions fast: creeping forward slowly, especially uphill.

These cars are lemons, plain and simple. They can’t really be fixed. He got ripped off.

Whit said:
These cars are lemons, plain and simple. They can’t really be fixed. He got ripped off.

Yeah, I was pretty shocked at the $7K price for a 9-year-old car with 115K miles.

Maverick said:

Whit said:
These cars are lemons, plain and simple. They can’t really be fixed. He got ripped off.

Yeah, I was pretty shocked at the $7K price for a 9-year-old car with 115K miles.

It’s not even worth half that. At this point, it’s basically scrap value.

My friend has a 2016 Focus auto. She drives like a grandma, car has about 48K miles, and it still jerks like crazy when I drive it.

If you check the NHTSA website, there are pages of complaints about the transmission failing every 40K miles or so. It’s just a bad design.