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What the official records show
For the 2012 Ford Focus, the NHTSA complaint API returned 3,796 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants FOCUS when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 108 reports marked as involving a crash and 15 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 88 injuries and 5 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 8 distinct safety campaigns, including 12E035000, 12V149000, 13V335000, and 16V643000. The captured component evidence profile was POWER TRAIN: 1,456 tags (38% of unique complaint records), 31 crash-marked, 3 fire-marked, and 15 reported injuries; STEERING: 933 tags (25% of unique complaint records), 23 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 25 reported injuries; ENGINE: 476 tags (13% of unique complaint records), 9 crash-marked, 4 fire-marked, and 5 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 366 tags (10% of unique complaint records), 9 crash-marked, 4 fire-marked, and 4 reported injuries; STRUCTURE: 332 tags (9% of unique complaint records), 9 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 13 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 12E035000 (EQUIPMENT; received 02/10/2012); 12V149000 (VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD WIPER/WASHER:SWITCH/WIRING; received 05/04/2012); 13V335000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING; received 01/08/2013); 16V643000 (LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:DOORS:LATCH; received 06/09/2016); 18V735000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE; received 22/10/2018). These are reported-record counts, not a measured failure rate and not a diagnosis of any individual vehicle.
SOURCES
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Consumer Complaints · primary source
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Recalls · primary source
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How to interpret the pattern
The most frequently assigned complaint component categories in this captured query were POWER TRAIN (1,456), STEERING (933), ENGINE (476), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (366), and STRUCTURE (332). Adjacent captured model years reported 2013: 2,106 complaints and 12 campaigns. These comparisons are raw record totals, not exposure-adjusted rates. One complaint can carry more than one component tag, so category counts should not be added to reproduce the total complaint count. Too few usable positive mileage values were present to publish a median. NHTSA complaint records are owner-submitted and may be incomplete, duplicated before ODI-number deduplication, or unverified. A high count can also reflect how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. Use this page to choose inspection questions, not to label every 2012 Ford Focus defective.
methodology
What to check next
Start with the categories that repeat most often, then compare the complaint description and warning symptoms with the actual vehicle rather than ordering a part from a category label. Check the full 17-character VIN in NHTSA's official recall lookup because a model-year campaign list cannot tell whether a particular vehicle is included or whether its remedy was completed. Preserve diagnostic trouble codes and freeze-frame data before clearing them, ask for repair invoices, and obtain a qualified inspection when a symptom affects braking, steering, restraint systems, fire risk, or drivability. Car Trouble Lab does not determine whether a vehicle is safe to drive.