NHTSA Investigating Ford Focus Door Latches

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investing complaints about ineffective door latches on 2012 and 2013 Ford Focus models.

U.S. safety regulators announced they’re looking into complaints about Ford Focus compacts with doors that do not latch properly. The problem affects as many as 400,000 vehicles built for the 2012 and 2013 model years.

There have been 73 complaints filed with NHTSA, including one instance in Texas where the driver’s side door flew open while driving.

Other owners have tied the doors shut and one person suffered an injury when the door rebounded and hit them after an attempt to close it. The complaints that led to this Ford Focus investigation are the same type of complaints that caused Ford to recall almost 600,000 vehicles in the past. In previous recalls, Ford said the door latches failed because of pawl spring tabs that broke.

Ford suffered through a similar problem on more than 540,000 Lincoln MKZ, Ford Fusion as well as 205,000 Ford Fiesta models last year. After the investigation, Ford recalled the vehicles. The company said it is investigating any similarities between last year’s recalled vehicles and the Focuses in question. The latches are made by different suppliers.

NHTSA has not ordered a recall, but it is a possibility after the investigation is completed. There is no time frame for the query.  

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