There are 50 owner-reported fuel system complaints for the 2016 Ford Focusin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
The car is stalling randomly with no engine lights coming on
Fuel pump went out and caused car to stall and leave me stranded on the side of the road when dash indicator showed 23 miles left to travel. I had this fixed through the dealership Drive Time sent me to mechanic shop as was still under dealership warranty.
Went to refuel my car with gas. Got into my car and it didn’t start right away. When it finally did the check engine light came on. I took to go check it out and was told the fuel tank/canister purge valve was faulty. I tried contacting ford to see if under warranty and or recalled. But nothing has come out of it. My 2016 Ford Focus only has 67k miles on it
Kept getting my check engine light is says something about bleed up pressure in the fuel tank which when driving my throttle is not as responsive and when I fill up from Empty I have to give it some gas in. Order to start and would sit at the red light or a stop sign with the clutch pressed in and it would sputter and stall which I would have to give it gas to restart the car
The evap purge valve assembly failed. An engine warning lamp did appear. While driving down the interstate the incorrect fuel mixture caused the vehicle to stall while in motion with my wife, and at the time, [XXX] son were in vehicle. Although there was no accident, all power was lost and the vehicle had to maneuvered into the shoulder to prevent rear ending other vehicles. This was the 2nd time in 2 weeks. The vehicle was called into the Ford recall line, as there has been an open recall on the vehicle model and year. The ford recall line said the vehicle was not affected by the recall, and no recall repairs had been made the vehicle. The ford recall rep recommended to take the vehicle to a ford dealership. The vehicle has been inspected by a Ford dealership. The dealership confirmed the issue was the issue seen in previous recalls, but the dealership stated they could see a previous dealership had made the recall repaired (in contrast to the ford recall representative’s statement). So, the vehicle was either not repaired under either of the (2) active recalls (as stated by the ford dealership), or the recall fix to update the software and replace the evap purge valve is not effective, leaving the vehicle in an unsafe condition to operate. The rich mix of fuel caused by the failure has led to a clogged catalytic converter. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
i know there is already a recall for other ford focuses with this same issue. my cpv is not working. the car breaks down every time i fuel and its a huge safety hazard as this happens far from my home usually and its very scary for me. i heard it can ruin my engine.
The malfunction light came on in my car I had a mechanic check the code that came up and he said it was the canister purge valve! Then I noticed whenever I put fuel in my car it was hard to start it would sputter and almost die !
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light remained illuminated, and the vehicle experienced a loss of motive power and stalling. Additionally, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the purge valve was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 77,974.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the canister purge valve, resulting in fuel tank deformation. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the VIN was included, but parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, a case was opened, and the contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the fuel system purge valve failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 99,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the body shop where it was diagnosed with canister purge valve failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be repaired. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who confirmed the diagnosis. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 102,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at high speeds, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that his daughter was driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle began to stall. The driver pulled over and restarted the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact called the local dealer, who informed him there were no open recalls on the VIN. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.
Cannister Purge Valve is stuck, causing stalls at any speed. There are thousands of Ford Focus vehicles with a recall for this issue, but not this one as per VIN
Collapsed fuel tank . Car stalls out.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle began to jerk and hesitate, after which the vehicle lost significant motive power and was unable to accelerate above 60 MPH. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the fuel sensor. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, who was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 110,000.
My car stalled several times and then one day it stalled on a busy street near my school and would not start. I had to pay to have it towed to a mechanic. He replaced the CPV and told me that my gas tank was now dented and needed to be replaced. My fuel gauge does not correctly gauge fuel because of the dented tank. My VIN is not included in the recall for this problem, but it is clearly affected by the same issue. I cannot trust how far I can drive as a result. I am constantly worried that my car will just run out of gas even though I put gas in it every day.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. While operating the vehicle, the vehicle was shaking abnormally while idling, while low on fuel, while driving long distances, or while driving uphill. The vehicle shut off unexpectedly intermittently. On several occasions, the RPM increased; however, the vehicle failed to respond, and the vehicle eventually stalled. The accelerator pedal was depressed to the floorboard, but the vehicle failed to respond. The brake pedal became firm. The contact stated that the vehicle stopped and restarted several times or shut down unintendedly. After refueling, the contact had to wait for approximately 2 to 10 minutes before the vehicle responded as needed. Occasionally, the contact had to wait for over an hour before the vehicle was restarted. The check engine warning light illuminated intermittently and later turned off. While depressing the accelerator pedal, the engine revved excessively without the vehicle responding as needed. An abnormal sound was coming from the vehicle. The Oxygen sensor error code was displayed. The failure persisted over time. The vehicle was previously repaired at an unknown dealer under NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V735000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). Additionally, the high-pressure fuel pump was replaced. The local dealer was not contacted regarding the current failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.
Check engine light keeps coming on and it give error EVAP control system fault/unable to bleed up fuel tank vacuum
Vehicle will stale after driving for some time engine light shows fuel system issue similar similar to other Ford focus models.
My gas tank system my engine light came on so I took my vehicle to the nearest auto zone to put on the machine and it popped up a code for a canister purge valve piece. My safety was put at risk because it was messing with my gas can’t fill my take up so I can get stranded really quick especially if I’m far from a gas station that offers my gas which is E85. No it haven’t I tried but ford claim they didn’t see no recalls in my vehicle but I have pics from other ppl of the recalls .my engine light came on I don’t remember the date but it was a while ago still didn’t get it checked out yet
Showing 1–20 of 50 complaints
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026