2012 Ford Focus Steering Tops List of Vehicle Issues
By Cindy Galli
For the second time the 2012 Ford Focus tops an auto safety watch list amid complaints and reports of injury surrounding the vehicle’s steering.
The Vehicle Watch List, released by the non-profit auto safety group The Safety Institute, is a quarterly-compiled early warning list of the top 15 vehicle trends that safety experts say automakers and government should be paying attention to. The list is compiled using publicly available data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and includes consumer complaints as well as reports of injuries and deaths.
The Safety Institute states it is not a list of defects, “but rather these are areas that potentially need more investigation and to prioritize limited resources.”
The inaugural list, released in June, put the 2012 Ford Focus at the top spot, based on dozens of reported injuries in which drivers cited problems with the car’s steering.