so last night i get to by buddies house to party a little. well we were going to go somewhere and we get in my car... well when i had gotten out of the car my leg brushed across the bottom of the steering wheels and locked it... okay... i put my key in the ignition attempting to unlock the steering wheels and i can't even turn the key to unlock the wheel... i don't want to take the fucking car to the shop but someone said that this was a common problem on foci and i don't know what to do. if you guys have any ideas please let me know.
This isn't the wheel lock- it's the ignition switch. It's happened to a few people before on here. The ignition switch cyl. goes bad. You essentially have no choice but to have Ford replace it.
You may have a tsb out on it. I know there are many, MANY stories I've heard just like this.
The ignition iin some of the foci have had this same problem.
Have them run an Oasis report - see if there was work done on it at anytime for the same issue recently in the past. Possibly close enough to have them replace it under the basic parts warranty.
I don't know, but I think I remember my former service writer in ME tell me that once work has been done on a tsb or warranty part, and the car runs out of it's bumper to bumper - at least the part holds some sort of basic part warranty. e.g. - Starter craps out under warranty, but close to the end - I don't know about you folks but prior to each series of warranty that ends she goes in for an inspection. especially if there is a symptom.
fingers crossed someone knows what I'm talking about & has more detail - OR - I'm blowing smoke up my own ass
____________________ Get in, Sit down, Shut up and HANG ON!
twice happened to me. not under warranty, I paid three hundred to fix it. less than a year later, but under the repair warranty, happened again. dealership spoke to me like i was stupid: "very rare. we get few complaints about steering wheels locking...blah, etc."
I've since found out through forums like this that thousands have experienced this.
here's the bandaid approach, taught by the tow operator. actually, the tow operators are so familiar with it that they call it the 'bang' approach:
Just tap lightly on your key. eventually the wheel will unlock. But, not good news. You can tap...eventually knocking the hell out of your key after a few weeks...until you have to get it repaired. but for a few weeks, light tapping will get you going.
Otherwise, I love this stupid five speed hatchback. i really do.
twice happened to me. not under warranty, I paid three hundred to fix it. less than a year later, but under the repair warranty, happened again. dealership spoke to me like i was stupid: "very rare. we get few complaints about steering wheels locking...blah, etc."
I've since found out through forums like this that thousands have experienced this.
here's the bandaid approach, taught by the tow operator. actually, the tow operators are so familiar with it that they call it the 'bang' approach:
Just tap lightly on your key. eventually the wheel will unlock. But, not good news. You can tap...eventually knocking the hell out of your key after a few weeks...until you have to get it repaired. but for a few weeks, light tapping will get you going.
Otherwise, I love this stupid five speed hatchback. i really do.
I had this happen to me a couple times as well. Luckily mine was still under warranty when it happened. I know there is a how-to around here somewhere on replacing the tumbler, but it's been a while back.
tapping the ignition will get it to work but I wouldn't count on it for a long time. Once it happens get to ford and buy the new egnition for $70-$80 and chang it out yourself. Its not hard at all. If you tap for too long and the tapping stops to work than you have no choice but to drill out the igniton to remove it.
If you bring your VIN the pars guy can probably even give you the tumbler sequence for the new ignition so you don't have to play around for 3 hours on tryal and error of the tumbler sequence. no key replograming should be required after changing out the ignition.
WE GOT US ANOTHER FOCUS HACK!!! 
