Focus reverse problems

hiland · 01-09-2013, 06:03 PM

My wife has a 2012 German Focus sports with auto transmission, today she parked on a fairly steep hill and went to reverse, all that happened was that the engine lost revs and the car kept going forward, she was in a situation where there was another vehicle parked in front and she had to reverse to get out. I eventually got it to move backward by using both the hand and foot brake to hold position and rev the engine and it jerked back a couple of times so she could drive out, when I finished getting enough clearance to drive out the iinfo screen said transmission overheat, she drove it without any problems for the rest of the day, She has had several small auto cars and never an experience like this, is this a common problem?, and what is the cause/, or better still is there a fix?.

pajoda · 01-09-2013, 06:17 PM

I have no experience with an auto Focus but there are a few complaints with the auto for what appears to be varying reasons. Have you done a search for posts on this site? Can't help thinking that these all too smart autos we have these days in any marque are getting a little too smart for themselves.

Yellow_Festiva · 01-09-2013, 06:28 PM

A 'characteristic' of the transmission.

Same with my focus. You need to brake and gas it together til the gear engages.

Imolator · 01-09-2013, 06:33 PM

You can't use the foot brake as that disengages the clutch. The clutch starts to engage when you release the foot brake so use the handbrake to hold the car until you feel the car starting to want to go backwards then slowly release the hand brake.

The DCT is computer controlled manual transmission, so is completely different to a true auto, manual drivers would use the procedure I described above.

Hope this helps.

KenN0898 · 02-09-2013, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imolator

You can't use the foot brake as that disengages the clutch. The clutch starts to engage when you release the foot brake so use the handbrake to hold the car until you feel the car starting to want to go backwards then slowly release the hand brake.

The DCT is computer controlled manual transmission, so is completely different to a true auto, manual drivers would use the procedure I described above.

Hope this helps.

Isn't this the correct, easiest and usual way start on a hill irrespective of whether you are driving an auto or manual?

Cheers,

Ken.

hiland · 02-09-2013, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenN0898

Isn't this the correct, easiest and usual way start on a hill irrespective of whether you are driving an auto or manual?

Cheers,

Ken.

Thanks all for your input, however the initial problem was that the engine lost revs when trying to backup using the handbrake to hold the car, and the car kept going forward down the incline.