2018 Ford Fusion Reliability Report

Shift system faults are the clearest pattern. The car will not come out of park, or it will not recognize that it is in park, and the dash shows "Shift Sys Fault" or "Transmission Not In Park." One owner was told the shifter bushings had failed. Coolant loss and coolant intrusion show up here as well, along with a burned exhaust valve. Other reports cover the infotainment screen going black, a frozen backup camera image, a peeling dashboard that interferes with the head-up display, and hard starting after refueling caused by an EVAP leak.

The most serious pattern is the engine shutting off while the car is moving. Some cars stall in traffic with a "full accessory mode" message, and one rolled backward on an incline at a light. One crash followed a shutoff in which steering and brakes locked up. The touchscreen module (APIM) also fails, taking the screen, climate controls, backup camera and hands-free calling with it. Other reports include a trunk that pops open while driving, a shift knob that moves on its own, and one fire that started in the trunk at highway speed and destroyed the car.

Power steering assist cuts out suddenly, often mid-turn. The dash then shows warnings for steering assist, AdvanceTrac and hill start assist, and drivers describe narrowly avoiding collisions. A second pattern is a steering wheel that feels loose, wobbles or has play. One mechanic found the connection between the wheel and the column worn nearly round. Some owners also hear creaking when turning in warm weather, or clicking from the column. Several complaints filed under steering actually describe shift system faults or coolant intrusion.

Almost every complaint is about swollen lug nuts. The two-piece capped nuts expand or shed their caps, so a standard socket or the supplied tire iron no longer fits. Shops refuse to rotate the tires until the nuts are cut off or replaced, and owners pay for new ones, with quotes from over $120 to over $250. The bigger risk comes with a roadside flat, when the wheel may not come off and the car is stranded. One unrelated complaint describes a leaking valve stem.

Airbags that do not deploy in a crash are the main concern. Three of the reports involve crashes, with four people injured. They include a frontal hit on a light pole in which the passenger-side airbags stayed in place, and a rear impact while the car was stopped at a light. One of these crash reports also blames brakes that sank to the floor. A separate complaint describes going more than two years without a fix for a Takata airbag after the owner received a notice.

The one crash report describes the car lurching forward with sudden force while it crept into a parking space, sending it into a storefront wall. The dealer found no fault codes. The other two complaints describe the opposite problem: the car will not accelerate and makes a boiling-water sound or puffs white smoke. One of those cars was diagnosed with coolant intrusion and a cylinder 2 misfire. A car that will not accelerate while pulling into traffic left one driver nearly hit from the side.

Each of the three complaints describes a different fault. In one crash, the driver's belt did not buckle or retract properly, and the driver was injured even though the airbags deployed. Another owner reports a rear driver-side buckle that has never latched. A third says the unbuckled-belt warning only appears after about 2 minutes of driving. No repeated pattern shows up in this small group of complaints.