Frazzled by your Focus’ features? We’ve answered your questions to make you a Ford aficionado.
The Ford Focus is a brilliant hatchback – it’s popular, great to drive, spacious and excellent value on the used market. With so much equipment on modern cars, it can be confusing to try and work out what it all does. We’ll cover these and basic maintenance – the sort of stuff that doesn’t need a four-hour long YouTube video to complete.
How to open a Ford Focus bonnet
On Focuses built since 2011, you’ll find a lever in the front passenger’s footwell, just by the bottom of the door. Pull this and the bonnet will pop up slightly. Slide your hand in under the bonnet and try to pull it upwards. If it doesn’t move, there’ll be a little catch under the bonnet that needs to be disengaged.
On older versions of the Focus, you open the bonnet by twisting the Ford badge on the grille upwards. This reveals a little keyhole – insert your key and twist it, and the bonnet should pop open.
What is the tyre pressure for a Ford Focus?
You’ll find the answer to this in the owner’s manual, while the tyre pressures for your car will also be displayed on a sticker in the driver’s door. The door sticker is particularly handy because it gives you the exact pressures for the size of wheel you have. If you regularly carry people and things in the Focus, you’ll need to pump the tyres up to a higher pressure than if you’re usually in the car alone.
How to reset tyre pressure on a Ford Focus
Using the right-hand steering wheel buttons, scroll up or down until you get to the Settings option. Click OK, then click on Information. Then click on Tyre Pressure and you’ll see a graphic of the car with current pressures in each tyre. If they’re correct – say you’ve just refilled them – press OK and the system will store the new tyre pressures.
How to turn off stop/start on a Ford Focus
The stop/start system comes on every time the Focus’ ignition is switched on. To turn it off, simply press the button with an A in a circle. On 2022 and newer cars, you’ll find this on the dashboard where the climate controls used to be while, on pre-2022 cars, you’ll find it on the lower centre console, near the handbrake and gearlever.
Where are the fog lights on a Ford Focus?
The Ford Focus’ fog light controls are next to the headlight controls, to the right-hand-side of the steering wheel. You’ll need to turn the headlights off ‘auto’ to be able to engage the fog lights. Once you’ve pressed the fog light buttons, you can tell they’re on because a couple of fog light dashboard icons will pop up.
Most Focuses have the front fog lights lower than the headlights in a separate light unit. The exception is 2022-on Focus models – the fog lights are replaced by a poor weather mode for the headlights.
How to turn on parking sensors in a Ford Focus
If fitted to your Focus, parking sensors come on automatically if you put the car into reverse. If you also have front parking sensors, these come on if you shift from reverse into first or drive and creep forward slowly. You can also press the P button on the dashboard to engage or disengage the parking sensors at a low speed.
How to remove back seat in a Ford Focus
In the 2011-2018 Ford Focus, the rear seat base hinges forward and the seatbacks can slot into the gap left behind, giving an almost completely flat floor for bulky items or for using the Focus as a last-resort hotel. Unfortunately, you can’t do this in newer Focus models – the seats fold down conventionally and rest on the seat base, so the floor is much more sloped with the seats down.
Where is the fuse box in a Ford Focus?
There’s a fuse box under the bonnet – near the battery on the right-hand side – and one hidden behind the passenger’s footwell. The engine bay fuse box has a couple of covers and connectors that have to be taken off to gain access. To get to the interior fuse box, peel back the carpet from the passenger footwell and take off the plastic cover with the electric icon on it.
How to jump start a Ford Focus
Open the bonnet and you’ll find the battery located on the right-hand side as you’re looking at it. If your battery is flat, you’ll need to jump start the Focus with a battery booster or another car that’s working.
- Put the red jump lead cable on the positive terminal of the flat battery, then attach the other end of the red cable to the positive terminal on the working car
- Put the black jump lead cable on the negative terminal of the good battery
- Don’t put the black cable on the negative terminal of the flat battery – find an exposed bit of metal in the engine bay and put the black cable on that instead
- Turn the engine on in the good car and leave it running for a few minutes. Don’t be tempted to rev the engine lots to try and get more power into the flat battery
- Turn the engine on in the car with the flat battery and leave it running for a couple more minutes
- Turn off the car with the flat battery, disconnect the jump leads and try turning it on again. If it won’t start, you may need a new battery or have a bigger problem to diagnose
Want a Ford Focus of your own? Shop our exciting selection of used Ford Focus cars for sale, or read our in-depth Ford Focus review.
