The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating customer claims that the Ford Focus Electric can stall suddenly, completely shutting down while driving.
According to the Detroit News, the NHTSA has received 11 reports of Focus Electrics stalling.
In each case, the car completely shut down while being driven and had to be towed. Some drivers reported seeing a "Stop Safely Now" message on the Focus' dashboard displays before the cars lost power.
None of the stalls resulted in a crash.
The incidents occurred in both 2012 and 2013 model-year cars, which reportedly stalled at varying speeds. Reuters reports that half the incidents of stalling occurred at speeds above 30 mph. All incidents happened over the last five months.
Ford is cooperating with the NHTSA as the agency looks into the problem. The company has not issued a recall, but it may do so, depending on the outcome of the NHTSA investigation, which will include about 1,000 cars.
Ford began rolling out the Focus Electric in 2011, at first selling cars only in California and New York. Nationwide sales began in 2012.
As of August 31, Ford had sold just over 1,900 of the electric cars. Those sales have been a bit of a struggle, seemingly due to Ford's utter lack of enthusiasm for its only battery-electric model.
The company has said the Focus Electric won't sell well and, despite that prediction coming true, has not given it any updates for the 2014 model year.
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