Sometimes, an Achilles Heel isn’t spectacular. It can be a completely mundane thing that totally destroys the economic viability of fixing a car, whether it’s an unobtainium part or one that’s simply far too expensive. When that happens, a car dies with a whimper, not with a bang, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth talking about. If we’re talking identical replacement parts, a 2005 to 2007 Ford Focus can be financially totalled by a clogged air filter. Here’s why.
An engine air filter is one of the most common maintenance items on any car, because having an engine breathe in particulate matter is generally bad for tight internal tolerances. These predominantly paper filters are usually designed to be replaced every two years or so, and they’re pretty much always dirt-cheap. Figure anywhere from a couple of dollars for a budget aftermarket filter for something like a Toyota Corolla to like $62 for the enormous panel filter in a Porsche Panamera. It’s not rocket science, clean air in keeps an engine happy, and changing the filter regularly prevents it from getting clogged with junk.
Indeed, when Ford launched the U.S.-market first-generation Focus in 1999, it came with a normal serviceable air cleaner that contained a replaceable paper filter. Motorcraft part number FA188, to be precise. Why? Because it works and it’s the right move. Except for the SVT, all Focuses used this filter arrangement through 2004, but then Ford decided to make a change.
While the rest of the world got an all-new Focus for 2005, North America got a facelifted first-generation model that took some of the weirdness out of the dashboard, updated the lighting and styling to look more modern, and ditched the old 110-horsepower CVH base engine in favor of a 136-horsepower two-liter Duratec unit. In most ways, it was still the same great-handling car that Americans had grown to love. Good stuff, except for one infuriating change.
See, Ford decided to implement a lifetime air filter. Huh? Yep, instead of a paper element you could change every couple of years, the 2005 Focus featured a sealed airbox in the driver’s side wheel well, one that was filled with a series of progressively finer foam elements and featured a gauge to display when the filter was clogged. In theory, it was supposed to be good for 150,000 miles of driving, although because there isn’t really a such thing as a one-size-fits-all “lifetime” part interval, you can probably guess what happened next.
Yep, some owners found that these long-life air filters did eventually clog, resulting in reduced fuel economy and, in extreme cases, rough running. However, instead of just swapping out a cheap air filter, a replacement lifetime air filter is seriously pricey. While it used to cost a few hundred dollars, a replacement sealed air cleaner for, say, a 2005 to 2007 Focus that meets PZEV standards now lists for $1,827.83 and often retails for more than $1,500. That’s about the cost of an entire first-generation Focus.
Understandably, the heavier 2008 refresh saw the adoption of a conventional airbox in non-PZEV models, but the story doesn’t end there. Ford also used a “lifetime” engine air filter design on the 2010 to 2012 Fusion Hybrid, and it also caused a handful of issues once mileage really started to be added. As one Fusion Hybrid owner wrote on the Ford Fusion Club forum:
Well recently while driving on freeway the car would shut down on me when going at 70 mph or over. That’s the only thing I could think was wrong with it, not enough air going in through air filter. Decided to get a new one from Ford (comes with MAF sensor already). Took out old one and blew air through air intake tube and it was difficult to blow air through filter. I literally cut the old assembly in half and it was clogged and dirty. My car as over 130000 miles.
Indeed, now that these cars are in cheap used car territory, the lifetime air filter can be a pain in an owner’s side if it clogs. While the assembly for a Fusion Hybrid is cheaper than it is for a Focus at about $456, it’s also on backorder. Not great considering most jurisdictions categorize the air box as emission equipment, and especially sub-optimal when you consider that if a conventional serviceable filter element with a 15,000-mile replacement interval was used, there isn’t really a lifetime parts cost advantage to going with the lifetime filter.
Thankfully, for Focus owners in dirty environments with clogged lifetime air filters that don’t have to use the factory air box to comply with local emissions standards, there is a solution. You can pick up a third-party air box with a serviceable air cleaner on eBay for about $70, and it will accommodate the filter element from a 1991 to 1994 Saturn SL.
Still, this is one of those things that shouldn’t need a solution in the first place. While a dirty air filter probably won’t kill a car, a replacement shouldn’t cost nearly as much as the car’s worth, or even 20 times as much as a typical standard air filter usually costs. Unsurprisingly, Ford no longer uses these lifetime air filters in anything, because a regular air filter just gets the job done.
Top graphic image: Ford
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If you want to rag on the Focus some more the ignition cylinders were also garbage with the key getting stuck in them. There was a point where I’d just pull the whole ignition cylinder with the key stuck in it in my pocket as one big assembly.
For the first year the iconic Small Block Chevy engine (265 ci) in the 1955 Corvette and Bel Air did not have an oil filter.
So stupid.
But then again, the BMW i3 Rex also doesn’t have a serviceable engine air filter… seems like a future David article.
Yeah we got hit by this and gave the car away since we couldn’t move to a state that requires factory emissions equipment after replacing with a cone filter. Grr.
Someone told me around that time it was inspired by the quick change oil places always trying to sell a overpriced air filter. If the customer knew they had a lifetime air filter they wouldn’t get scammed by the oil change places and on an economy car it’s a selling feature.
I think the only place you could possibly get into trouble replacing the air filter is California visual emissions inspections especially with a box that looks like an air box everywhere else isn’t really a thing. Just add it to the California tax. Pzev is such a scam anyway. The kind of thing only Subaru markets.
The Chevy Vega had one where you had to replace the stamped sheet metal housing along with the paper element as it was a welded assembly. But this takes it to a whole new level of cost. IIRC it wasn’t too difficult on the Vega to drill the spotwelds out and substitute the element with a similar size from whatever.
It’s this sort of thing that is a great reminder to take manufacturer recommended maintenance with a grain of salt if you plan to own a vehicle beyond the warranty period. A manufacturer doesn’t necessarily have a vested interest, beyond customer loyalty, in any vehicle they sell continuing to perform well after the warranty period is up. I also bet this isn’t controversial to most people reading this and would bet a poll of readers would show that the majority have their own maintenance intervals that aren’t as long as what is in the manual.
I’m just glad someone came up with a replacement part thats serviceable. Was thinking a home depot run for some tubing and a cheap conical filter was in order.
They also decided that some of the fuses (if I recall correctly, the power window fuse) would be placed on the back of the fuse panel under the dash.
This meant, if that function stopped working, the only way to even check the fuse was to pull the fuse panel out of the dash.
…and here I was thinking the cabin air filter in the New IDBUZZ or P1 Volvos was a pain.
The number of brain-dead executives in the automotive industry is astounding.
What is even more astounding is that seemingly all the good ideas are killed by the committee-think mentality, and yet something this dumb was approved by all the brainiacs that sit in these committees.
This is what it looks like when a company is pushing hard to lower its cost-of-ownership numbers, but doesn’t want to invest in making their cars more reliable and instead wants to do it one $5 air filter at a time.
Ummmm, it sounds more like brain dead engineers that thought of it and the dumb execs that believed them that it was a good idea.
Thanks for reminding me! I need to change the cabin air filter and engine air filter on my daily driver Mazda6. I have them sitting in their respective boxes in the garage. Just haven’t taken the time to change them. I change mine annually.
I remember this when I shopped my ’10. I was most adamant that I did not want a PZEV model, but dealerships being dealerships, before I took delivery of the one they’d found for me (took awhile b/c 5 spd), I opened the hood to check that the airbox could be opened/had the latches. The salesman was so confused.
But it worked great in the lab for over 200k simulated miles with virtually no loss in efficiency or clogging… sucking in clean, environmentally conditioned air.
Asinine idea. I’d just somehow adapt a cone filter or other make airbox to fit. As long is it’s not throwing an OBDII code here in PA I would likely be good.
Typical Ford engineering. Again, other manufacturers do have similar issues, but still..
Honestly, this sounds like some supercar crap to me. Like, “yeah, the Ferrari air filter can’t be replaced, you have to swap the whole unit every 12k miles, but you can afford it or you wouldn’t own the car”.
I think GM did it first with the Vega.
These days when I see the term “lifetime” for anything associated with a car, I run. Nothing lasts a lifetime. Hell most lifetimes don’t last a lifetime.
If a part claims to last the lifetime of the car, all that means is the car dies when the part does. No better I can think of than “Sealed for Life” transmissions, you best believe if that fluid isn’t swapped out, that thing won’t see 200k.
Yep. My Mazda6 has “lifetime” fluid and filter for the transmission and per Mazda’s service manual, it never needs to be changed. I had the fluid and filter changed at close to 100,000 miles recently and I’m glad I did.
MY 78 rabbit with a sealed for life 4sp manual hit 200K
“Lifetime” figure 125k or so.
Lifetime Air filter: It lasts the lifetime of the filter.
BMW also has “Lifetime” differential fluid, in addition to “Lifetime” transmission fluid. Both of which will last the lifetime of the fluid and/or component it’s installed into.
This reminds me that the gear oil in my air-cooled Beetle’s transmission needs to be changed. It was never advertised as “lifetime” but 53 years is probably a bit longer than VW had in mind.