The Focus is a small car equipped with a front-mounted engine and front-wheel drive system; it was first introduced in North America as a 2000 model from Ford Motor Co. The transversely mounted, four-cylinder engine is mated to either a four-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission. The electrical circuits in the Focus are protected against overloads and short circuits by fuses located in one of two fuse panels – one in the passenger compartment and one under the hood. The fuse that protects the cigarette lighter and its wiring should be the first thing to check if the cigarette lighter stops working.
Locate the fuse in the panel access cover in the passenger compartment on the underside of the instrument panel, to the left of the steering column.
Pull the cover straight up from the bottom, to release the retaining clips. Slide the cover down a little and then remove it from the dashboard.
Locate the cigarette lighter fuse – which is at position 46 on the fuse panel. Find this position by counting the sixth position from the left, in the second row of fuses from the bottom.
Spread the jaws of a fuse puller apart with your fingers and slide them over the cigarette lighter fuse. Squeeze the puller handles together so that the edges of the handle puller grip over the top of the fuse. Pull out on the fuse puller to remove the fuse from the fuse box.
Use the fuse puller in the same way and push a blue, 15 amp fuse into the fuse panel, where the previous fuse was installed, until it is fully seated.
Slide the tab at the top end of the fuse panel access cover into the slot at the top of the panel opening. Push the bottom of the panel inward until the retaining clips hold the panel firmly in place.
Tips
Check the wire implanted in the top plastic part of the cigarette lighter fuse to see if it has broken. The fuse may still be good if the wire is intact. A non-working cigarette lighter in this case may be due to faulty wiring or a problem with the lighter itself.
Warnings
The fuses used in the Focus 2000 are color coded to indicate amperage. Do not replace the cigarette lighter fuse with one of a higher amperage, or with a fuse of a different color. This could cause the cigarette lighter and its wiring to overheat and possibly catch fire.