# Ford Focus shouts off when I press the gas pedal **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** focus, mechanics, ford\ **Created:** [August 24, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ford-focus-shouts-off-when-i-press-the-gas-pedal/54050 "2010-08-24T01:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lostanaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@lostanaw](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lostanaw)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ford-focus-shouts-off-when-i-press-the-gas-pedal/54050/1 "2010-08-24T01:57:36Z")
Hi I had to tow my ford focus 2000 to the mechanic?s because it starts ok, but dies when I press gas pedal? When the mechanic check the problem the car was working just fine, didn?t have any problem. Has this happened to somebody else? The mechanic told me he has to keep looking but won?t be able to repair it until it fails again, this could take a few more days. ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ford-focus-shouts-off-when-i-press-the-gas-pedal/54050/2 "2010-08-24T11:40:50Z")
Your mechanic should check out the idle air control (IAC) valve. When you press the “gas” pedal, you’re actually pressing the “air” pedal - it moves a throttle plate to let more air into the intake (the engine’s computer uses info about that to deliver gas). If your IAC is sticky it may be sometimes sticking open. If you step on the “gas” pedal with it stuck open it amounts to a massive vacuum leak. ---
**Author:** ![tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tardis](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tardis)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ford-focus-shouts-off-when-i-press-the-gas-pedal/54050/3 "2010-08-24T13:41:31Z")
I’d check the TPS.