I havnt had my car for too long.i just cant get used to the brakes. It a 62 plate titanium x .if i really touch pedal gently i can bri g car to a halt quite nicely. But if i give it a bit more pressure or have to put brakes on a bit quicker i reckon i could make the car do a somersault. It makes passengers in the car grab everything to remain in their seats. I know you will say thats what brakes are for but i find them far too sharp for comfort. Are they all the same.or should i be thinking about replacing pads .any ideas

Not just yours but mine as well. In fact I have noticed this lack of progression (sharp brake pedal feel) on several Focuses that I drive.

Seems to be common.

You just have to get used to it I guess.

On some Land Rover Discoveries the clutch pedal was rather heavy to push down. Some owners fitted a brake servo in the clutch hydraulics to lighten the load.

No use to us however!

ScaniaPBman.

It's another mk3 issue unfortunately, too much electronic brake assistance and no progression, I've complained about exactly the same thing.  6 months in and I'm still headbutting the windscreen touching the brake at 20mph...  I'm fairly sure these were designed on paper and never test driven before being put into production!  

I find the brakes very sharp on my 2015 fiesta. It's worse when I drive other cars and then drive my fiesta, if I only ever drove the fiesta I would get used to it.

Thank god its not just me. Im starting to quite dislke this car. Quite a few issues really. 

Some MK4 Mondys are the same, unless you REALLY concentrate when trying to brake gently, you end up almost snapping your seatbelt!  My MK2 TDCi Focus seems to have a lot less servo assistance, it's stops quickly if I stomp but doesn't try and kill me if I'm a little less than gentle when 1st starting to brake.

My C-max is the same all or nothing, ive had it back to the dealers but theres nothing wrong..

That's the way they were designed. It takes some getting used to. I do enjoy mine to be honest. Much sharper than my Merc's.

My focus is fine never had a problem except excessive amounts of dust on the wheels, so I changed the pads to EBC Green stuff.

trying cutting a small hole in the servo pipe to reduce servo assistance.   Only joking,    Don't do this,  really I mean it, don't do it.

i used to have an escort and the brakes arnt good on a escort then when i got my focus st god the brakes where so sharp it was hard the brake without locking up but ive got used to the brakes now so time is the thing

Mrs nitten drove my Focus this week for the first time and commented that the brakes were "really sensitive".  By contrast whenever I drive her KA I'm slightly alarmed at how much movement the brake pedal has.  I suppose you just get used to it.

I actually like the idea that tbe brakes will actually stop the car. But they really are uncomfortably sharp. My wife hangs on to everything when she knows im going to be braking.  Must be me. I just cant get used to it

I don't notice this with my focus. When I took it a test drive I felt them much better than my trade in car but within a week I felt they weren't as good as at first but guess I just got used to them. I don't brake heavy anyway

You just have to get used to them, and bit a little less heavy footed. I love that my focus will stop dead when I need it to, though I wish I had transit brakes when I have heavy loads in the back as they are awesome when fully loaded.

Recently replaced discs and pads and the brakes start to work as soon as the pedal is touched, although they are progressive; no windscreen head butts.  By contrast, when driving Senior Management's Fiesta, the pedal is half way down before anything happens; a bit disconcerting at first.

27 minutes ago, Freddy42 said:

when driving Senior Management's Fiesta, the pedal is half way down before anything happens; a bit disconcerting at first

That will in all probability be due to the rear drums. Possibly the self-adjusters are not working well and you might be able to improve it if you could pull them up a bit although I'd suspect that if you adjusted them to give you the same feel as your Focus they'd be binding badly. In my experience drums always need a bit more clearance than discs otherwise they will drag and overheat.

On the topic of sharp brakes I found the ones on our Mk3 a bit fierce when we first got it but they are quite progressive now. I put that down to them having acquired a film of surface rust whilst on display at the dealer. Of course it could also be that I've just acclimatised to them.