"Unreliable vehicle?" Don't you mean unreliable garage?
"This seems to be a common fault with this car." How do you know that. You only have the fault code number on one occasion with your problem. Never mind the other problems on other cars. Or do you mean that you must have the codes read multiple times? That's not Ford's or the vehicles fault. That's down to the lack of knowledge of the garage you are using - probably because the hourly rates are lower than the dealer.