P420 Code. O2 Sensor or Catalytic Converter?

I drive a 2012 Ford Focus manual 5 speed. I recently had a P0420 code come up in my check engine light.

Driving wise, the car runs fine. It runs smooth idle with no bumps or hiccups.

Would this code more than likely point to the O2 sensor vs converter since the car is driving with no problems.

**One thing that did recently happen was the cruise control has stopped working as well as the gear shift light stopped illuminating**

Do you have any diagnostic tools? Cuz that's the only way to know for sure. But really, it's probably your cat converter.

First, if the car has no more than 80,000 miles on it the code is probably covered under the mandatory federal emissions warranty - see the second FAQ in the source.

At six years of age the upstream O2 sensor is not likely to be bad, and if it were you would likely see other codes as well. O2 sensors are almost never (probably never at all) responsible for P0420 codes. Sometimes they contribute but the contribution is small. The converter is not a good suspect wither, especially at six years old. The top suspect is an exhaust leak ahead of the catalytic converter. If you are not eligible for the emissions warranty a muffler shop is your first stop.

You need to see a garage with a scanner to check upstream and downstream (before and after the cat) O2 sensors PIDs (values) and fuel trims. They will tell you with certainty if the cat is bad or not or the car has other issues.

Lookit

The p0420 code is good indicator that that the oxygen sensors are working well but there's a problem with the what they are seeing. The code indicates that the O2 sensors are not seeing the required difference in oxygen gas content on either side of the cat. This can be caused by a few things; a bad cat, poor engine tune or problem, or a leak in the exhaust system that is contaminating the signal. If the car has high miles then the cat is suspect, otherwise look for the other causes.

A P0420 code is always a bad converter. Just the fact the code set means the 02 sensors are working correctly.

Old school cruise control has at lest one vacuum hose to the vacuum motor. New school has wires to an electric solenoid. Gear shift bulb might be burned out. Check all of your fuses to see if any one fuse might be blown. Sometimes you will get an erroneous "P" code if. There's something like a small crack or hole in the rubber snout that connects the air cleaner box to the throttle body. Air getting in some place where it should not. Also, a spark plug that has double the gap as the others can make one cylinder fire a fraction of a second late and produce more hydrocarbon gasses detected by the 02 sensor(s). Just some simple checking of a few things under the hood can save you some $$$. I'd look at the air filter, 1st, and around the air filter/cleaner box.

It could be related electrically. Have a mechanic fix it and maybe that is all that is wrong.