Ford F-150’s Faulty Transmission Causes a Lawsuit
Transmission issues in Ford F-150 have recently led to a legal action against the automaker. According to the case materials, hard and erratic shifts of a failure-prone 10-speed automatic transmission (10R80) installed in popular American trucks triggered whiplashes. The class action lawsuit includes any person in Pennsylvania who previously or currently owns or leases a 2017-2020 Ford F-150 truck that comes with the faulty automatic shifting unit.
The complainant who filed a lawsuit says he
bought a 2018 F-150 truck in late 2018 when the vehicle had only several miles
on the trip counter. The affected party claimed that by 6,000 miles the F-150
started making a loud rattling noise from the transmission unit, causing harsh
shifting and shift delays. These transmission issues forced the vehicle to slow
down and created security threats on the road.
2018 Ford F150
The vehicle was taken to a Ford dealer center where specialists were informed about the issues with the gearbox. The complainant insists that the issue should have been covered by the warranty, but the dealership representatives, in turn, assured that there was no repair solution because all F-150s with this gear shifting unit made the same noise. Moreover, Ford specialists pointed out that so-called slippages and jolts were not abnormal for 10R80 units. The affected party, claims Ford, was aware or should have known about the transmission issues that manifested themselves in hard shifts, jolts, lunging and shift delays.
The class suit refers to a 2019 Ford recall of about 1.5 mln 2011-2013 F-150 trucks equipped with 6-speed automatics. The main reason for that recall was the fact that the trucks could abruptly shift into 1-st gear. It was claimed that the issue stemmed from a faulty transmission output sensor. According to the current case, the 2017-2020 F-150s are prone to the same issues, which Ford does not consider to be an issue at all.
Ford 10-speed automatic transmission (10R80)
It is also known that Ford issued at least two
technical service bulletins (TSBs) related to transmissions with rough
shifting. According to these documents, 2017-2018 F-150 trucks may have the
following issues: harsh/bumpy upshift, downshift and/or engagement problems.
This is due to the fact that the Ford trucks come with an adaptive shifting
algorithm, allowing the truck's control system to learn and adjust shifting
parameters on the basis of the driver's behavior with the aim to improve
shifting quality. When the adaptive program is restarted, the control system
will embark on a re-learning process. This process may result in firmer than
normal upshifts and downshifts for some time. Dealer centers were ordered to
reprogram the powertrain control modules.
According to the case documents, Ford has not recalled the truck to fix the faulty transmissions and hasn't offered any kind of compensation to owners and lessees who suffered expenses charged by repair shops the transmission fixes. The complainant says Ford must cover expenses to all affected customers and file a recall to repair the claimed 10-speed transmission faults.
