Ford Has Problems with 10-speed Transmissions Installed in F-150
Recently, Fords has faced a new class
action lawsuit caused by problems with the 10-speed 10R80 automatic
transmission installed in Ford F-150 trucks. The case papers say that
transmission defects may lead to emergency situations on the road due to harsh
shifts, jolts, delays and slippages. Despite these claims the carmaker hasn’t
raised the question about possible recalls of trucks or gearbox replacement. This
case includes a range of 2017-19 Ford F-150s sold in Illinois.
According to one complainant involved in
this legal argument, the abovementioned transmission installed in his F-150
(after travelling only 6 thousand miles) starts to produce weird noises when
getting the EcoBoost engine started. The complainant also started noticing
delays during gear shifting, and capacity losses. At some point, his car even
went into limp mode showing the error message on the dashboard and he had to
reset the computer system.
10-speed
10R80 automatic transmission
It is claimed that owners and lessees of Illinois F-150 would think twice before buying or renting this truck, if they knew about transmission issues in advance. According to the case materials, the carmaker promotes the automatic F-150s as vehicles ensuring “on-demand power with almost no lagging”. However, it is known that some drivers have suffered whiplash injuries because their transmissions changed speeds too harshly.
In response, Ford has issued 2 TSB documents to deal with the issue. Both documents confirm that owners of the F-150 trucks can experience some problems during the process of gear shifting. According to Ford, the issue may lie in the fact that the adaptive shift feature, aimed to enhance shifting accuracy, in fact makes the gear shifting quality worse for a couple of days after the adaptive strategy is reset and the computer relearns a wide range of parameters. At the same time, it is claimed in the lawsuit documents that this feature does not solve the 10R80’s other problems.
2017 Ford F-150 Raptor 10-speed Transmission Assembly
It should be emphasized that the design of this gearbox is the result of a successful collaboration between GM and Ford. Both American automakers put in great efforts to design a gear shifting solution for RWD vehicles. However, the cooperation consisted in only in the development of the initial transmission concept, but then came up with two different solutions independently. The Ford unit found application in the Ford Mustang, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, Ford Ranger, and Ford Everest.
