Ford Powershift’s Saga to Be Continied
According to the Ford’s secret memo obtained by news media, the automaker instructed its American dealership centers to fix ill-fated Powershift transmissions installed in popular budget models Focus and Fiesta, if owners of cars produced during 2011-2017 lodge transmission-related complaints. In should be noted that many of these cars have expired transmission warranties.
It is claimed that the automaker sent out instructions to its dealerships within a day after the publication of a scandalous investigation on defective Powershift transmissions. According to the investigation materials, Ford deliberately released two low-cost and fuel-efficient models equipped with faulty transmissions and continued to sell these cars for years, despite numerous complaints related to the transmission reliability.
Owners of the abovementioned models complained
about slips, jerks, and vibrations when shifting gears leading to early wear-out
of transmission components, sudden or delayed speed-ups. Ford, in turn, claimed
that sudden speed-ups have nothing to do with the transmission unit, and that
the vibrations are a side effect of the original intention to provide enhanced
fuel efficiency. However, the automaker admitted the problem of slippages in
the Powershift transmission occurring during the N gear engagement, but
insisted that it is a separate problem caused by a defected control unit and
that the issues have only manifested themselves after years of real-world use
and were not present at the stage of final tests of both models.
A transmission malfunction message in 2012 Ford Fiesta
The legal action was filed against Ford two
years ago on the basis of numerous complaints on the faulty Powershift
transmission. Back then, Ford managed to get away with a relatively low
compensation in the amount of $35 mln. Now, a California court, having
investigation materials, decided to reconsider the agreement on compensation
between Ford and the complainant party, as there may be much more affected
owners of Focus and Fiesta models to be compensated.
It is interesting to point out that the abovementioned instructions were valid until July 19. Subsequently, Ford had to provide further instructions to its dealerships, but this has not been done to date. At the same time this scandal also attracted the attention of numerous politicians and NHTSA, the main road safety regulator in the US. A NHTSA representative said that the agency will closely inspect all the information and complaints available on the Powershift case. All in all, it seems like Ford’s transmission troubles are too far from being over.
