The much-maligned Ford PowerShift transmission has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, dating back several years at this point. Early on, owners of 2011-2016 Ford Fiesta and 2012- 2016 Ford Focus models equipped with the dual-clutch gearbox complained about slipping, bucking, jerking, premature wear, and hesitation while changing gears, issues that numerous technical service bulletins failed to resolve. In 2020, FoMoCo settled one lawsuit and paid out $77 million while also buying back some models, and it continues to dish out money over this never-ending case. In fact, another Ford PowerShift lawsuit was recently expanded to include later Fiesta and Focus models, and now, yet another class-action lawsuit has been filed over this faulty transmission, according to Car Complaints.
The new lawsuit – Victoria Berghuis vs. Ford Motor Company, et al., which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California by the Law Office of Robert L. Starr, Pomerantz LLP, and Frontier Law Center – alleges that the automaker failed to diagnose and repair PowerShift transmission problems in the state of California, which it claims should have been covered for 15 years or 150,000 miles.
The lawsuit stems from the owner of a 2014 Focus who brought that vehicle to a dealer when it began to experience transmission issues with 77k miles on the clock. The dealer charged the owner a diagnostic fee and Ford ultimately refused to cover the repair under the California emissions warranty, leaving the customer to pay for it out of pocket. As such, the lawsuit includes all partial zero emissions vehicles (PZEVs) in that state for which The Blue Oval has received a zero emissions credit from the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
“Ford is engaged in a nefarious scheme to limit its warranty exposure under California’s emissions warranty requirements in violation of California emissions law by unilaterally defining and wrongfully limiting the parts that should properly be identified as parts covered by the California Emissions Warranty and covered for 15-years or 150,000-miles under the CCR,” the lawsuit reads.
We’ll have more on this and all Ford lawsuits soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford lawsuit news, Ford Fiesta news, Ford Focus news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Closing the week at $11.74 per share.
There are two potentially obvious choices.
One of the nicest examples we've seen in some time.
Making it easy to communicate with people outside of the vehicle.
The technology is expected to arrive in the next two years or so.
Something we'll probably see more of soon.
View Comments
My wife had two versions of the Focus, a ‘12 and a ‘14 and if I remember got to about 30K miles on both…..and zero problem with either. I drove them on many occasions and didn’t experience any of the afore mentioned issues.
Guess we were fortunate or it’s limited to a specific build line of systems
I had a 2013 Focus and had no issues until 95K, at which point Ford made the repairs and I traded it in. I now have a 2018 Escape and just had the engine replaced for the second time due to cracks causing coolant leaks and compression issues. I've owned Ford products for a long time, but ready to move on.
I love how people with anecdotal stories ("I had one and it was fine!") Come out of the woodwork when stories like this run. These transmissions we're abysmal and in discovery emails showing Ford knew about the issues were found. To try to suggest that these lawsuits are meritless because you put 30k miles on one of the transmissions in question without incident.
Ford's quality issues are terrible and will not be fixed overnight.
I am a single mom that has had to wal everywhere for almost 2 years and I have a 2018 Ford Escape. I have been making pyaments so buying a new car is not in the equation. My very NEW looking car just sits in the parking lot while I am still legally responible to pay insurance on it. So I have been paying almost 400/mo for a car that the engine is gone. Ford has been so rude and not helpful when I call. On top of all this, I paid over 3500.00 in unessary repairs (new transmission)
In September 2017 I bought a 2017 Ford Escape EcoBoost 1.5L. I’ve taken it in for all recalls including the Powertrain Control Module and the car has been serviced and maintained regularly. The Auto-Start-Stop stopped working not long after owning the vehicle with no alerts/dashboard warnings. I let that go since I wasn’t crazy about it anyway. Last month, at 29K miles, the engine light(service soon) came on. I took the car to my dealership and they found that it qualified for the FSA 21N12 which was issued in June ‘22. This was due to a cylinder design issue which allowed coolant to leak into the engine. My engine block and all relevant parts. I was not charged for any of the repairs. You can find the published FSA 21N12 details online. It’s interesting that Ford does not list their Ford Satisfaction programs in their customer app FordPass.
I have a 2018 for Ecsport with 40,455 miles with Transmission problems the torque converter went bad & 2 weeks later the ignition coil went bad so I know the feeling cars aren’t cheap and you can’t return them. I went to Malloy Ford in Alexandria Poor Customer Service. It was Jerry when I purchased my vehicle and they act like they aren’t suppose to service my vehicle. They made a comment to go as far as to say Jerry is in Leesburg. I’ve been dealing with the since the end of July. Now it the Automatic Start and Stop after they put the torque converter in also.
All l ever owned was Ford's and never ever had any engine or transmission problems They are the best by far automobile company They just wanna bash Ford cause their always number 1 in sales Cars and trucks . Keep up the great vehicles Ford your the best .
Well said, the bigger and better you are the more they will come for you.
You idiots talking about other years and models not having any problems ...who cares .. Ford made a crap product , said they would cover to fix it and did not .. they will never get another dime from me!!!! They are criminals ,nothing less!!!
I have a 2014 Ford Focus that had a shuddering problem and they told me it was out of warranty and in order to get it repaired I must pay for the labor and price of the dual clutch which cost me $1,900 out of my pocket. I picked up the car on a Friday drove it to my Sons and the Transmission Control Module went out and this part they are unable to get for months so I am without a car. Please add me to this lawsuit or instruct me on how I can be added to this Lawsuit or who I need to contact to get compensation for all I have paid and for a car I cannot drive bec they can’t get the parts. This is a faulty car and needs to be recalled and I need reimbursed. Cindy Trotnic
2815 Frisco Ave.
Parsons, Kansas 67357
620-717-5881
I bought a 2017 new right out of the dealership since then Ive had 3 clutches and 2 times transmission work most recent is april 2022 once again clutch is going
It was a ford focus se
I have a 2014 Ford Focus that has been at the service dept since Aug 2022. It needs a transmission module that is very hard to get. I am not alone at this Ford service dept waiting and there are thousands of us throughout the US waiting. I have heard of people not getting their cars back for a year. The service dept cannot give me an estimate on when the part will be sent. It is just whenever Ford decides to send them. If anyone from Ford reads this, please send a few to Classic Ford in Galveston. I would like my car back before my tires rot and my battery needs to be replaced.