The much-maligned Ford Powershift transmission has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, dating back several years at this point. Early on, owners of 2011-2016Â 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 back in September, yet another class-action lawsuit was filed. Making matters worse, owners are waiting months for their vehicles to be repaired, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“Battery was shot when I came to collect my vehicle; they hadn’t bothered to run it for the several months it was in their custody. I’ve since purchased and installed a new battery,” said 2012 Focus owner Molly Augustin, whose vehicle has been sitting in a storage lot for months as the dealer awaits replacement parts.
In total, the Free Press has collected complaints from two dozen Ford Fiesta and Focus owners who have waited weeks or even months for their vehicles to be repaired, and in some cases, dealers outright refused to do so. Supply chain shortages have only made matters worse since the onset of the pandemic over two years ago, and Ford CEO Jim Farley recently stated that he doesn’t see an end to these problems in the near future, even though the company is ordering thousands of the parts it needs to fix these faulty Powershift transmissions each week.
“We know this is an issue for our customers and we’ve been trying desperately to get the needed (transmission control) modules for their cars,” Ford spokesman Said Deep told the Free Press. “We meet weekly with our suppliers to give guidance on timing for parts so these repairs can be completed as quickly as possible, as the entire auto industry continues to work through global microchip and commodity challenges. We’re asking customers to contact our Customer Relationship Center and speak with a representative who can help determine any additional support possible as they wait to have their cars serviced by our dealers.”
We’ll have more on Ford’s PowerShift woes soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Fiesta news, Ford Focus news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Better vetting of outside vendors could help here. Clearly, there are differing quality ranges for every outside purchased unit. Internal battles rage over total unit cost. Regardless, the total package is only as good as it’s weakest link, and remember, this is your brands reputation on the line here. Transmissions seem to be a real of late…both automatics and standards.
This particular transmission seems to be a design flaw. we dumped the one our Grandfather gave us when it started the Jerk Jerk shake. took it in and they flashed it, but still was not good. Thankfully it was still somewhat valuable for trade back then. My father kept his but had to junk it at 80,000 miles. the replacement trans was months backlogged and a 7,000 dollar repair bill, the cars was a 2013 and not worth the cost to repair. Same with my friends wife, she still owes more than the repair was worth, hers is a 2016. None of them received anything from for from any lawsuit. This DCT trans is the 5.4 triton of the 2010’s
Friend of mine dumped their Fiesta 2 years ago simply because this very issue scared the daylights out of them. The car wasn’t even giving them problems. The mere prospect of this being an issue was enough to get them out of it [that and the value of these things was just plummeting at the time.] Looks like they made the right move.
The one disaster from the Mulally era. Ford should have seen the writing on the wall, after about a year and switched to a torque converter trans. Whatever engineering cost involved would have been a drop in the bucket compared to the millions this is going to cost them.
Agreed.
Huge cultural/communication problem where nobody was willing to rattle the chain of warning to the 12th floor.
Also whoever thought giving Getrag another transmission job after the problematic birth and life of the D219 Taurus CVT was a fool. (There must have been some complicated and tortured survival thinking behind that green light.)
I saved 10,000, because I couldn’t afford a monthly payment. This car was supposed to last me more than 1 year. Now I have a car I can’t even drive. My friend found the transmission module online and install it. I’m taking it to the dealership to have it flashed but they say most of the time that doesn’t work because it’s not a dealer part. I’m just so mad and frustrated. I’m 62 and I’m alone and it sucks. I just use it to go to work and around town. Getting just to work and back is hard. All the rides like Uber are $15 one way.
Signed Stick me with a fork I’m done. Karen
Still driving my 2014 Ford Focus just clocked 50K miles, have had it flashed every few months and ready again. If anyone has a law suit they want to add me too, Im ready for a new car but no $$$ so bring on the buy back