A few months after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, automotive service departments around the globe began experiencing problems securing the parts needed to repair vehicles, leading to extended delays that still persist today. This phenomenon didn’t just include newer vehicles either, as 2011-2016 Ford Fiesta and 2012-2016 Ford Focus models equipped with the problematic Powershift transmission – the subject of numerous lawsuits over the past several years – are also facing extended repair delays as a result of the chip shortage. As Ford Authority previously reported, affected Ford Focus and Fiesta owners are eligible for a one-time Transmission Control Module (TCM) replacement, though that isn’t stopping some – including YouTuber John Ross from the channel WatchJRGo – from attempting to repair their own Powershift transitions, with varied levels of success. Now, Ross is back with another video, this time detailing his DCT warranty claim denial.
Following his failed repair attempt, Ross took his girlfriend’s sub-70k-mile 2015 Ford Focus to a dealership after it threw a P0902 Clutch Actuator A code and demonstrated the familiar signs of TCM failure. This particular car falls within the build period specified in the most recent warranty extension, but the problem was, the car proceeded to sit at the dealership for a whopping three months before technicians even started to take a closer look at it.
Shockingly, Ross notes that the dealership told him that the TCM in the Ford Focus isn’t failing, chiefly because the car isn’t throwing that specific code. Instead, they told him that the car needs new clutches, which is rather surprising given the fact that it has a mere 68k – mostly highway miles – on the clock.
Ross proceeded to call Ford itself and explain his troubles, at which point they escalated the issue, but ultimately decided to side with the dealership and deny the TCM replacement. Given the fact that replacing the clutches can cost thousands of dollars, it simply doesn’t make sense to do so with this particular vehicle, nor can it even really be driven or sold at this point – making this particular Focus a pretty big paperweight at the moment.
We’ll have more on the Powershift transmission soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Focus news and ongoing Ford news coverage.
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