Back in April, a new lawsuit – Gerkarrah Jones, et al., v. Ford Motor Company – was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan alleging that certain 2010-2020 Ford Fusion and 2009-2021 Ford Escape models equipped with the 6F35 transmission were defective, though the Escape ditched this particular gearbox as part of its 2020 redesign. The lawsuit claimed that the gearbox experiences a number of common issues, including shaking, jerking, shuddering when accelerating, slipping gears, hesitation, loss of power, hard shifts, and even complete failure, in some instances. Now, however, that same lawsuit has been dismissed by a judge.
According to Car Complaints, Judge Sean F. Cox ultimately decided to dismiss the case after noting that only one plaintiff was named in the original lawsuit, though it also contains the names of 4,000 other owners that were not referenced anywhere in the filing itself, strangely enough. As such, Ford filed a motion asking that the judge drop those 4,000 names from the class-action, a request that Cox ultimately granted.
“Notably, this is not a class action,” Cox said. “This case was filed as a mass action and these nearly four thousand individuals seek to litigate their claims against Ford on an individual basis. The First Amended Complaint broadly alleges that these thousands of individuals experienced one or more of a litany of problems with their vehicles, that they attribute to one or more of at least fifteen different possible defects.” Cox also stated that these claims pertaining to Ford 6F35 transmission woes were “misjoined,” and said that allowing the case to move forward as a single class-action “would be impractical and unmanageable.” However, the judge did note that those 4,000 customers were free to refile individual lawsuits regardless, though the only named plaintiff in this lawsuit opted to voluntarily dismiss all of her claims.
The original class-action claimed that Ford “unlawfully induced them to purchase or lease their respective vehicles by concealing a material fact (the defective transmission). Ford, however, continued to install these defective transmissions in Fusion and Escape vehicles, even though Ford knew of their defects undisclosed to owners, lessees, and prospective purchasers, and lessees. Even worse, Ford repeatedly lied to consumers as to the reasons for the problems consumers experienced.”
Comments
Ford is a master at this nonsense and it’s DISGUSTING. Hope they refile the proper way.
The 6F35 is not a bad gearbox, in my experience. Ford’s mistake is in their insane service interval on them. They should be getting a drain and fill every 15k-25k miles. I don’t know if it is the Mercon LV or the gearboxes, but it will loose all viscosity and be full of trash by 50k. Ford is not the only manufacturer to do this, but manufacturer service intervals have all become pretty suss since 15′ (like CVTs can actually last a long time with a 20k-30k fluid change).
Hopefully the unlucky owners will never buy a Ford product ever again.
Whining: no warning whatsoever on my car and on 3/8/25 my car almost killed me! Leaving me stranded in a town 400 miles from home and 100 miles from someone I knew. I turned left at a light and all the sudden she jerked,bolted and accelerated excessively then a warning flashed real quick “transmission failure! Letters &#’s” and it was gone. I put on my flashers and held on. No gears working and at 60+ miles I was not going to pull the emergency break! Then the car jerked and stopped accelerating just a loud screeching with a lot of air. I ended up dead in the middle of an intersection with a red light and a truck & suv just missing t-boning me! I was not informed of my car possibly having transmission issues in future when I purchased it. Just 2 days prior as I always do on this trip I make twice a year. All fluids & tires are checked and whether oil is due to be changed or not I have it done. The car wouldn’t let me do anything like once the transmission told computer there was a problem it quit communicating! Not only did it jeopardize my life but it put others at risk! To find out after I had it towed to the closest Ford Dealership that it’s going to be just shy of $8000 to fix the transmission. Over half the value of the car! Which of course I do not have! Ford needs to make it right! Ford’s use to be made tough, reliable and I grew up half my family working for ford and half for Chevy! I’m upset that Ford is knowingly allowing these cars no matter what owner number it is on (I don’t care if it’s the 1st or 5th) to be on the road with bad transmission that can harm to the public. If I would of been seriously injured or killed trust me my family would get a heck of a lot more than an 8k bill! They are just lucky that I have been driving over 50 yrs and knew what to do. However a 17yr old new driver would not and they wouldn’t possibly be alive! These size cars are perfect for a new driver. However not Safe! A little bushing recall is not enough and Ford knows it! Do right Ford and Michigan Judge needs to be removed from the bench and Ford needs to recall all these transmissions. I don’t care what it costs them: they should of built them right in the first place!
I’ve been a ASE certified mechanic for over 30 years and I’m I total agreement the service intervol time / mileage is to far apart if people would also use the oe required fluids and this universal fluid crap the have now we’d have 75 % less winning about bad transmissions that’s for the do it yourself crowd and jiffy lube folks where they use sub grade oils and transmission fluids
My 6F35 is still going at 75k miles but I also change the trans. oil every 20k miles with full synthetic oil. Seems fine so far. Once in a while I get an odd shift but still goes. Reminds me about how people complained of the cd4e transmission. I have 190k miles on the original box and change oil often. Still going. Oil changes are huge. Don’t believe the recommended interval.
People are way too spoiled these days. Back in the 60’s, and into the 80’s, automatic transmissions had tons of issues.
What we see these days isn’t so bad. Working the bugs out can take years. I always perform 30K fluid changes, and I also perform any and all updates to the valve body. Typically shift kits from Sonnax or TransGo, fix problems that the OEM can’t. I wish car manufacturers would work together, with the aftermarket transmission companies.
Ive had my 16 fusion for less than a year and bought it at 76,000 miles had to get a new trans before it hit 100, 000 and now at 111,000 gotta get ANOTHER trans. The judge dismissing this case was WRONG. I’ve taken it to 4 different Ford dealerships and they all dismissed me until finally the 4th one said I need a new transmission. Never again will I buy a ford
Ford Escape 2017 Titanium with 64K miles and two transmission total catastrophic failures. Vehicle was maintained at the FORD dealership and the repairs were performed at an authorized Ford Dealership. First transmission failed in OEM warranty period by a few days and the second one failed within 1 week of getting the vehicle back after a replacement was installed. This vehicle and transmission combination are trash and the class action suit was mismanaged by the legal council. Shame on them.
I totally agree I have a 2014 escape ecoboost at 75000 and it breaking down for no apparent reason but transmission and computer aren’t communicating has devastated my life not to mention ruined my credit. And got me fired. Thanks judge and Ford for stepping up! Not.
Doreen: me too, mine almost killed me! I’m seriously getting my congressman, senator and Pam Bundi involved! Ford is committing Consumer Fraud, Jeopardizing Public Health & safety and knowingly endangering lives! Just because they are a major company doesn’t mean they can disregard human life! Ford better replace every transmission on the Ford Escapes or any model it has them in! If they do that I won’t go after severe PTSD, loss of work or all the expenses I have endured because of it. They don’t fix it, my life has value, my physical and mental wellbeing has value, my time has value and I will be compensated for what their lack of action has forced me to endure!
My for escape 2017 have about 80000 miles why do I need a transmission already?
2019 Escape AWD with 130k miles, no issues until a few months ago and then high pitched whine sounds like electric motor continuously over spinning started. Gears jump sometimes. Ford tech wasn’t sure but said sounds like tran pump going out, recommended tran replacement since can’t rebuild. 3rd Ford all newer models with eventual Transmission issues. Used to be bullet proof. Selling as is and will be buying Honda/Toyota. Based on what I have learned about most new Ford’s from dealership’s tech advisor, #1 complaint is transmissions (6, 7, 10 spd doesn’t matter), I definitely won’t recommend Ford (any new model) to anyone.