Four owners of the 2017-19 Ford Fiesta and 2017-18 Ford Focus are suing Ford Motor Co., alleging the vehicles have the same unfixable transmission defects as earlier models that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in class action settlement payments.
The owners claim Ford withheld important information when marketing its Dual PowerShift 6-speed (DPS6) transmission as a fuel-efficient alternative to a traditional manual or automatic transmission — intended to provide the convenience of an automatic and fuel efficiency of a manually shifted vehicle.
However, the vehicles are “plagued by numerous problems and safety concerns … transmission slips, bucking, kicking, jerking, harsh engagement, premature internal wear, sudden acceleration, delay in downshifts, delayed acceleration, difficulty stopping the vehicle, and eventually catastrophic transmission failure,” said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in June.
Plaintiffs Margaret Barnes of Tennessee, Eric Senkyrik of Texas, Michael Hogan of Florida and Sharon Jackson of Nebraska are represented by Tarek Zohdy at Capstone Law in Los Angeles and Russell Paul at Berger Montague in Philadelphia and their teams.
The lawsuit could potentially cover an estimated 380,000 vehicles nationwide that are equipped with a DPS6 transmission, according to public sales data.
“Ford has never acknowledged publicly that the transmission defect exists. To the contrary, Ford actively concealed, and continues to conceal, the transmission defect by, among other things, telling customers that the symptoms associated with the transmission defect were ‘normal driving conditions,’ ” the lawsuit says.
The defect is caused by the transmission’s “dry” clutches system, which cause clutches to overheat, as well as damage other transmission components, the lawsuit says. In addition, the defect may be exacerbated by improper programming in the computer that controls the automatic shifting, the part called the Transmission Control Module (TCM), the lawsuit says.
Meanwhile, Ford has issued multiple Technical Service Bulletins to dealers but never directly notified consumers of the known transmission problems, despite the well-known legal settlement and publicity regarding the Ford vehicles with earlier model years.
“Ford continued to sell and lease” vehicles through the 2019 model year with defective transmissions without informing consumers, a defect for which there seems to be no fix, the lawsuit says.
On Thursday, Ford spokesman Said Deep told the Free Press that the company doesn’t typically comment on pending litigation.
Previous owners prevailed
The allegations against Ford mirror claims made in a class action lawsuit involving the 2012-16 Focus and 2011-16 Fiesta compact cars with defective transmissions prone to “shuddering, slipping, bucking, jerking, hesitation while changing gears, premature internal wear, delays in downshifting and, in some cases, sudden or delayed acceleration.”
The cars, many of which randomly lost power on freeways and unexpectedly bolted into intersections, were put on sale in 2010-11 as the nation emerged from the Great Recession.
A Free Press “Out of Gear” investigation published in July 2019 revealed for the first time internal company documents and emails showing Ford knew the transmission was defective before putting the vehicles on the market and continued building and selling them over the past decade as customers spent thousands on repairs.
The automaker pushed past company lawyers’ early safety questions and a veteran development engineer’s warning that the cars weren’t road-worthy, internal emails and documents show. Ford then declined, after the depth of the problem was obvious, to make an expensive change in the transmission technology.
Following the investigation, Ford settled the case.
That lawsuit was filed in 2012 and resolved in 2020.
The automaker disclosed in late 2019 in court documents that Ford spent $47 million buying back 2,666 Ford Focus and Fiesta vehicles for an average of more than $17,000 each. After that, Ford did not disclose in public documents its payments.
In April 2021, spokesman Said Deep said after the automaker began making settlement payments, “Ford has been striving to resolve customer concerns for several years. While most concerns were resolved long ago, Ford remains committed to fairly consider any remaining concerns.”
The claims are the same with the more recent customers, who were not included in the class action lawsuit filed in 2012 and resolved in 2020.
More than 2 million consumers were notified in April 2020 they may have qualified for compensation ranging from a $20 inconvenience payment to a total buyback that may exceed $20,000.
The Free Press wrote about Darice and Edward Wirth of Southern California, who received $49,228.96 from Ford for their 2014 Fiesta.
Same problem, different model years
The current lawsuit cites Free Press articles about internal company documents as well as courtroom testimony.
“It was Ford’s obligation to disclose the material facts that only Ford knew about,” the new lawsuit says.
“These conditions present a safety hazard because they severely affect the driver’s ability to control the car’s speed, acceleration, and deceleration. For example, these conditions make it difficult to safely merge into traffic. Even more troubling, the transmission defect can cause the vehicle to fail to downshift and decelerate when the brakes are depressed,” the lawsuit says.
Drivers have experienced their cars lurching forward into intersections at red lights because of the failure of their braking efforts to stop the car, the lawsuit says. And the transmission is the same used in previous vehicles.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs purchased their vehicles from certified Ford dealers who assured them of safety and reliability. This is what happened, according to the lawsuit:
Margaret Barnes, 2017 Focus
Barnes purchased a pre-owned 2017 Focus in October 2018 with approximately 21,000 miles from Gossett Ford in Memphis. Around July 2021, with approximately 27,000 miles on the odometer, the car began “bucking and jerking,” failing to accelerate and stopped entirely on a freeway.
The dealership verified the bucking and jerking, said the car needed a new TCM and she would have to get “in line” as no parts were available.
In February 2022, Barnes stopped driving the vehicle entirely, out of fear for her safety, the lawsuit says. The vehicle has not yet been repaired.
Eric Senkyrik, 2017 Focus
Senkyrik purchased a new 2017 Focus near the start of 2017 from Appel Ford in Brenham, Texas. By July 2020, with approximately 51,000 miles, the vehicle “began shuddering, as well as hesitating upon acceleration.” He took his car to Tipton Ford in Nacogdoches, Texas. While paperwork shows the technician confirmed the issue and performed the needed actions, the vehicle was returned to the owner with the shudder still occurring because it fell “within factory specification,” the lawsuit says.
Senkyrik returned for repair again, but the problems remained. The vehicle has not been fixed.
Michael Hogan, 2017 Focus
Hogan purchased a pre-owned 2017 Focus in early March 2020 with approximately 17,500 miles from AutoNation Ford in St. Petersburg, Florida. Around January 2022, with approximately 25,000 miles, Hogan felt his vehicle shaking, shuddering, and rattling, as well as stalling out in traffic. He took it for repair in February with 25,453 miles, and the dealer technician confirmed concern and “possible tranny issue. stuttering and vibration.” The dealer replaced the vehicle’s clutch and seals but, by April, with 27,616 miles, the vehicle went back for service again. The paperwork said, “verified concern” of “car shakes like crazy” and again replaced clutch and seals. The problems remain.
Sharon Jackson, 2018 Focus
Jackson purchased a new 2018 Focus in May 2018 from Woodhouse Ford in Omaha, Nebraska. Around August 2019, with approximately 21,500 miles, the vehicle began shuddering and clicking. She took it for repair, and the technician verified her concern of “clutch chatter” and noted the system was reprogrammed with the newest software. The car shudder, however, fell “within specs” and was returned. Then Jackson started experiencing acceleration hesitation and transmission overheating.
In April 2022, with 88,681 miles, Jackson again returned her vehicle to Woodhouse Ford and verified the issue while replacing the clutch, seals, clutch actuators and other parts. Still, the problems remain.
‘Owners rights’
Zohdy, one of the lawyers on the case, told the Free Press on Thursday, “The DPS6 transmission has continued to plague the Ford Focus and Fiesta ownership experience, and we look forward to vindicating the owners’ rights.”
The lawyers are seeking class-action certification, Zohdy said.
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: at313-618-1034 orphoward@freepress.com.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.