Jump to content

Ford workers break their silence on faulty transmissions: 'My hands are dirty. I feel horrible'


Recommended Posts

Just now, novanglus said:


...that’s weird.  Around here disability is statutory and you get a statutorily defined % paid directly by the agency to the attorney with a cap on the payment (IIRC it’s around $6k). Last I checked, the max for SSDI was 25%.  Worker’s compensation is less, about 20%, I think. Usually statute tries to protect disability recipients from predatory practice.

Different country to the US.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, novanglus said:

 

Ahhh.  That would explain it.  My bar exam only covered this one. ;)

Australia, they estimate payout of say $220K and then tell you that fees and charges will account for $130K

So the lawyers make more than their victims...it's a rigged game between insurance companies drawing out

settlements and Solicitors treating clients like a sausage factory....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, jpd80 said:

Australia, they estimate payout of say $220K and then tell you that fees and charges will account for $130K

So the lawyers make more than their victims...it's a rigged game between insurance companies drawing out

settlements and Solicitors treating clients like a sausage factory....


...that’s too bad, especially for MS.  My wife’s mother has fairly advanced MS.  Hers isn’t the most aggressive variety, so she has been in decline for about 30 years.  Totally wheelchair ridden now, though.  But the health care system seems to be at a loss to deal with it effectively.  One of the things that bothers me is that so many people are soaking up so much in health care dollars for entirely preventable health issues (like Type-2 diabetes), when that money could/should be spent on unavoidable unpreventable victims of chronic illnesses, like MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, etc.

Edited by novanglus
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, novanglus said:


...that’s too bad, especially for MS.  My wife’s mother has fairly advanced MS.  Her’s isn’t the most aggressive variety, so she has been in decline for about 30 years.  Totally wheelchair ridden now, though.  But the health care system seems to be at a loss to deal with it effectively.  One of the things that bothers me is that so many people are soaking up so much in health care dollars for entirely preventable health issues (like Type-2 diabetes), when that money could/should be spent on unavoidable unpreventable victims of chronic illnesses, like MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, etc.

Luckily we have something in AUS called National Disability Insurance Scheme where the government provides assistance to people with a wide range disabilities. Lots of assistance designed to keep people at home and able to get out to shops. We're somewhere between the US medical insurance system and the British National Health Scheme.

 

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/6/2019 at 3:02 PM, Fordowner said:

Class Action lawyers?    Is this the thread to be critical of them on?     Without Class Action lawsuits it would be practically impossible to sue over this F -ck Up by a culture of its too late or too expensive to fix it .     It wouldn't be practical to sue Ford over one or two cars because the litigation costs would be too high for a lawyer to take on.   The number of depositions needed to piece together what happened by it self would requires a huge outlay of money.  In this case the Class Action was necessary to correct what appears to be a serious problem in Ford's design or corporate culture - at least in this silo of the company.    

 

What class action actually benefits consumers in a meaningful way?  I (and probably you) was a member of the Lawn Mower class action.  (https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/604-lawn-mower-class-action-lawsuit-settlement/) Apparently the amount of HP was mislabeled on lawn mowers.  So you could get "Up To" $35 or $75 per lawn mower. 

The breaakdown was as follows:

Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Amount(s): $142,950,000 = 65,000,000 in Cash Benefits to Consumers (ESTIMATE) + $42,500,000 in Extended Warranty Benefits – $35,450,000 Attorney Fees and Expenses (ESTIMATE) + $1,000 for Each Lead Plaintiff – Settlement Administrator and Notification Costs

 

$34 MILLION to the lawyers?  Over a misleading HP rating?  Seriously?  

 

Now take this to the DSP6 claims.  Those that have the cars file a class action.  What are they going to get?  $1k towards a new Ford?  Most probably want a new car or at least a transmission that works.  We all know that't not going to happen.  To put a new transmission in, Ford would have to re-certify with the EPA and possibly re-crash test the vehicle.  Not going to happen.  They would have to buy back the vehicles.  Probably would bankrupt them with how many were sold.   There will be class action, Ford will pay a couple hundred million.  The lawyers will get a huge chunk and owners will get next to nothing and still have a bum car.  Or sell their car back and have huge payments on a new car.   How is any of that fair to the owners who just want a working car?

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, akirby said:

 

If only we were all so lucky......

 

He even attacked me over on the F150 forum a few months ago (unprovoked I might add - the admins shut him down).

Apparently Fields tried to fire Joe Hinrichs and that was the last straw for Bill Ford,

I think that breakdown in senior management made for an intolerable situation.

 

It also came out that Fields negotiated more warranty money from Getrag ($50 Million)

in the light of it now completely inadequate to cover even the first round of corrective action.

It will do good for Ford to suffer major embarrassment and huge cost over this issue as that

seems to be the only way that senior management learn to change culture on reporting problems.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a strange way, this all tracks back to Mulally's insistence that the automatic Focus be profitable,

the DP6S cost less than an automatic and that drove the managers to persist with it and look past

the concerns of engineering. Thy tried to retro fix it once at the dealers and only then fully understood

what the engineers were trying to say,  that it cannot be permanently fixed, only managed.

 

Some vehicles I've seen have been reliable in their first five years and then sold off, those fleet bosses

telling drivers not to hold on hills and to avoid building up heat in the gearbox. Poor retail owners that

expected the same simplicity and reliability as an auto box were the big losers here.

 

Bottom line here is that Ford will have to honor an indefinite warranty on gearbox repairs until the cars are too old to worry about, I think they can fix then good enough to get 30K-40K miles at a time, the anger will die down.

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am pretty certain that Ford has already settled (I can't find a reference quickly) the class action law suite against the DPS6.  Why has it been getting more press lately ?  It would be unprecedented for the courts to allow the case to be re-opened or even allow a second law suite to begin.

 

IMHO, many state governments "dropped the ball" on this !  Most states have a "lemon law".  Typically it states that after X number of attempts to repairs or Y number of days "out of service" (customer unable to drive for whatever reason) the car is eligible for a full refund. Somehow, tjhs did not happen.  I would have expected that Ford would have been sitting on thousands of these cars !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, theoldwizard said:

I am pretty certain that Ford has already settled (I can't find a reference quickly) the class action law suite against the DPS6.  Why has it been getting more press lately ?  It would be unprecedented for the courts to allow the case to be re-opened or even allow a second law suite to begin.

 

In Sept the 9th Court of Appeals sent the case back for further review.  I don't think a "final" settlement has occurred since then.

 

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2019/09/13/ford-focus-fiesta-transmission-class-action-stalled-dps-6/2312926001/

 

HRG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/7/2019 at 10:36 PM, itguy09 said:

 

What class action actually benefits consumers in a meaningful way?  I (and probably you) was a member of the Lawn Mower class action.  (https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/604-lawn-mower-class-action-lawsuit-settlement/) Apparently the amount of HP was mislabeled on lawn mowers.  So you could get "Up To" $35 or $75 per lawn mower. 

The breaakdown was as follows:

Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Amount(s): $142,950,000 = 65,000,000 in Cash Benefits to Consumers (ESTIMATE) + $42,500,000 in Extended Warranty Benefits – $35,450,000 Attorney Fees and Expenses (ESTIMATE) + $1,000 for Each Lead Plaintiff – Settlement Administrator and Notification Costs

 

$34 MILLION to the lawyers?  Over a misleading HP rating?  Seriously?  

 

Now take this to the DSP6 claims.  Those that have the cars file a class action.  What are they going to get?  $1k towards a new Ford?  Most probably want a new car or at least a transmission that works.  We all know that't not going to happen.  To put a new transmission in, Ford would have to re-certify with the EPA and possibly re-crash test the vehicle.  Not going to happen.  They would have to buy back the vehicles.  Probably would bankrupt them with how many were sold.   There will be class action, Ford will pay a couple hundred million.  The lawyers will get a huge chunk and owners will get next to nothing and still have a bum car.  Or sell their car back and have huge payments on a new car.   How is any of that fair to the owners who just want a working car?

 

 

My point is  -  a Class action is the Free Market way to discourage companies from cutting corners or cheating to pad their bottom line.   Whether the the attorney's are making too much money is a case by case issue. 

Edited by Fordowner
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/6/2019 at 3:28 PM, rperez817 said:

 

No sir, I am not critical of class action lawyers and lawsuits, including the cases involving Ford DPS6 and 10R80 transmissions. I do acknowledge what jasonj80 mentioned about costs imposed by litigation to products and services that consumers buy every day. I own a small business and know this well. To me, it's a cost of doing business in the USA.

 

At the same time, class treatment of claims is an important component of common law jurisprudence in our country. In many situations, the "aggregation" associated with a class action is the only way to impose the costs of wrongdoing on the wrongdoer, thus deterring future mistakes.

 

THIS ........

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, HotRunrGuy said:

 

In Sept the 9th Court of Appeals sent the case back for further review.  I don't think a "final" settlement has occurred since then.

 

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2019/09/13/ford-focus-fiesta-transmission-class-action-stalled-dps-6/2312926001/

 

HRG

Looks like the lawyers wanted a quick pay day for themselves with $8.8 million in costs and virtually nothing to actual owners, how district court could sign off on that beggars belief.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Fordowner said:

 

THIS ........

 

I don't disagree with that premise for certain things, but here is my position on faulty components:

 

Every vehicle has faulty components at some point and every vehicle comes with a LIMITED WARRANTY.  You can choose to purchase additional coverage.   There is no guarantee that a vehicle will not have problems or won't have repeated problems.  That's what the warranty is for.   If your vehicle has more problems than you are willing to entertain (with or without a warranty) then get rid of it and get something else.  Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to keep it.  I don't expect the mfr to go above and beyond the warranty because that's the contract we made at purchase time.  If they choose to extend the warranty or go above and beyond then kudos to that mfr and that will certainly affect whether customers continue to purchase from them.  Likewise if they don't.   It's your choice as a consumer.  And if you say that you can't get something new because you're upside down on a loan - well that's not the mfrs fault.

 

People seem to expect an unlimited warranty against any kind of defect that occurs more than once.  Especially after they've refused to purchase available extended warranty protection. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ford has extended  its warranty on DP6S cars to seven years and 100,000 miles,

that should have take a lot of heat out of any future claims as most owners will

probably sell or trade their cars by then.

 

The DP6S class action should serve as a warning to potential claimants of just how

rigged class action suits are in favor of the law firms. There was a deal for $35 million

but that figure  is based on the maximum number of claimants accepting and less after

the law firm takes their $8.8 million cut, that leaves about $2 for  two million owners.

No wonder there's so many bad lawyer jokes....

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, akirby said:

Do you really think Honda or Nissan will honor a failed tranny outside warranty?

 

Both companies have in the past, partly a result of class action lawsuits against them. Honda reimbursed owners of certain 1999-2003 Honda and Acura models with 5 speed automatics for transmission repairs and extended warranty coverage on those trannies to 7 years, 100k miles. Nissan also reimbursed owners for repairs and doubled its warranty coverage to 10 years, 120k miles on 2003-2010 models with CVT. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/10/2019 at 5:45 PM, jpd80 said:

Ford has extended  its warranty on DP6S cars to seven years and 100,000 miles, that should have take a lot of heat out of any future claims as most owners will probably sell or trade their cars by then.

Has anyone ever heard from one owner who has said. "yes, it is fixed now and it drives good !"  ?????

 

I would never buy one of those cars !

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...