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Fiesta/Focus Transmission Settlement Approved


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https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/06/ford-focus-fiesta-transmision-settlement-approved/

 



Owners of Ford Fiesta and Focus models with the company's problematic PowerShift automatic transmission will be eligible for vehicle buybacks and for cash compensation, according to a new settlement. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, depending on the number of service visits and repair attempts the vehicle has required, owners may be able to sell their cars back to Ford for up to $22,000. They may also be able to receive cash compensation of up to $250 for their trouble. In most states, owners will need to have had three or or a maximum of four transmission repair attempts.

The new settlement represents an appeal of an earlier deal that was much less generous to affected owners. It's estimated that some 1.5 million vehicles with the problematic gearbox are still on the road, and in total nearly 2 million owners and former owners could be eligible for some form of compensation.

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2 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

If it weren't for Ford, Phoebe Howard Wall wouldn't have anything to write about. I am pretty sure she has milked this story for what it's worth and then some. I am sure it will be plastered on their auto site for the next 3 months.

 

Well funny how Ford added some warranty coverage after this story was unveiled a few months ago, and as far as I am concerned-Ford fucked themselves on this deal. It is 100% their own fault and customer's paid a price. 

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20 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

If it weren't for Ford, Phoebe Howard Wall wouldn't have anything to write about. I am pretty sure she has milked this story for what it's worth and then some. I am sure it will be plastered on their auto site for the next 3 months.


I don’t understand your point.  Should we be thanking Ford for knowingly making cars with faulty and dangerous transmissions and then ignoring the problem for years?

 

All so a journalist could have the opportunity to uncover how corrupt Ford was with this transmission?

 

Personally I’m glad the consumers will see some sort of compensation after being taken advantage of by this company.  

Edited by sho94_2000
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6 hours ago, sho94_2000 said:


I don’t understand your point.  Should we be thanking Ford for knowingly making cars with faulty and dangerous transmissions and then ignoring the problem for years?

 

All so a journalist could have the opportunity to uncover how corrupt Ford was with this transmission?

 

Personally I’m glad the consumers will see some sort of compensation after being taken advantage of by this company.  

 

I have no problem doing a story on this, none whatsoever. However, what i do find annoying that the level of sensationalism. Phoebe's story read like a dateline investigation. You would of thought it was a "To catch a predator" transcript. Also, it was plastered on The Freep as a headline for at least 3 months. Any update would be plastered all over their website. It's like they had an ax to grind and kept trying to poke the bear. Meanwhile, other stories that were put up and then gone.  Let's not pretend that Nissan still has just as bad of an issue with their CVT transmissions and many many lawsuits. This doesn't just happen to Ford.

 

The taken advantage part is a bit much. I don't condone Ford putting that transmission in there. In fact, I was complaining that it was dumb. Now here is where I put the fault on the consumer. Don't be dumb. Some of those stories that Phoebe highlighted were people doing 0 research on a big purchase. I mean this had been an issue for a long time. They were one google search away from seeing all the complaints and problems. Yet, they didn't. I'll give the first adopters the benefit of doubt. I had been telling people since 2014 not to buy an automatic Focus. There was a ton of articles and complaints by then.

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27 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

I have no problem doing a story on this, none whatsoever. However, what i do find annoying that the level of sensationalism. Phoebe's story read like a dateline investigation. You would of thought it was a "To catch a predator" transcript. Also, it was plastered on The Freep as a headline for at least 3 months. Any update would be plastered all over their website. It's like they had an ax to grind and kept trying to poke the bear.

 

You nailed it.  Phoebe is a reporter doing her job, but it's her boss, or the Free Press Editorial Board which seems to have a personal vendetta against Ford.  I don't recall this level of scrutiny with the GM Ignition Switch issue several years back.  Over 120 people died because of those faulty ignition switches.  

 

The Free Press was a good paper when Knight-Ridder owned it, but has gone downhill ever since Gannet bought it back in 2005.  Every day I glance at their front page and all I see our fluff articles and sports.  Real hard news is hard to come by.  I prefer the Detroit News.

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27 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

I have no problem doing a story on this, none whatsoever. However, what i do find annoying that the level of sensationalism. Phoebe's story read like a dateline investigation.

 

There's nothing sensationalist about the articles Phoebe Wall Howard wrote about the Ford DPS6 fiasco. On the contrary, the amount of research she did and her attention to detail is amazing. Also, Wall Howard is very talented when it comes to combining technical details with the human side of a story.

 

Detroit Free Press should earn some journalism awards for its DPS6 reporting. There's no doubt it played a major role in Ford's most recent settlements.

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48 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

There's nothing sensationalist about the articles Phoebe Wall Howard wrote about the Ford DPS6 fiasco. On the contrary, the amount of research she did and her attention to detail is amazing. Also, Wall Howard is very talented when it comes to combining technical details with the human side of a story.

 

Detroit Free Press should earn some journalism awards for its DPS6 reporting. There's no doubt it played a major role in Ford's most recent settlements.

It wasn't research though, most of it was inside knowledge given to her in the hopes that it would be used as leverage against Ford.

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Has a 2013. Two clutches changed over. The last after they extended the transmission coverage again.

 

Ford screwed up...every company does that. They've at least made it right. The last clutch changeover they paid for everything including the car rental.

 

Focus now has $95k of otherwise trouble free driving. No starter going out at 60k miles or engine going out at 75k miles like my Wrangler did.

 

It didn't go through 3 whole transmissions like my parents Cherokee did with only 20k miles.

 

All my body panels are still aligned perfectly after nearly 7 years as opposed to a friend's Model X that came off the line with body panels that looked like they were aligned by Stevie Wonder.

 

 

Were the clutch issues bad...yea. But I have heard and experienced worse issues with other vehicles from other automakers with less miles on it...and at the owner's expense. 

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It's just a shame that they missed a golden opportunity to make the trans much better right at the start,

had they pushed the launch back three months, a lot of the dreadful early failures could have been avoided.

One manager's poor judgement in 2011 caused Ford so much in warranty claims and good will, I'm sure that

middle management kept down playing it to the top brass.

Edited by jpd80
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  • 2 weeks later...

I have an early 2012 Focus, and I managed to dodge all the bullets and get over 225,000 miles without having any major issues with the transmission. That ended on Sunday.  I was going to go to Florida, which turned into a visit with my brother, sister in law and 3 year old niece in Indy, then a desperate attempt to find something open where I could go on vacation. We headed southwest, and the transmission started having issues near Jonesboro, AR. The Ford dealer there said it would cost $5100 parts and labor(apparently not including the clutch assembly). The troubles were mainly in the middle gears, so we decided to limp it home. it only had troubles the two times we stopped, and when going through Hannibal, MO(they need a freeway bypass...).  So from I'm reading, I'm basically screwed because I haven't had the issues that others have had.

Edited by AGR
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4 hours ago, AGR said:

I have an early 2012 Focus, and I managed to dodge all the bullets and get over 225,000 miles without having any major issues with the transmission. That ended on Sunday.  I was going to go to Florida, which turned into a visit with my brother, sister in law and 3 year old niece in Indy, then a desperate attempt to find something open where I could go on vacation. We headed southwest, and the transmission started having issues near Jonesboro, AR. The Ford dealer there said it would cost $5100 parts and labor(apparently not including the clutch assembly). The troubles were mainly in the middle gears, so we decided to limp it home. it only had troubles the two times we stopped, and when going through Hannibal, MO(they need a freeway bypass...).  So from I'm reading, I'm basically screwed because I haven't had the issues that others have had.

 

Screwed?  You got 225,000 miles on the trans.  You are looking for a handout with 225,000 miles on the odometer?

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Yeah, because I took care of it, unlike many of the folks that had issues who didn't.  Kind of like that dad that confronted the presidential candidate that advocates giving away "free" forgiveness of college debt; "What about us that saved and scrimped and got our kids out of college debt free??"

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44 minutes ago, Rifle said:

It’s beyond me, why Ford didn’t get ahead of this, by offering a trade assistance rebate, toward another Ford product, years ago!

um, they did....on both the Focus and Fiesta. That aside, from what I understand is the issue with the US trans was it was dry clutch...wasn't Europe etc a wet clutch system that worked fine?...

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You could alway see if a sympathetic Ford dealer could intercede on your behalf to see if ford would do something to help, sometimes they will help out even if not obliged to

maybe take back your bits to see how they lasted so long, yours would be the exception to many other units.

Edited by jpd80
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On 3/17/2020 at 6:42 PM, Deanh said:

um, they did....on both the Focus and Fiesta. That aside, from what I understand is the issue with the US trans was it was dry clutch...wasn't Europe etc a wet clutch system that worked fine?...

Um, I don’t recall a trade assist rebate. Can you tell me when that was, and the dollar amount? Thanks!

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8 minutes ago, Rifle said:

Um, I don’t recall a trade assist rebate. Can you tell me when that was, and the dollar amount? Thanks!

I work at a dealership...if a Fiesta or Focus was traded in, at one time there was additional $$$$, I believe it was either $1500 or $2500 but it was a while ago. Needless to say we ghot quite a fewe traded in... 

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