May 24, 2018

Thai Owners Take Ford to Court Over PowerShift Issues


Ford’s problematic PowerShift transmission can’t seem to catch a break. After the Australian government slapped the American carmaker with a AUD 10 million fine (P 393 million) and the possibility of having to fix, buy back, or replace 10,500 vehicles, the same situation is hitting them in Thailand.

The Bangkok Post reports that Ford is now the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed by 308 carmakers for damages worth 24 million Baht (P 39.3 million). The suit covers users of Ford Fiesta, Focus, and EcoSport models all equipped with Ford’s dual clutch automatic transmission.

Last April, charges were filed against 4 Ford subsidiaries in Thailand: Ford Motor Company (Thailand), Ford Sales and Services (Thailand), Ford Operations (Thailand), and Ford Services (Thailand). The case accused the companies of “selling unsafe products due to substandard production and distribution and of false advertising.”

At the time, 10 owners, representing 421 others filed a case and after a settlement with Ford, 113 withdrew. This leaves 308 as plaintiffs in the case.

During the court session, the plaintiffs decided to pursue the case only against Ford Sales and Services (Thailand) and dropped the charges against the three other companies.

The plaintiff’s witnesses will be heard on August 1 and those of the defendants will be heard on August 30-31. A ruling is expected by September 28.

With problems piling up for the Ford PowerShift transmission across the region, it is only a matter of time when the Philippines will be hit with a similar class-action lawsuit.

Source: The Bangkok Post

26 comments:

  1. Im really curious about the upcoming ownership experience of that Mustand Ecoboost guy. Most especially since even non-dct equipped Ford vehicles are having issues like the Explorer (CO2 cabin emission, rack n pinion, mechanicals, etc) and Ranger (A/T, turbo, turbo hose, etc).

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    1. Most? Those are just two models. The F are you talking about. What about the focus, escape and expedition.

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    2. LMAO at this guy. That's just a figure of speech, you're being too emotional.

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    3. Focus RSes get factory installed blown head gaskets, giving owners smokescreen capability on demand.

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  2. It's about time they got sued for that sh*t

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  3. Korean car brands are more reliable than these cars. Even the aftersales service of Korean car brands are better.

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    1. Idiot. Only units with DSG are affected. That doesn't mean all ford are unreliable.

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    2. *DCT rather. DSG is Volkswagen which also have problems

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    3. I mavbe called an idiot but given the circumstances I would like consumers like you and me to be protected of unjust marketing.

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    4. HakuryuMay 24, 2018 at 11:59 PM
      Anyway that leaves us with two (expedirion and everest) 'reliable' vs five (focus, fiesta, ranger, ecosport and explorer) faulty common Philippine Ford models then. A 28.571 percentage reliability. Is that pass or fail? Regarding the Ford service centers, I don't have idea how small is their reliability percentage.

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    5. Flash News: Hyundai and Kia now exceeds reliability of any mainstream Japanese car brand https://clark.com/cars/most-reliable-cars-2018-jd-power/

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. I think Dual Clutch Transmission is a great transmission system, if executed correctly. It is just that Ford and Volkswagen (DCT and DSG) have left a bad taste with the consumers by releasing a failure of a device. Ford specially made it worse by passing the blame on to the consumers just to get away with their responsibility to provide a good service.

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  6. "Just another generalizing idiot who think he knows ford cars. 2016 Focus and fiesta MT unreliable? You wish."

    Aren't you being the same generalizing idiot by saying that focus and fiesta MT are reliable? :)) What makes you such an expert?

    Your Ford's entry level, manual tranmission "poverty packs" better be reliable, because they botched up the top of the line models big time. These are top of the line, creme de la creme models, supposedly representing the best Ford has to offer. And you argue that the lowest model is reliable. How screwed Ford must be, that the model devoid of their transmission engineering genius is the one that is reliable. It's like an admission of fault. :))

    Might as well sell Model Ts again.

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    1. So you're saying since the high end models are faulty, all the lower end models are faulty too correct?

      Following your logic using Mazda as an example, the "creme de la creme" CX9's turbo engine gets too hot meaning there is faulty engineering somewhere in that engine. So your logic dictates that the "poverty pack" Mazda 2 and 3 are faulty too right?

      Better check your brain. It might not be functioning properly.

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    2. Actually, there have been numerous reported cases of Fiesta M/T model with Overheating issues.

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    3. FB page of Ford Fiesta Owners PH. You can see the widespread problems of Fiesta models albeit in a lesser extent for the M/T equipped ones.

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    4. I actually joined the group few years ago out of curiosity of the 1.0 Ecoboost engine, since it garnered several awards worldwide. You can actually join if you want to and browse over.

      P.S. You keep mentioning my ass, you're free to kiss and caress my candy ass as you like. LMAO!

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    5. "So you're saying since the high end models are faulty, all the lower end models are faulty too correct? "

      You formed that yourself, dimwit.

      The discussion was on a Ford zealot arguing that the MTs of the models in question were "reliable". This post was on Powersh!t being a failure, and that his argument was like an admission of fault.

      How Mazda got in the picture, only your creme bruleed brain can understand :))

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    6. Because that's what you're implying dumb***. May example ka pang ginamit. May creme de la creme ka pang ngang nalalaman.

      And besides there's no argument here whether you're a ford hater or a ford fanatic, Ford failed big time with their DCT and they admitted it. I know it, you know it, they know it. End of story. But does that mean their conventional AT and MT are unreliable in other car models? Nope. Only idiots (such as you) would think otherwise.

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    7. Unless of course there are reports of transmission failures like with the powershift DCT. But the lack of widespread complaint within the Philippines or abroad show that the MT and AT transmissions are reliable.

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    8. ^ There are actually widespread complaints of A/T, turbo, turbo hose and mechanical failures of the Ford Ranger.

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    9. Yeah we all heard about that. But that was when the ranger was first released. Some time has passed and it has even been facelifted, now the question is are those issues still present in the newer models? So far I've heard no issues because their parts are almost the identical with the everest.

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    10. Only point here is that consumers should be protected from defective products.
      Be it Ford or Japanese and Korean brands. We the consumers should not fight or vouch for any brand.
      Example Hyundai and Kia jist announced recall for millions of theta 2 engines in the US, canada and Korea. But why not in the Philippines?
      Its because we are too kind a race that lets other country kick us on the ass.
      We should have class action lawsuits for really defective items or problems that these car manufacturers are selling us the Filipino people.
      Show them we are not F idiots.

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