Ford News: Ford Extends Warranty on DCT transmissions

[Drew Dowdell]

Ford is acknowledging the trouble prone Ford Powershift transmission and is extending the warranties on them.  The 6-speed transmission is a dual clutch setup meant to increase fuel economy in Ford's smallest cars.  While a solid idea on paper, customers reported a number of problems with them including slippage, hesitations while accelerating, jerkiness through the gears, difficulty downshifting, and premature wear on the clutch packs. 

The extended warranty will cover 2014 - 2016 model year Ford Focus, and 2014 - 2015 model year Ford Fiesta and will increase the warranty coverage of the clutch from five years/60,000 miles to seven years/100,000 miles.  Ford will also reimburse customers in this group who have already paid for clutch repairs out of pockets.  The transmission control module will also be warrantied to 10 years/150,000 miles. 

In addition to that, there is a small group of customers (16%) who need a software update which Ford will provide for free. 

Affected customers will receive a letter from Ford with instructions on how to proceed.

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[David]

Sounds like they need to dump this in the recycle pile.

[ccap41]

I never had hesitation, difficulty downshifting, or slippage but definitely had the jerkiness. 

[Drew Dowdell]

18 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I never had hesitation, difficulty downshifting, or slippage but definitely had the jerkiness. 

Did you ever get your software update completed?

[riviera74]

Why did Ford put in DCT transmissions rather than either standard automatics or simply go with a CVT?

[ccap41]

25 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Did you ever get your software update completed?

I traded it in instead, lol. 

I had enough of that transmission. I knew it was going to be a never ending battle with it and while it never left me stranded or anything the jerkiness was enough and when I talked to my local Ford tech he said the part number was the same so I knew even if I had the clutch(s) replaced it would eventually be back at the same place.

7 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Why did Ford put in DCT transmissions rather than either standard automatics or simply go with a CVT?

Efficiency. 

[Drew Dowdell]

27 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Why did Ford put in DCT transmissions rather than either standard automatics or simply go with a CVT?

DCTs are more efficient than conventional automatics and don't get the hate that CVTs do. 

20 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I traded it in instead, lol. 

I had enough of that transmission. I knew it was going to be a never ending battle with it and while it never left me stranded or anything the jerkiness was enough and when I talked to my local Ford tech he said the part number was the same so I knew even if I had the clutch(s) replaced it would eventually be back at the same place.

I figured, I just wondered if you had the update done before you traded it and noticed any difference. 

[daves87rs]

 They are getting traded in  at a furious rate!

Local dealership had almost a dozen Focus waiting to br picked up......

[Scout]

The rite thing to do would be offer a buyback on all of them. Ford has been d!cking around the owners long enough. They know there is a problem and that they don't have a fix for it. But they also know how much doing the right thing would cost them. And that's why owners are getting bent by them. 

[riviera74]

1 hour ago, Scout said:

The rite thing to do would be offer a buyback on all of them. Ford has been d!cking around the owners long enough. They know there is a problem and that they don't have a fix for it. But they also know how much doing the right thing would cost them. And that's why owners are getting bent by them. 

Time for those Ford owners to trade in for a Chevy/GMC from their local dealer instead.

[Scout]

On 8/17/2019 at 10:00 AM, riviera74 said:

Time for those Ford owners to trade in for a Chevy/GMC from their local dealer instead.

Yeah. Because GM has always done the honorable thing. I'm not even going to begin to go into GM and honorable thing.   Then there's Toyota Honda Dodge or pick your make. They all cut bulspit corners, and their lawyers are bigger than yours. 

 

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not picking on any brand. I'm saying it's cheaper to build spit and sell it with a good lawyer behind you. 

 

Then there's government regulation.  That regulation forces everyone to build spit and sell it with the cheapest part they can find at the maximum profit they can get. 

 

I'm an auto enthusiast like everyone else here. But I can't stand nickel-and-dimed bullcrap for the sake of profit. If anyone would really like to discuss nickel-and-dimed full of crap to make maximum profit I am here.  I've owned several makes over several years and I see where nickel-and-dimed crap destroys a otherwise good product.

 

Then sometimes it's just penny-pinching over safety. You mentioned GM. I mention ignition switch.

[riviera74]

47 minutes ago, Scout said:

Yeah. Because GM has always done the honorable thing. I'm not even going to begin to go into GM and honorable thing.   Then there's Toyota Honda Dodge or pick your make. They all cut bulspit corners, and their lawyers are bigger than yours. 

 

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not picking on any brand. I'm saying it's cheaper to build spit and sell it with a good lawyer behind you. 

 

Then there's government regulation.  That regulation forces everyone to build spit and sell it with the cheapest part they can find at the maximum profit they can get. 

 

I'm an auto enthusiast like everyone else here. But I can't stand nickel-and-dimed bullcrap for the sake of profit. If anyone would really like to discuss nickel-and-dimed full of crap to make maximum profit I am here.  I've owned several makes over several years and I see where nickel-and-dimed crap destroys a otherwise good product.

 

Then sometimes it's just penny-pinching over safety. You mentioned GM. I mention ignition switch.

In an industry where profit margins on common cars are in the single digits, cutting corners to maximize profits is unfortunately quite commonplace.  Any of us can point to examples from Ford or GM or Chrysler or any foreign make that does just that.  The question is where when and how automakers (and their suppliers) do just that and whether sales are negatively affected once the issue is discovered.  Unfortunately no one is really safe from bad decisions that can lead to recalls at best and deaths at worst.  Sad.

[regfootball]

The DCT issue effectively killed the Focus brand in the US. all the great history and how much people liked the focus got shit on when ford sold this thing for 7-8 years without changing out the tranny to something else. Absolutely reprehensible. By the 3rd model year they could have had a different tranny engineered for the thing. Or 4th year at the latest.  Ford tried to be cute with a 1.0 3 cylinder and a real automatic but that was like salt on an open wound in the market. The rest of the focus was such a nicely done car and ford crapped all over it by never fixing it. Makes you wonder if they even tested the product at all before they sold it. 

I hope GM tested the new corvette DCT adequately. My fear is the tranny may become the Achilles heel of the entire corvette brand is if they don’t hold up there. 

Extending the warranties now is a bit of a tool move too. So many folks gave up being frustrated and traded them in and lost their ass just to get rid of them. Want a really cheap used car?  Look at what these Focus’ are selling for in the market.  Cuz that’s what they are worth after all this crap

Edited August 19, 2019 by regfootball

[daves87rs]

They will end up with their just desserts on the DCT quite soon. Many folks are still upset even with the “fix” which is making public what they were already doing anyways.

Major, Major lawsuit is on the way.......

[Drew Dowdell]

10 hours ago, regfootball said:

The DCT issue effectively killed the Focus brand in the US. all the great history and how much people liked the focus got shit on when ford sold this thing for 7-8 years without changing out the tranny to something else. Absolutely reprehensible. By the 3rd model year they could have had a different tranny engineered for the thing. Or 4th year at the latest.  Ford tried to be cute with a 1.0 3 cylinder and a real automatic but that was like salt on an open wound in the market. The rest of the focus was such a nicely done car and ford crapped all over it by never fixing it. Makes you wonder if they even tested the product at all before they sold it. 

I hope GM tested the new corvette DCT adequately. My fear is the tranny may become the Achilles heel of the entire corvette brand is if they don’t hold up there. 

Extending the warranties now is a bit of a tool move too. So many folks gave up being frustrated and traded them in and lost their ass just to get rid of them. Want a really cheap used car?  Look at what these Focus’ are selling for in the market.  Cuz that’s what they are worth after all this crap

Most DCTs aren't crap. This Ford one just was. 

[regfootball]

which all gets back to, ford should have put a regular automatic back in the car by 2014 model or so.