Ford knew Focus, Fiesta models had flawed transmission, sold them anyway

[Pam]

Freep doing some good journalism for a change.

https://www.freep.com/in-depth/money...ct/1671198001/

[Meddle]

If that's true, there should be jail time for individuals involved, not just fines [[tax writeoffs) for the company. Remember the Pinto!

[Zacha341]

Yeah a friend had one [[Focus hatchback) and as a passenger you could hear the tranny whirling up and down strangely. She was told that was the normal bunk. Thankfully it was a lease. Pity to those who purchased for the long haul.

[401don]

I have a 2015 fusion which I bought at a year old with the 2.0 liter engine, fully loaded, only 18,000 miles, for 20k. It's a great car on the highway but the transmission hesitates at very low speeds. The dealers all say that's just the way the new electronic transmissions operate. So you purposely built them to be annoying as hell I asked?

[Zacha341]

Precisely! Yep, the new 'normal' hype. And you're just suppose to accept that!

[Richard]

In the seventies Honda has the civic CVCC that was a simple reliable car that got 40 mpg.

The 1989 CRX HF was 50 plus mpg highway.

The 70s VW diesel pickup was over 50 mpg highway.

30 years later you get the Prius that gets close to that.

DCT works in high end super cars because the owners have the money to replace it but they know DCT is going the way of the original standard shift.

They say they only make $100 on a small car,it’s not the cost of labor to produce it’s because they are trying to put high cost supercar technology into what should just be budget mode of transportation,and cost the end consumer in lost time and values.

The list is long,Pontiac Aztec,Honda Odyssey,Jeep liberty etc they all had transmissions that dropped like rain in a thunderstorm.

We joke about the ford pinto but it was actually a reliable and dependable car that was easy to work on.

The first DCT was patented in 1935,one has to figure that if 70 some years later they cannot figure it out,maybe it is time to shelve it and go back to the basics,like maybe try building the pinto again.

The early ford escort was a low end car in this country and was pretty much junk but yet the escort built in the UK market was a reliable dependable car that was sought after.

And they are confused as to why imports eat thier lunch.

[Honky Tonk]

I wonder if MCS will be getting a drop ceiling instead?

[Ray1936]

I wonder if MCS will be getting a drop ceiling instead?

I sure wish DetroitYes had a "like" button......................

[Zacha341]

^^^ Yes, Ford must ramp of the quality of their cars, particularly their sub-compacts in order to compete with other makers.

[Zacha341]

Yeah they don't seem to put much quality into their sub-compacts like the Fiesta etc and then to justify it! This happened back in the eighties when they had those weak Escorts. I had one, and a Chevy Chevette as first small cars. When I got into Toyota Tercels and Honda Civics I NEVER looked back.

Though enough Honda's certainly seemed to have notorious tranny problems too [[recall the early CRVs and Accord Sedans)! But I drove stick then so no matter. Anyway, who buys a car with an off-the-assembly-line 'squirrelly' transmission or other big issues? This makes for a bad rep. RCA must be happy!!

In the seventies Honda has the civic CVCC that was a simple reliable car that got 40 mpg.

The 1989 CRX HF was 50 plus mpg highway.

The 70s VW diesel pickup was over 50 mpg highway.

30 years later you get the Prius that gets close to that.

[Dumpling]

I liked the portmanteau the engineer came up with: "JUDDERING".

Jamming. Jumping. Jittering. Shuddering.

Used to drive Chevettes all the time. Those barely made it from
the 100,000 mile mark to the 120,000 mark and, between those
two odometer readings, it was well to have a box of well selected
tools in the hatch along for the ride.

After the Festivas that came after the Chevettes, there were two
Ford Focus Wagons, known to be relatively problem-filled cars
from the outset. The first one, purchased used as always, ran
quite well for a time. One fine day I was headed northbound on
the I-75 Rouge River Bridge when the engine cut out with absolutely
no advance warning, and the steering wheel seemed also to
freeze in place, but could be moved somewhat. Fortunately was
near the top and was able to coast down to the Dearborn Street
exit, make a right and travel along Dearborn Street a ways. Had to
call in expert help. The alternator had to be replaced, that was
that problem. [[Progress had been made, there were no tools in
back ).

I think a similar freeway self-stop happened to its previous owner,
but it started again, though perhaps it wasn't known what exactly
was going on, and that was why he sold it when he did [[without
advising me of the problem of course). If you weren't all brought
up on Chevettes with tool boxes in the back you would find it
to be completely terrifying, disruptive, unacceptable.

This kind of problem really needs be fixed before cars go on the market.

[Zacha341]

^^^ My one Chevette [[I had two) was so bad it had to have new steel welded into the shock-mounts. The turn signal or something on the steering column just broke off in my hand. The engine sounded like a sewing machine.

I actually learned with great difficulty [[yet determination) how to drive a stick on a Chevette.

I'd only learn later that there was the 'feel' and ease of a synchronized gear box where the shifting was smooth and nice. I thought the flint-stone hard-throw style of driving a stick was the norm. Hah.

[Meddle]

Never had a Shovit, but a ratty old Citation got me through a tough period.

Had a couple of Escorts, can't remember the years right now though. Both did fine for what I needed.

[Smirnoff]

And Ford blamed it was the customers fault & not the transmission.....really?

[Zacha341]

I am on point about oil changes and what not. One of my college life Escorts lasted forever with over 210,000+ miles!

The Chevette's were done before 100K [[tick-whirl, tick-tic), with the floor boards rusting out!

One of my Honda Civics threw a piston something or another right out of the bottom... under 80K ----!

So sometimes odd things happen.

[Zacha341]

You'd think they'd have learned from Chrysler's former woes ala junk models; those oil-n-water mixing jinxed ticking engines, the Concordes, etc.? Does Ford want to go back to the days of the disposable Ford Contour----?

I really liked the MKM Lincoln boss sedan - had a chance to drive while back. Nice. Put that quality a bit in the sub-compacts as others have done.

And Ford blamed it was the customers fault & not the transmission.....really?

[Pat001]

I have a 2015 fusion which I bought at a year old with the 2.0 liter engine, fully loaded, only 18,000 miles, for 20k. It's a great car on the highway but the transmission hesitates at very low speeds. The dealers all say that's just the way the new electronic transmissions operate. So you purposely built them to be annoying as hell I asked?

I feel your pain. I put up with herky-jerky automatic transmission shifting in my 2012 Focus for several years. I complained repeatedly to the dealer but they told me it was normal for that type of clutch. Eventually they replaced it free of charge. So it wasn't "normal operation." I'm tired of being used as a beta tester for Ford's half-baked products.

[Richard]

I kinda feel bad for the ones that started out driving with 1980s cars,they did not get to expirence what driving a real car was.

Maybe that was the plan,produce junk so if any improvements were made it would seem as an improvement.

I bought a 1987 new mini blazer the 700r4 transmission used to search for overdrive between 40 mph and 50 mph,GMs fix was to not drive it with the selector in the overdrive or D position and to move it up there when you were on the highway.

Who would have figured that somebody purchasing a new car would be driving in in-town traffic anyways.

The dealer and the factory still cannot figure out how to fix the no 12 volts to the trailer hook up plug on my friends 2019 new F250,they were not interested in my redneck idea of a alligator clip and wire directly from the battery to the plug.

The service manager told me in shock,it’s a $70,000 new truck you do not rig it like that,my question was how do you expect somebody to pay $70,000 for something that does not work like it should and you or the factory that built the thing cannot figure it out.

What was the old factory saying or reasoning,if you sell a model and make 50 million and then have to refund $20 million in claims,you still made money.

[Richard]

You'd think they'd have learned from Chrysler's former woes ala junk models; those oil-n-water mixing jinxed ticking engines, the Concordes, etc.? Does Ford want to go back to the days of the disposable Ford Contour----?

I really liked the MKM Lincoln boss sedan - had a chance to drive while back. Nice. Put that quality a bit in the sub-compacts as others have done.

They cannot do that without eliminating half of the lineup,if they put the luxury options in a base model then people would buy the base model and not the luxury.

Honda got away with it with the accord,base,LX then EX. But they only had two cars,the civic and accord.

The Suzuki Samurai was the honest one,they placed a sticker under the hood that clearly read ... The manufacturers life expectancy of this vehicle does not exceed 50,000 miles.


Remember the Chevrolet caviler and Cadillac Cimarron,they took a Caviler body and made it well appointed and called it a Cadillac.

The public figured out real quick you could order a fully optioned Cavalier and have the same thing as the Cadillac version at half the price.

[Zacha341]

Hah! I remember that shakanery re. the fake Caddy Cimarron. What a mess. And yes Toyota did three-way split of their Camry: DX, LX a XLE edition to choose or the smaller Corolla or economy Tercel. All had nice amenities and if you got a XLE Cammy you were just under a Lexus. All pretty durable.

I'd like more amenities and quality out of Fords smaller cars. Apparently they're not interested in providing such and so I would never buy one. Not sure I'd buy their larger sedans. They've made their choice to toss their compact brand.

[Bigb23]

^^^ My one Chevette [[I had two) was so bad it had to have new steel welded into the shock-mounts. The turn signal or something on the steering column just broke off in my hand. The engine sounded like a sewing machine.

I actually learned with great difficulty [[yet determination) how to drive a stick on a Chevette.

I'd only learn later that there was the 'feel' and ease of a synchronized gear box where the shifting was smooth and nice. I thought the flint-stone hard-throw style of driving a stick was the norm. Hah.

You brought up a lot of bad memories of my Chevette back in the day. Bad clutch plates, a bad starter stuck down in the nether regions, and a backseat for one. Learned to shift without the clutch on Stephenson Hwy. quite often during afternoon rush hour.

And shame on GM for merging Chevy and Vette into the name. Sorta like Yugorrari.

[Honky Tonk]

And shame on GM for merging Chevy and Vette into the name. Sorta like Yugorrari.

+5, Hilarious!

[Hermod]

Plus dishonorable mention for the Vile Vega and the Awful Astre in the 70s.

[Zacha341]

Chevette-shoving, granny-clutching down Stephenson!

Hah, that's suppose to be an alternate to I-75 when it's a mess. Not a herky-jerky jaunt to the grave yard----!

Learned to shift without the clutch on Stephenson Hwy. quite often during afternoon rush hour.

[Zacha341]

They're are legend and I had two, both white.

Funny thing is that GM did a better job with their white paint than the older Toyota Tercels. That Toy white looked like cheap, flat primer in no time. Nearly chalk, no shine!

You brought up a lot of bad memories of my Chevette back in the day.