2020 kicked off with a bang for Ford as almost 1 million vehicles were added to the total Takata airbag recall figure, and now the American brand is finally reaching a settlement in the long-lasting DCT transmission lawsuit.
Back in 2012, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Ford on behalf of Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus owners whose cars came with the six-speed dual-clutch PowerShift gearbox.
Despite the fact that Ford was aware of the DPS6 transmissions containing unresolved issues that caused the car to shudder upon acceleration, hesitate when shifting gears, and delay downshifts, they put it into production.
According to a recent report out of the States, a settlement has finally been reached between Ford and the owners that's set to leave the blue oval out of pocket in more ways than one.
Details of the settlement are still being finalized, but one lawyer that was working on behalf of the owners revealed that the total payout could easily exceed US$100 million.
"There's no cap. The truth is, Ford is going to have to pay out claims until they're exhausted," said Tarek Zohdy "In my opinion, Ford will have to deal with these vehicles until people are done filing their claims."
The issues relate to the 2012-2016 Ford Focus and 2011-2016 Ford Fiesta models, and almost 2 million owners and former owners have been involved with the court case against Ford.
Interestingly, this proposed settlement is an improvement on a version that was denied by the Californian court last September. Improvements include:
Ford commits a US$30 million cash reimbursement to consumers directly affected by the transmission issues within 5 years or 100,000km of buying their vehicle. A revised system to make compensation easier to claim for former owners. An easier buyback program for affected cars.
A spokesperson from Ford revealed that the brand "believes the settlement is fair and reasonable, and we anticipate it will be approved by the court following the hearing next month." Which will happen on February 28.
While we haven't heard anything from Ford New Zealand about this issue just yet, we can imagine that once a settlement is reached over in America, the global process will commence.