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

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

#11

Post by opwieurposiu »

This pdf has pictures of the guts of this transmision:

https://atracom.blob.core.windows.net/webinars/ford/dps6_int...

I drive a stick, but recently I have been driving my moms's automatic subaru and it has a really nice crawl feature for steep dirt roads. You put the car in x-mode, take your foot off the gas and the car will maintain the speed you are at regardless of changes in grade or traction. You can adjust the speed with momentary application of brake and gas pedals. The computer controls throttle and brakes on each individual wheel, you can hear the ABS on downhill grades. Anyway it was the first automatic I have driven that worked well enough to be better then a stick for my use cases.

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

#13

Post by gm_fan_boi »

GM declined to use a dry clutch DCT in their performance vehicles for this very reason. GM was able to anticipate this problem, you need to have a wet DCT to avoid these problems. When you have a dry clutch manual transmission the human leg compensates for the variability in the driving conditions that ford wants the computer to handle. A torque converter is much more reliable in these types of vehicles.

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

#14

Post by olliej »

I don’t understand why so many customers are still fretting about paying off the vehicle.

Ford knowingly sold m, and continued to sell a faulty product. The warrantee is irrelevant: those customers should be able to return for a full refund, including load interest. End of story.

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

#15

Post by cr0sh »

mikestew wrote: post #2

Subtitle: "The carmaker says that it's not a safety problem if your car slips into neutral on the highway." It might not be a safety issue (and of course it is, who do you think you're kidding?), but it's illegal in the two states for which I've looked it up (my home state of IN, and current residence of WA). Here's WA's law: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.630

Reread that law - it applies to downgrades (which makes sense - engine braking to limit speed going downhill).

On the flat, going into neutral - while if it happens unexpectedly can be cause for concern (as you'll be rapidly slowing down due to wind resistance), it shouldn't harm drivability, braking, or steering.

Any issue with safety at that point would be on the driver in control of the vehicle, imho.

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

#16

Post by nudiustertian »

cr0sh wrote: post #15
mikestew wrote: post #2

Subtitle: "The carmaker says that it's not a safety problem if your car slips into neutral on the highway." It might not be a safety issue (and of course it is, who do you think you're kidding?), but it's illegal in the two states for which I've looked it up (my home state of IN, and current residence of WA). Here's WA's law: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.630

Reread that law - it applies to downgrades (which makes sense - engine braking to limit speed going downhill). On the flat, going into neutral - while if it happens unexpectedly can be cause for concern (as you'll be rapidly slowing down due to wind resistance), it shouldn't harm drivability, braking, or steering. Any issue with safety at that point would be on the driver in control of the vehicle, imho.

Why is rapidly decelerating on the highway not a safety risk? Pileups happen because of this

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

#17

Post by mrguyorama »

nudiustertian wrote: post #16
cr0sh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reread that law - it applies to downgrades (which makes sense - engine braking to limit speed going downhill). On the flat, going into neutral - while if it happens unexpectedly can be cause for concern (as you'll be rapidly slowing down due to wind resistance), it shouldn't harm drivability, braking, or steering. Any issue with safety at that point would be on the driver in control of the vehicle, imho.

Why is rapidly decelerating on the highway not a safety risk? Pileups happen because of this

A car slowing down from wind resistance will not be slowing down more rapidly than the car behind it can use friction brakes

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

#18

Post by zaroth »

mrguyorama wrote: post #17
nudiustertian wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is rapidly decelerating on the highway not a safety risk? Pileups happen because of this

A car slowing down from wind resistance will not be slowing down more rapidly than the car behind it can use friction brakes

There are documented accidents where this happened and the car was then rear-ended.

Speed differential kills on the highway. Loss of ability to accelerate can quickly get you in a dangerous situation where it’s very hard to get to the break-down lane, for example, if you are in a middle lane and traffic is passing on the right and left as you continue to lose more and more speed, now people are swerving to get aronund you, etc.

Ford knew this was dangerous. Their own legal team rated it as a “FMEA severity 10” fault which is the highest severity fault which “effects safe vehicle operation and involves non-compliance with government regulation without warning.” [1]

[1] - https://accendoreliability.com/understanding-fmea-severity-p...

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