F-150 class action over faulty transmissions can’t add more classes, judge rules

(July 30, 2019)

A class action lawsuit says that the automatic transmissions in Ford F-150 vehicles possess a defect that causes them to shift harshly and erratically.

The Ford F-150 class action lawsuit was filed by Justin O’Connor who says he leased a 2018 Ford F-150 XLT 3.5 EcoBoost w/10spd transmission. Allegedly, he decided to lease this vehicle because it was advertised as safe and reliable.

However, the plaintiff says that around five months after leasing his vehicle and with around 6,000 miles on the odometer, the truck began to make a loud clunk or bang noise when the engine started.

The Ford transmission class action lawsuit says that in some circumstances, the vehicle’s transmission holds gears much longer than it should and has a loss of power while shifting gears. Allegedly, O’Connor noticed this from the time he leased his vehicle.

The Ford transmission class action lawsuit goes on to say that in January 2019, O’Connor was driving when his vehicle lost acceleration and shifting capabilities and displayed a message stating “drive mode not available.”

Allegedly, the vehicle went into “limp mode” and O’Connor was able to drive it into a nearby parking lot. There, he says that he had to disconnect the battery, which reportedly reset the drive mode and allowed him to get home.

The Ford transmission class action lawsuit claims that these problems were caused by a defect present in the vehicle’s transmission and in the transmissions of other Ford F-150 vehicles. Allegedly, the defect occurs in 2017-2019 Ford F-150 vehicles that are fitted with the 10R80 10-speed automatic transmission.

O’Connor claims that Ford knew or should have known about the defect in the transmissions, and did not disclose the problem to customers or attempt to fix it. 

The Ford class action states that the company issued Technical Service Bulletins noting that the F-150s included in the Class “may exhibit harsh/bumpy upshift, downshift and/or engagement concerns.”

As an alleged solution to this problem, the bulletin also notes that the vehicles have an “adaptive transmission shift strategy” that enables the vehicle’s computer to “learn the transmission’s unique parameters and improve shift quality,” implying that this system could get accustom to the problem.

However, customers claim that this is not the case, and the vehicles still possess problems.

O’Connor says that he and many other consumers were financially injured by the shift defect because had they known that the Ford F-150 vehicles possess a defect, they would not have purchased them or would not have paid as much as they did for them.

Additionally, O’Connor claims that the defect poses a physical danger, saying that one passenger got whiplash from the shifting problems.

O’Connor is represented by Gregory F. Coleman of Greg Coleman Law PC.

The Ford F-150 Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Justin O’Connor v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. 1:19-cv-05045, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.