Ford Class Action Says PowerShift Transmission Defects Must Be Fixed

Ford has failed to properly address a defect in its PowerShift transmission, according to a Pennsylvania plaintiff.

Plaintiff Brenna Costello claims the PowerShift transmission installed in a few model years of Ford Focuses and Ford Fiestas is defective in ways that make it unsuitable for its intended use.

According to Costello, the Ford PowerShift transmission “slips, bucks, kicks, jerks, harshly engages, has premature internal wear, suddenly accelerates, delays in downshifting, delays in acceleration, has difficulty stopping the vehicle, and eventually suffers a catastrophic failure.”

These problems can create significant threats to driver and passenger safety, Costello argues. She says the affected vehicles can suddenly lurch forward or decelerate, leaving the driver unable to control the vehicle’s speed.

Costello accuses Ford of actively concealing information about the PowerShift transmission defect. Ford allegedly knew about the problem as far back as 2010.

Testing data, technical service bulletins, and consumer complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration all were available to Ford, she says. Yet Ford allegedly shared none of this information with the public.

“Ford actively concealed the material facts that the PowerShift Transmission was not safe, that it would function in a manner that would pose a safety hazard, and that it was defective,” Costello says. “Ford instead sold vehicles with a known safety defect, and failed to disclose this defect to consumers when Ford learned of it.”

The company finally notified end consumers about the defect in 2015 – five years after the company became aware of the problem, according to this Ford class action lawsuit.

Costello says that in April 2014 she bought a used 2012 Ford Focus equipped with a Ford PowerShift transmission. For months, she says, the car made a rattling noise and had trouble accelerating – both symptoms of the Ford PowerShift defect, she says.

Several repair efforts by more than one authorized Ford dealership failed to remedy the problems, Costello says. To this day, she reports that her Ford Focus bucks, shudders, lacks power, and struggles to accelerate.

Her claims echo others brought in an earlier Ford PowerShift lawsuit filed in February by more than two dozen individual plaintiffs. These plaintiffs claim Ford violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by failing to properly address the Ford PowerShift defect.

Costello’s Ford PowerShift class action lawsuit was originally filed in New Jersey state court. Ford has since removed the action to federal court.

Costello proposes to represent a plaintiff Class covering all persons who in the state of New Jersey purchased or leased any Ford Fiesta from model years 2011 through 2013 or any Ford Focus from model years 2012 through 2013 equipped with a Ford PowerShift transmission.

She is seeking a court order that would require Ford to replace the Ford PowerShift transmissions in Class Members’ cars with a suitable alternative transmission that does not suffer from the same defect. She seeks an extension of Ford’s warranty to cover the Ford PowerShift transmission defect.

The plaintiff is also asking for an award of damages and disgorgement of revenues related to the defective transmissions, plus reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of this litigation.

Costello is represented by attorneys Richard Kim and Drucilla Tigner of The Kim Law Firm LLC and Joseph M. Profy and Jeffrey J. Ciarlanto of Profy Promisloff & Ciarlanto PC.

The Ford PowerShift Transmission Class Action Lawsuit is Brenna Costello v. Ford Motor Co., Case No. 1:17-cv-01816, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.