Dual-clutch gearboxes typically deliver improved fuel economy and faster shifts than a traditional automatic. In place of a conventional automatic's torque converter, this dual-clutch six-speed transmission uses two clutch packs to couple the engine to the transmission-one that's engaged when an odd gear is selected, the other for evens. More often than not, as described by owners we've spoken to and on forums across the internet, the problems reappear even after service technicians claim the transmission is within normal factory limits.

Owners have reported replacing clutches, output shafts, and entire transmissions.

As described by owners of the vehicles, the primary, recurrent issues are a shuddering feeling while accelerating from a stop-like someone who can't feather the clutch properly on a stick shift-followed by a rough 1-2 upshift that again sends a vibration throughout the vehicle. The Ford PowerShift transmission in question is found in 2011–2016 Fiesta and 2012–2016 Focus cars.

Court of Appeals, and it could cost Ford in the billions. Now, nearly two million customers stand to get repayment for their trouble in a class-action lawsuit settlement currently before the U.S. The clutch torque delivery MUST BE IMPROVED!' That was six months before the 2012 Focus went on the market, the paper noted.īy now it is a well-publicized issue that Ford's PowerShift dual-clutch automatic transmission has caused problems for owners of several model years of its Fiesta and Focus cars. The paper published an email sent in August 2010 by a product development engineer to his supervisors and colleagues in which he said that testers could not 'achieve a drivable calibration that will get us to production. UPDATE 7/11/19: According to internal documents, as reported today by the Detroit Free Press, Ford knew of the PowerShift transmission's inherent problems before production started but went ahead with it, telling dealers 'to tell customers that the cars operated normally' when it knew they were problematic. The settlement is currently being appealed in federal court.Nearly two million people who have owned or leased one of the cars with the PowerShift transmission stand to get at least some repayment for their trouble.The 2011–2016 Ford Fiesta and the 2012–2016 Focus have a dual-clutch automatic transmission that is the subject of a class-action lawsuit and many individual lawsuits.

Ford focus reviews reliability