Dec. 19, 2019—For the second time in as many months, a unanimous jury in federal court agreed that Ford intentionally violated consumer protection laws and awarded the maximum penalties allowed.
The plaintiffs, Salvador and Yvonne Quintero, claimed that problems with the DPS6 PowerShift transmission in their 2014 Ford Focus caused them to feel unsafe and, because of the problems, they eventually stopped using the vehicle while continuing to make monthly payments.
The PowerShift transmission, installed in 2011 to 2017 Ford Fiesta and 2012 to 2017 Ford Focus vehicles. The DPS6 PowerShift transmission suffers from issues ranging from surging and shaking to unexpected losses of power.
Testimony and evidence in the case showed that Ford was aware of the problems and repeatedly failed to resolve them, while customers across the country were complaining about them.
Internal records showed that the transmission accounted for 50 percent of all "Things Gone Wrong," an industry term describing the number of issues that need to be addressed, while the transmission made up only 25 percent of Ford's sales volume. The PowerShift transmission had more than 15 times as many "Things Gone Wrong" as other comparable-class vehicles. Ford knew about these problems since at least 2012, but continued to sell the vehicles without a fix.
