The Ford PowerShift is a six-speed dual-clutch, automatic transmission produced by Ford Motor Company, an American multinational automaker that has its main headquarters in Michigan. The PowerShift gearboxes were first built by Getrag Ford Transmissions, a combined venture with Getrag, now known as Magna PT, the world's largest supplier of transmission systems for both passenger and commercial vehicles.
The Ford PowerShift claims to improve fuel efficiency by up to 10% when compared to the traditional automatic transmission. Even with these promising specs, some bad news about this technology has hampered cars with the PowerShift. Ford was even slapped with a huge Australian fine over their PowerShift transmission. What's even worse is that Ford engineers say they knew about the faulty transmissions - uh oh.
Let's dive a little deeper into the Ford Powershift dual-clutch transmission and the issues caused...
The Mechanics
The dual-clutch transmission uses two manual transmissions that operate in parallel shifts, alternating with their own clutch. The Ford unit contains a six-speed with one clutch acting on the odd number gears, while the other clutch operates on the even number of gears.
When the first gear is engaged, the 2-4-6-R clutch is disengaged, and the second cogs become engaged. Then, the clutch can switch to the 1-3-5, alternating between the dual clutches.
Production
The PowerShift gearbox was first developed by Ford, Getrag, and Luk. Other manufacturers of dual-clutch transmissions include Volkswagen and Volvo, although Ford was the first motor company to produce and utilize the dual-clutch technology within their vehicles.
Problems
The new PowerShift gearbox, used specifically in the Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus, a supermini and a compact car respectively, use dry clutches and electric motor actuation. Unfortunately for Ford, the transmission was shown to be problematic before it was even released onto the market.
All of the installed units showed failure behavior, like slipping or surging, poor shift quality, and unprompted and unintentional shifts into neutral, causing a loss of power. After numerous reports of the parts and mechanical systems failing before it was even produced, investigations showed that Ford's engineers and management were aware of these issues.
Even though the management team knew that the powertrain was experiencing difficulties and it was not capable of operating properly, they chose to use the transmission in these two makes and models anyway.
Lawsuits
The problems continued for Ford, despite being the pioneers of this dual-clutch system. The company has faced class-action lawsuits and fraud investigations, with these investigations finding the PowerShift gearbox as being defective and dangerous in the Focus, Fiesta, and EcoSport. The lawsuits claim that vehicles with this specific gearbox cause transmission defects, jerking, harsh engagement, and delayed acceleration.
Ford has since claimed that these defects were caused by a faulty bearing or input shaft, causing a leak of fluid and the clutch to slip during use. After these findings, Ford concocted fixes for the seals and updated the clutch kits. Despite these "fixes", the PowerShift gearbox continues to have repeated issues.
The investigations also found the knowledge of the transmission problems prior to production, with emails stating that during testing they noticed the transmission shifting into neutral, forcing them to pull over during test runs for their own safety.
What Owners Can Do
Everyone in the class-action lawsuit that filed against Ford is assumed to accept all of the terms, with or without their knowledge. Once the settlement is paid, an owner can't sue later for the same allegations.
The class-action suit will award between $200-$2375 per person - quite a discrepancy for those car owners who contain the same problem.