Ford Focus, Fiesta, EcoSport warranties extended over dual-clutch transmission shudder

[Yellow_Festiva]

May be of interest to some here:

Ford Australia has extended the warranties of almost 50,000 Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport vehicles equipped with the brand’s six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Dubbed a customer satisfaction program rather than a product recall, the action addresses a defect that may cause the ‘Powershift’ auto gearbox to exhibit “excessive transmission clutch shudder during light acceleration”.

Ford says the condition may be caused by a fluid contamination of the clutch due to leaking transmission seals.

Ford Australia told CarAdvice approximately 47,000 owners have received notifications about the customer satisfaction program, which relates to 2010-2014 Fiesta, and 2012-2013 Focus and EcoSport vehicles.

In a letter to owners, Ford Australia said it had extended the new vehicle warranty to cover “repairs on the clutch and input shaft seals on the transmission, as well as the transmission software calibration, to a total of five years or 160,000km from the vehicle’s warranty start date, whichever occurs first”.

For vehicles that have already exceeded the time or kilometre limits provided by the extended warranty, additional coverage will apply through to January 31, 2015.

The extended coverage is automatically transferred to subsequent owners.

Ford’s regular new vehicle warranty covers the first three years or 100,000km of ownership.

Ford says owners do not need to take their vehicles back to the dealership unless they experience the issue.

Owners who experience low-speed shuddering within the indicated time/kilometre limit for the warranty extension can arrange to have their transmission serviced as necessary free of charge.

Ford says in most cases vehicles should take less than one day to complete the repair.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/321473/f...ssion-shudder/

When will Ford bite the bullet and offer a standard 5yr / 160k km warranty? Even that will soon be obsolete when more 6 and 7yr warranties are offered - but a much needed improvement on the dated warranty they still offer now.