NHTSA Complaint #10995542 — 2011 FORD FIESTA

TRANSMISSION SHUDDER AND UNRELIABILITY: MY CAR FREQUENTLY SHUDDERS WHEN I START AND, SOMETIMES THE AUTOMATIC POWERTRAIN BRIEFLY DETACHES; IN OTHER WORDS, APPLYING PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL ON SUCH OCCASIONS SIMPLY MAKES THE ENGINE WHINE, WITH NO PROPULSIVE RESPONSE. THIS HAS BECOME A DANGEROUS CIRCUMSTANCE -- MUST BE ABLE TO RELY ON THE TRANSMISSION RESPONDING TO CHANGES IN PRESSURE ON THE GAS PEDAL. THE PROBLEM IS MOST ACUTE WHEN I'M ACCELERATING FROM A STOP; ON THE MOST RECENT OCCASION, I BEGAN FORWARD MOTION AT A STOP LIGHT, BUT THEN THE TRANSMISSION DETACHED AND I JUST 'FLOATED' INTO THE INTERSECTION. REMOVING MY FOOT FROM THE PEDAL AND REAPPLYING PRESSURE OVERCAME THE PROBLEM, IN THAT INSTANCE. THE CAR ALSO SHUDDERS VIOLENTLY AS I START, OR IF I AM GOING UPHILL SLOWLY (SUCH AS IN STOP-AND-GO TRAFFIC). I THOUGHT THERE HAD BEEN A RECALL OF THE FIESTA TO ADDRESS TRANSMISSION SHUDDERS, BUT I SEE NO SUCH RECALL ON THE NHTSA WEBSITE.