NHTSA Complaint #11577821 — 2015 FORD FIESTA

I’ve owned my 2015 Ford Fiesta for about 7 years now. Within the first year, I contacted the Ford dealership explaining noises when driving and my dual clutch shifting gears. I sent them video sound recordings. They said it was typical of this transmission. The car has never felt smooth but “ok enough,” until 18months ago when I reported gears slipping. No error codes were detected but parts of my clutch were replaced. Now, 16,000 miles later I brought my car into ford dealership saying I felt the gears slipping. They diagnosed a few other maintenance pieces like brakes and tires but said nothing was detected with the transmission and clutch. 3 weeks later, I was driving on a highway - lake shore drive in chicago, and my check engine light came on. My car would not change gears or accelerate past the 30mph I had been going. I felt like I was in neutral. I exited, fearing an accident. In stop and go traffic I used my hazard lights because I could not accelerate at each stop sign. I made it to a safe spot to pull over and then realized i could not reverse! I had my car towed to the ford dealer from 3 weeks prior. At this point they could read a few clutch error codes but cannot be certain of the actual cause. In order to do so, they need my consent of a possible $1500 service charge for investigating the issue. Ford costumer service line has said “oh wow, we’re glad your weren’t in an accident. I’m Sorry, your car does not meet criteria for any support from Ford.” Ford has knowingly kept these faulty transmissions on the road and now they are telling me that they will not help look into my vehicle’s transmission and safety issues. This seems unreasonable when the issue is clearly linked to the faulty dual clutch Powershift system. 1.5 million Ford Fiestas may still be registered and driven with Ford offering nothing other than “I’m really glad you dodged an accident and made it off the highway.”