NHTSA Complaint #11585318 — 2014 FORD FUSION

I bought Ford Fusion Hybrid 2014 from Marine County Ford [XXX] (@51,000+ miles) The car was inspected & in “good condition”. In 5 months, 6/2022 (@61,000+ miles) I noticed a barely distinguishable noise. My mechanic discovered a tiny leak in transmission. There were NO leaks under car. This “tiny” leak took 2.0L of transmission fluid to fill, so the car was ALMOST OUT of transmission fluid. There was NO warning on the dashboard. Mechanic said the leak had to be 6-12 months old since the hole was small it had to take long time for all fluid to leak out. Same day while driving on FREEWAY, the vehicle suddenly started shaking and became almost uncontrollable, then Dashboard displayed “stop immediately”. I barely managed to steer it to the closest exit. It turned out the bearing (VERY small part) was completely destroyed & because of it the WHOLE unit needed to be replaced. It’s a huge unit 1/3 size of the car. Both dealer and FORD said the car was out of warranties (warranty issued only for 8 years/100,000 miles) not applicable @61,000 miles. They also denied coverage with extended 90 days warranty, even tho mechanic stated the leak was old. Ford has this transmission issue listed in their TSB which means it’s a KNOWN DEFECT to the dealer. The repair cost was 1/2 of car value. But Ford dealers do NOT disclose this. I did replace transmission in 8/2022, with my mechanic with the unit from used car with 54,000 miles on it, “tested and certified by the “SWEngines”, a national parts dealer. BUT that unit ALSO broke, also after 5 months, due to SAME defect of same bearing. The unit had apps. 65,000 miles. But I was watching it. I had to pay twice, for both units. This model represents DANGER on the road due to faulty transmissions that can break any time, without warning. Leaks in them are not easily detectable and even concealed by the cover absorbing oil. Warranties issued INCORRECTLY for this defect. There are other 1500 cases on internet like this. Thank u INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFO