Ford Philippines handles issues on defective PowerShift transmission

MANILA: Ford has been a very popular automaker in almost every country it has been doing business in, and the same story continues in the Philippines as well. As for example, the company has just launched the facelift of the EcoSport, a model that has been doing exceptionally well.

After the initial launch in the year 2014, the EcoSport did manage to take up a chunk of the market share in the B-segment subcompact SUV space. However, despite all of this being said and executed, there is that one thing that the customers aren’t pleased about.

Yes, it is the gearbox unit offered in the Fiesta, Focus, and EcoSport. Instead of the conventional automatic transmission, Ford offered a dual-clutch unit, known as the PowerShift. These units have been a subjected to a lot of issues including shuddering at lower speeds and reliability.

All the models with PowerShift gearbox sold in Australia and the Asian countries are manufactured in Thailand. However, the issue has been more prominent in the former country where the customers are even urging the company for a buy-back.

At the time when the 2018 EcoSport was launched in the Philippines that is precisely last night, the Managing Director of Ford, Mr Bertrand Lessard addressed the problem saying that there are a few customers who have turned up with the faulty gearbox issue. He even committed that if there were a problem, the company would fix it.

The issue of the faulty Ford PowerShift gearbox has some symptoms, as pointed out by the customers. The shuddering is being caused by the defective seals through which the fluid would flow and contaminate the dry clutch. Even after the issue was fixed, the problem would crop up soon after. The reports mentioned that the clutch material and the transmission control has issues too.

Interestingly, this issue would not affect the all-new 2018 Ford EcoSport as the company has opted for the more conventional six-speed automatic unit instead of the PowerShift.