LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Class action status is being sought for a lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. over a type of transmission that renders Ford Focuses from 2011 to 2015 "virtually inoperable," the lawsuit said.
In the lawsuit, filed on Feb. 20 in a California state court, Kevin and Andrea Klipfel and other unnamed plaintiff, are suing Ford Motor Co., plus 10 unnamed individual defendants. The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial to hear its allegations that Ford violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, the Unfair Competition Law, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and express warranty guarantees under the California Commercial Code.
Damages also are being sought over the alleged unjust enrichment of Ford in the process. The lawsuit was removed to U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on March 23.
The lawsuit said that "an 'automated manual' transmission, i.e. the PowerShift transmission, should have the convenience of an automatic transmission without sacrificing the fuel efficiency and shift speed of a manually shifted vehicle. In practice, however, Ford's PowerShift transmission is plagued by numerous problems and safety concerns, rendering the vehicle virtually inoperable," the plaintiffs claim.
The plaintiffs allege that these transmissions contain "one or more design and/or manufacturing defects that cause, among other problems, transmission slips, bucking, kicking, jerking, harsh engagement, premature internal wear, sudden acceleration, delay in downshifts, delayed acceleration, difficulty stopping the vehicle and, eventually, transmission failure."
The plaintiffs are seeking undisclosed damages and are represented by Capstone Law APC in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California-Western Division case number 2:15-cv-02140