- ford mustang owners have filed a class-action suit alleging that the six-speed manual transmission used in 2011–2019 mustang and mustang gt cars is faulty.
- it also alleges that ford has been aware of the issue since pre-release testing in 2010 and that the automaker has issued several service bulletins to dealerships about how to fix the issue.
- earlier this year, ford settled with focus and fiesta owners over long-standing powershift automatic-transmission issues.
owners of ford mustang and mustang gts with the mt82 and mt82-d4 six-speed manual transmission supplied by getrag have filed a class-action suit against the automaker over issues with that gearbox. the suit details problems with the transmission and states that, "among other problems, the transmission slips, jerks, clashes gears, and harshly engages; has premature internal wear, increased shift efforts, inability to drive, and eventually suffers a catastrophic failure."
the suit also notes that transmission replacement does not solve the issues: "repairing or replacing the defective parts does not resolve the transmission defect, because the customer is left with inherently defective parts or receives another defective part in its place."
the lawsuit claims ford was aware the transmission had problems as far back as "at lest 2010," during pre-release testing and alleges that ford "has actively concealed the transmission defect" and "failed to disclose this defect to consumers" once it knew of the problem. the lawsuit also notes that the automaker has issued seven special service messages and technical service bulletins to dealerships related to the shifting issues and other defects.
the suit references a 2011 nhtsa investigation that found 364 complaints about shifting into gear while driving, especially in cold weather. ford said at the time that clutch components were the root cause and made replacement clutch-pedal parts available. nhtsa's office of defects investigation concluded, "there is no indication of loss of motive power or unreasonable safety risk associated with the alleged defect in the subject vehicles," and it closed the investigation.
the class-action suit is seeking $5 million in damages. it was originally filed in the u.s. district court for the central district of california but has been moved to the eastern district of michigan.
this isn't ford's first issue with transmissions. earlier this year, the automaker settled a lawsuit over the powershift dual-clutch automatic transmission found in 2011 through 2016 fiesta and 2012 through 2016 focus cars.