Ford’s 10-Speed
The Ford 10-speed Class Action Lawsuit has finally reached a conclusion. It took seven years for the suit to reach its final verdict. The case was filed in 2019 and involved 2017 to 2019 model years of the Ford F-150 equipped with the 10R80 10-speed automatic transmission.
In this class action, one of the more extreme claims was that the transmission shifted so hard that it could cause whiplash injuries. The plaintiff even cited the problems as “life-threatening” and complained that the 10-speed caused the trucks to lose value as a result. Now, the lawsuit has been denied.
Seven Years
According to the lawsuit, the class initially spanned the entire United States. The initial size was then reduced to eight states. After some time, the number came down to just four states, with the final four standing being California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York, but the judge ruled against class certification.
This leaves any future claims based on individual plaintiffs. There are five, in this case, and the judge has ruled that these five cannot act as class representatives because of a class action waiver in Ford’s F-150 warranty. Furthermore, the judge also ruled that it’s been seven years since the start of the case, but the plaintiffs were unable to show that there was a common defect with the F-150’s 10-speed transmission.
However, there are other problems with the F-150’s 10-speed transmission that have been documented over the years. Even now, there are still investigations surrounding these gearboxes.
Cars & Bids
No Class Action
The court denied the motion to bring this case into class action status, so each plaintiff will now handle their case individually. Again, this is because the plaintiffs were unable to present evidence that the transmission problems resulted in their claims.
Jerking, hesitation, shifting problems, loud clunking, clanking noise, and slipped gears were all mentioned by the plaintiffs. The judge’s ruling was based on the plaintiffs’ inability to produce evidence to substantiate the “life-threatening” claims of whiplash injuries and the like.
Undoubtedly another chink in the armor of America’s best-selling truck, the Blue Oval caught a break on this one, admittedly amidst a sea of suits.
