Ford is well-versed in the ways of the performance motor with cars such as the Ford GT and Ford Mustang offering strong performance in their respective classes. Ford is even dabbling in full-electric vehicles with the upcoming Mustang Mach-E, but it seems that it can't manage to put a solid manual transmission together.
What are we talking about you ask? Ford is being hauled in front of a court to explain why some of its Mustang transmissions keep blowing up or at least performing poorly. Cars affected by this issue include Mustangs produced between 2011 and 2019, but it seems as though the high-performance Shelby GT350 and GT500 have been spared.
According to this class-action lawsuit, the MT82 transmission used in these cars has a tendency to slip, engage in a rough manner, grind gears, and eventually fail. The plaintiffs claim that these issues lead to repair bills for shift shafts, synchronizers, shift forks and clutch assemblies. The plaintiffs continue to say that the replacement MT82 transmissions bring with them the same exact issues, leading to a catch-22 type situation.
The lawsuit filed against the US car producer claims that Ford made use of Tremec and BorgWarner transmissions in previous Mustang models, but recently switched over to Chinese made Getrag transmissions to cut costs. It was this change to Getrag MT82 and MT82-D4 transmissions that spelled disaster for Ford.
These transmissions were allegedly used in smaller and less powerful Ford cars, which means that the synchro gears were not able to handle the increased power on offer from the Mustang range of cars. Owners claim that quick shifts lead to grinding gears; a failure of the synchronizing gears to do their job.
This action follows a federal investigation opened in 2011 regarding the safety of 2011-2012 Mustang manual transmissions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found over 350 complaints regarding these transmissions. The latest lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.