Car owners have filed a lawsuit against Ford Vietnam to Hai Duong People's Court over the PowerShift transmission and after-sales service.   

Ford Vietnam sued for PowerShift transmission problems

Vo Quoc Binh from HCM City represents the group of 76 owners of various Ford cars including Focus, Fiesta and EcoSport. 

They bought the cars from Ford Vietnam which was built from 2011 to 2017. 

According to Binh, his second-hand car slipped out of gear while he was driving his family up Cu Mong Mountain Pass during Tet Holiday.

"Luckily, we were able to deal with the problem," he said.

When bringing his car, which still has the warranty, for repair and maintenance, he was told that his gearbox had a water leak and many parts became rusty. 

He was asked to pay USD1,760 but Binh said the conclusion was unreasonable and filed a lawsuit against Ford Vietnam at Hai Duong People's Court and Thu Duc District People's Court in HCM City.

The Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority advised him to negotiate or go to court. Thu Duc District People's Court said since Ford Vietnam's headquarters are in Hai Duong, they do not have the authority to deal with this case. 

Hai Duong People's Court passed the case to Thu Duc People's Court and didn't give any feedback to Binh. Only when he came to ask about the case on May 22, he was asked to provide evidence.

The group of owners said their cars often suffered from serious problems including clutch shudder, excessive noisiness, delayed acceleration and excessive shuddering and jerking when accelerating and they would receive automated warnings.

The group has sued Ford Vietnam for false advertising.

According to the group, Ford issued an announcement that they will repair those cars and extend the warranty. 

But when they brought the cars to the garage, the employees switched the blame on them and demanded they pay for the repairs. 

Moreover, the problems have only been temporarily fixed.

The car owners demanded Ford Vietnam recall the cars or provide free replacements for the equipment, publicly apologise and compensate them. 

The group also sent a complaint to the prime minister, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Register.

Similar faulty functions in Ford cars have also been spotted in the world. In April, the Federal Court of Australia ordered Ford to pay USD7.55m penalties for engaging in unconscionable conduct in the way it dealt with complaints about PowerShift transmission cars. 

In May, the civil court in Thailand accepted a case against Ford Thailand after it was sued by 308 car owners for USD750,000. 

Last year, nearly 7,000 customers in the US also sued Ford for the PowerShift transmission.

In 2016, Ford Vietnam recalled 2,150 EcoSport, 4,179 Fiesta and 2,010 Focus which were faulty and built between 2014 and 2015.

Lao Dong/Dtinews