Ford extends warranty on Focus and Fiesta clutches; will reimburse customers for repairs

Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it is extending its warranty for 560,000 Focus and Fiesta cars and will reimburse owners who paid for repairs not covered by the previous warranty.

Ford said it would extend the warranty to seven years and 100,000 miles on "clutch and related materials" for 2014-16 Focus and 2014-15 Fiesta vehicles. In 2014, it extended the warranty on previous model year Fiestas and Focuses.

The vehicles are equipped with a dual-clutch transmission Ford called the DPS6 that was intended to provide the fuel economy and acceleration of a manual transmission with the operational ease of an automatic. read more »

Center for Auto Safety Asks Uber/Lyft to Stop Using Recalled Cars

Last week, the Center for Auto Safety announced it had reached out to America’s ride-hailing giants to encourage them to stop allowing drivers to use vehicles under active recalls. The group’s release references a Consumer Reports study from this spring that alleged 1 in 6 automobiles commissioned by Uber and Lyft had unresolved defects in the NYC and Seattle areas.

“Unrepaired recalled vehicles are dangerous and can kill or injure drivers, passengers, bikers, or pedestrians. Exploding Takata airbag inflators which have resulted in at least 24 deaths worldwide, GM ignition switch failures which have resulted in at least 170 deaths in the U.S., and hundreds of other less-publicized defects pose equally significant threats to public safety,” explained the advocacy group. “Yet, recent studies from Consumer Reports and others have found concerning numbers of rideshare vehicles with unrepaired recalls on the Uber and Lyft apps.”

The Center for Auto Safety goes after “so called ‘technology’ companies” pretty hard after that by suggesting they could easily afford to ensure their vehicles are safe, having already convinced Wall Street their organizations are worth billions of dollars. read more »