Ford Powershift trial closing soon

Closing submissions in the Ford Powershift transmission class action will start tomorrow (July 21) and be heard for the rest of the week in federal court in Sydney.

The action being tried by Justice Nye Perram represents people who acquired a Ford Focus, Fiesta or EcoSport with a Powershift transmission between January 2011 and May 2016.

The action alleges approximately 70,000 of these vehicles were sold and in many cases the Powershift displayed issues including “shuddering, juddering, delayed and jerky acceleration, and non-starting”.

The lead applicant listed in the case is Ford Focus owner Biljana Capic. While Bannister Law originally started this process in 2016, Corrs Chambers Westgarth now acts on her behalf. Ford Australia is represented by Allens.

Hearings started on June 15 and the case has been held via video rather than in a court room because of the coronavirus.

Not all has gone how Ford would have wanted it so far, with a bid to have a set of internal documents suppressed from evidence rejected by Justice Perram.

Ford argued the documents held trade secrets, but Justice Perram ruled their continued suppression would be “inimical to open justice”.

He drew on the example of the KFC fast food franchise to explain his rationale for rejecting the claims compiled in an affidavit prepared by Detroit-based Ford engineer Matthew Fyie.

“No doubt the way KFC processes and cooks its chickens is something which it would prefer its competitors not to know, but the only trade secret which this Court would protect would be the 11 herbs and spices,” Justice Perram wrote.

“What Mr Fyie’s affidavit is missing is the 11 herbs and spices although it has, if I may say, plenty on cooking chickens.”

Another key moment came when Capic testified on June 19 and broke down under cross-examination from Ford’s barrister Charles Scerri QC when he accused her of lying under oath.

The legal website Lawyerly reported the centre of contention was an affidavit signed by Capic that stated since November 2019 her Focus had only been “shuddering”.

Under cross-examination Capic said she was only “summarising” in the affidavit and other symptoms including jerking, vibrations and grinding noises still persisted.

Justice Perram ordered a break in proceedings to allow Capic to gather herself.

Scerri also took Capic to task for transporting her friends and family in a car she had previously described as an “extreme road safety hazard”.

The class action seeks to recover damages from Ford for current and former Powershift vehicle owners, alleging the Blue Oval did not comply with Australian Consumer Law and behaved in a misleading and deceptive way.

The damages are intended to recover losses incurred by the class action group members including the difference between the price group members’ paid for their PowerShift vehicles and the true value of the cars and any other losses caused by Ford’s alleged misconduct.

These include the cost of inspecting the cars for defects, the costs of repairs, car hire, taxi fares, additional expenses due to re-financing, and any other expenses incurred to replace a defective Powershift vehicle.

In April 2018 Ford was fined $10 million by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for its response to consumer complaints about Powershift vehicles covering a 10-month period in 2015 and 2016.

The trial will be available to view by clicking here.