Some owners with that terrible transmission will be getting a check:
never-ending transmission issues was the reason I sold my [purchased-new] 2001 Focus back in the days, after owning it only for a year
roll forward 20 years, and here we have the same actor and the same play…
Your 2001 Ford Focus had a very different transmission, versus those Fiestas and Focuses that Jalopnik was talking about
Sure, I do understand it is very different kind of transmission.
I would expect Ford to “learn the lesson”, but here it comes, they managed to make a costly mistake again 
Different technology
It’s not the same lesson to be learned, in my opinion
Or maybe there’s a lesson for US to learn . . . only buy vehicles with conventional automatic transmissions
Actually the 2nd generation Ford Focus (2004-2011) didn’t have significant transmission problems (and I can attest that our 09 hasn’t given me any transmission problems):
Perhaps because they had conventional automatics . . .
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It wasn’t a problem with technology. It has been tried by Volkswagen long before Ford. Ford knew the clutch was not up to the task during testing and chose to sweep it under the rug, betting that warranty claims would have been cheaper than redesign. This is a management problem
And I’m quite thankful that they did. I don’t have the space in our new house to drop a tranny out to overhaul it if something would happen to it. That conventional automatic, gas mileage, and the good track record that that generation Focus had was a big reason why I encouraged my wife (girlfriend then) to purchase it. We got a great deal on it too since it was the Focus the dealership used for test drives.
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I probably happen to buy a half-lemon back in 2000
the fact that particular drivetrain was the first model year after redesign should have warn me it’s a risky bet
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I’m not disputing that this turned out to be a management problem. I will say that it isn’t easy to determine when to let an issue slide and when to make a correction before manufacturing starts. One company that did correct all problems they were aware of was Saab. Their cars were over designed to make sure that problems of this nature occurred infrequently. When GM bought Saab, they saw a company that lost money. One of the reasons was this desire to provide bullet proof parts. GM tried to get Saab to use parts of lesser quality than the originals to save money. GM considered the parts acceptable and used them in their other vehicles. Saab refused, and ended up going out of business because of that decision.
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+1
This was true even when it came to things like the infotainment system and GPS!
The GM folks “ordered” SAAB to begin using the same in-dash electronic system that was used on Opels and Vauxhalls, and they assumed that their order would be obeyed. The next time that GM executives from The US visited Sweden, they were dismayed to see that new SAABs still had their own unique in-dash electronic systems, and they were… not pleased.
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