My 2009 2.5L Ford Escape with 6-speed automatic transmission recently received an update to the PCM because Ford said the transmissions were having issues with slipping. Although mine wasn’t having slipping issues, I took my car in for the update since it occasionally shifted hard. Since the update the hard shifts between 1st and 2nd gear has gotten worse, happening more frequently and are more pronounced. I took it into the dealership and they said they could not find the issue. After driving with them, they felt the hard shift but said that it was a good thing because it meant it wasn’t slipping however I find it hard to believe that having the entire car jerk as it slams into gear could be good for the car. Nonetheless the dealership said they could not do anything about it. Is the hard shifting really a good thing? If not what should I do?
Keep your copies of the shop orders.
With your owner’s manual you should have recieved contact information for problems and complaints not corrected by the dealer. Write a detailed letter of conplaint, followng that lead. Continue to document everything in detail.
The car should not slam into gear. And it’s the dealer’s responsibility to fix it under warranty. Your focus now needs to be on getting them to do it or creating sufficient documentationn to pursue the matter into a civil venue, like the lemon law or court.
Sincere best. Getting a dealer who does not want to fix a car to do so can be “trying”.
mountainbike’s advice is good and I would certainly follow it.
Just to clarify what the dealer is probably trying to say about the hard shifting being “good,” it does put less wear on the clutches inside of the transmission. Smooth shifts can only happen from slip in the transmission clutches. Every auto transmission has slip to it or they would all slam into gear. So actually, smoother shifts do put more wear on the clutches and generate more heat (a key killer of transmissions).
Of course, a well designed transmission is made to handle the normal slipping of smooth shifting for a very long time and many miles.
I’d guess that this transmission has a bad design problem - something that leads to premature slipping. At the moment it appears that their solution is to “update” the computer to increase the line pressures inside of the transmission. This will reduce wear on your clutches, make slipping less likely, and be felt by you as hard shifting. It will also, however, beat on the hard parts more and make you an unhappy driver. Its not good no matter how you slice it.