After being slapped with Australia’s largest fine levied against a carmaker due to its defective PowerShift dual clutch transmission, Ford just got hit with yet another fine, this time in Thailand for the very same issue. A report from the Associated Press says a Thai court has ordered Ford to pay 291 customers a total of USD 720,000 (~ P 39 million).

Most of the in the class action suit will get payments of USD 800 (~P 43,400) to USD 8,000 (~ P 433,400) each depending on the number of times and length of time their cars took to be repaired. Twelve plaintiffs were denied compensation because their cars were modified before they were repaired.

Ford said in a statement, that it respected the court’s verdict.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the PowerShift transmission problems and we reiterate that we will work earnestly to take responsibility for fixing them according to our customer service procedures,” the company said in a statement.

Although the Bangkok South Civil Court’s decision was welcomed last Friday as a victory in a country where consumers rarely win compensation against big corporations, the group in the Thai lawsuit still isn’t happy. They are asking that Ford buy back the cars and sought 600 million Thai baht (~ P 1.003 billion) in damages. It’s unknown whether they will appeal the ruling.

In Thailand, Ford took the approach of extending the PowerShift’s warranty to 5 years. However, the general consensus is that owners are unsure of Ford’s future responsibility for repairs after the lapse of the warranty period.

In the Philippines, EcoSport, Fiesta, and Focus owners are reporting the same reliability issues with their PowerShift transmission. For its part, Ford Philippines has guaranteed to back up customers during the warranty period doing whatever they can. However, they’ve yet to issue any sort of official statement regarding the matter and have opted to stay silent.

Source: The Associated Press