A record fine in Australia. A rare victory for customers in Thailand. Now, former Ford CEO Mark Fields has been ordered to testify confirming what consumers actually know: Ford’s dual-clutch PowerShift is problematic.

Fields is set to testify in a series of cases involving customers who opted out of the class-action lawsuit that complained about Ford’s problematic dual clutch transmission and its propensity to shudder, jerk, and hesitate. The suits have since been combined into a federal case in California where Fields has been ordered to appear in court by July 31.

At the time the dual clutch transmission was introduced, Fields was Ford’s president of the Americas and his disposition is critical in confirming that Ford’s executives at the highest level knew of the problems with the transmissions, intentionally concealed that information, and sold the vehicles to the public anyway.

If Fields confirms that he has knowledge that the company intentionally hid the PowerShift problem, they could face the largest lawsuit against the problematic gearbox and could be hit with a potential USD 4 billion (~ P 208 billion) liability.