US fraud prosecutors demand Ford Focus, Fiesta documents

Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press Published 2:51 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2019 | Updated 5:52 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2019

U.S. Department of Justice criminal fraud investigators have demanded documents related to the transmission used in about 2 million Ford Fiesta and Focus vehicles sold throughout this decade, the Free Press has learned.

The Free Press obtained a subpoena issued in April in Case No. 126 before a District of Columbia grand jury requesting “all documents, communications and electronically stored information” relating to the company’s actions involving the DPS6 PowerShift transmission dating to 2010. It asked for material that might show whether the company knew the transmissions were defective and couldn't be fixed or that it lied to federal safety regulators.

Ford spokesman Said Deep declined to say whether the company had received a subpoena.

"Ford routinely cooperates with all federal, state and local regulatory and other authorities and, as has long been a matter of public record, has in particular cooperated with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as to DPS6-related issues beginning in 2014," Deep said in a prepared statement. "Ford has taken a number of actions to enhance transmission performance and the experience of our customers including extending warranties for customers from five years/60,000 miles to seven years/100,000."

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