First Gear & Reverse

[Rich Marks]

Hi,

Just bough an Smax TDCi 2.0 Zetec (2007 model 56). When putting in 1st gear it vet easliy gets into reverse, without pulling up the reverse lever.

Keep lurching backwards when pulling away form the lights.

Local dealer (not who we bought it from!)says they cannot find a fault. They see it happenong when I show them, and expereince it themselves in my car, and admit it's happening, but say they cannot do anything. They just say I will need to be careful when I put it in 1st & start cautiously !!!

I would say this is a safety concern. Could easily lurch backwards into a car, or even worse a child !

Anyone else had this problem ?

(NB we are under Ford Protect warranty, but as the dealer says theres nothing wrong,and we must live with this, not sure what to do next)

[cookds]

We have exactly the same problem, glad to hear that it isn't just our imagination as the dealership wouldn't believe us for months. Finally had it happen to themselves in front of my wife when they went to move the the car from the carpark into the garage but still couldn't find a problem with it!!! This is our second S-Max, as the first had the same problem together with a whole host of others and after continual complaing by us and the car being in the garage all the time, the dealership actually swapped it for another!

We've just had to live with the problem for the last three years but it doesn't mean we're happy with the situation. Would be interested to hear how you get on

[Rich Marks]

Hi,

Eventually when I spoke to the dealer manager, he saw the problem & agreed this is a safety issue. They replaced the plastic housing for the gearbox (If you remove the leather cover around the gear lever (the square plastic frame just snaps out), then you can see the problem. The plastic frame flexes, allowing reverse gear to be selected)

They replaced this frame (and convinced the extended Ford warranty to cough-up)

Since then it seems OK.

I suspect that if the first gear is pushed hard over to the left (without plling the reverse bit up) , then over years the frame gets distorted.

Good luck

Rich

[andrewb99]

I have had the same problems with my s-max.

Took it to a dealer today and they said they had never heard of the fault.

Glad to hear I am not the only one with the problem, perhaps ford may realise there are problems with the plastic gate.