Apart from needing a new alternator and new drivers seat rear bar replaced I've had 5 years good motoring. and probably would not have added to this forum until this happened ...

...2 weeks ago our C-Max suffered a major gearbox failure. Fault known, by Ford, yet they deny responsibility – Last week while my wife was driving along our road in our car then came to a dramatic halt (no warning whatsoever – no dash board lights came on, nothing). It was as if she had hit something, but had not. A loud bang was heard under the bonnet (as if a pipe had been pierced) and then lots of gear box oil poured out from under the car. She rang the AA and one of there Contractors towed us to the nearest independent garage for further investigation.

At this point alone I’d like to consider this – It was very fortunate that my wife was only doing around 10 MPH along our road. ‘If’ she had been on a busy fast road no doubt serious casualties or fatalities would have been inevitable, either from impact in to our car from vehicles behind or vehicles slipping on oil.

The independent garage stripped removed the gear box and diagnostically various checks indicated the gearbox was beyond repair. The mechanic then attempted to source a new gear box and torque convertor for our vehicle and was told that the auto gearbox I would need is no longer manufactured. Indeed, various independent gearbox specialists told the mechanic the same story. The 5-drive CVT gearbox for my type of car was no longer made and were deemed unreliable. The outcome would be this: I would have to have the 5-drive CVT gearbox 'custom made' taking between 3 weeks – “3 months” and then delivered for fitting. Costs for the gearbox alone would amount to between £1,600.00 – £1,675 (depending if I went along the independent route or ordered from Ford direct). It appears from further online investigation that I am one of many people who’s FORD CMAX Auto gets to around 50,000 miles and then this same incident occurs. Both the Ford Owners Club website and Face book now have specific forums to do with the known faulty 5-drive gearbox in Ford C-Max cars.

One particular gear box specialist has heard this same story time and time again. He is seeing, on average two Ford CMAX owners approaching him for advice ‘every week’. Currently, he has a C-Max on his forecourt, while the owner is pursuing small claims for compensation, as yet 2 months on, no joy!

Ford Customer Services position is that they take NO responsibility and gave me a premium rate technical support phone number (no use to me unless I wanted to pay and order the custom made gearbox) They then said I should also ring my local dealer to discuss further. Ford wouldn't admit any issues with the 5-drive gearbox (CVT 5-drive gearbox – code CFT23 / Ford order number: 1534835) even though, looking at many other C-Max owners stories and Ford's own history of the evolution of the C-Max they deny any obvious incompetent performance history. It is interesting to discover that the 5-drive gearbox in recent years was replaced by a 4-drive model. (which I could buy in a new CMAX from any forecourt up and down the UK today). The 4-drive gearbox and chassis were recently modified so I can’t simply order potentially a more reliable 4-drive CVT gearbox for my CMAX.

Frustratingly, the danger with ordering up a custom made 5-drive CVT gearbox (as I currently have) is that maybe 10–30.000 miles down the line my wife (and family) may experience another
catastrophic gearbox failure and I’m not prepared to take this risk or LOSS OF LIFE.

MY OPTIONS
Currently my option are ‘really’ limited:
What I can’t do:
(1) I can’t sell my car for much without a gear box or torque convertor ... Possibly to a
salvage yard for spares or sc***. But it is very unlikely there will be a demand!
(2) I can’t install a reconditioned gearbox because they don’t exist
(3) I can’t swap my 1.6L gearbox with a 2L one (won’t fit and uses a different Powertrain (PCM)
(4) I can’t take an auto gearbox from Ford’s Cousins like the standard Focus (it won’t fit)

What I could do:
(5) I could get the 5-drive gearbox custom made (the only one that will fit my vehicle) but I could have to wait “3 months” AND would forever fear the risk of another catastrophic gearbox failure and resulting loss of life.

Also. the value of my 5 year old car if it was in good order would be around £4.000. Yet, if I fit this custom made gearbox any experienced mechanic at any garage will know what I’d done and offer me very little for the car. (I would have to be honest anyway! ... I don’t want
anyone’s innocent blood on my hands!)

I’m simply disgusted to have been told on the phone by FORD that a car (which I bought new in 2006 with less than 50.000 miles on the clock may well only last 5 years anyway, “it’s just life!” I did not have an extended warranty for parts beyond 3 years and this, FORD say does not do me any favour's now, even though I have my car regularly serviced and maintained.

I want the truth to be told and alert ‘anyone’ out there of the potentially lethal implications that could also result from a serious gearbox incident as we have experienced. I would also be interested to know if the modified 4-drive CVT auto gear box is up to scratch either? If it isn’t, vehicle recall 'should' be a priority.

Apparently the production history of the 5-drive gear box has been fraught with problems:

FORD went in to partnership with an American company that didn’t work out, they then opened up a factory in Mexico which has since gone bust. And now, I understand that a factory has been set up in Turkey which can supply component parts for the 5-drive CVT auto gearbox (CFT23) and the gear box itself and these are beginning to filter through.

In other words FORD (or, whoever they sold the franchise to) are now making money off the back of a lot of unhappy FORD?CMAX owners. Costs are still around £3,000.00 to get an Auto 5-Drive CVT gearbox custom made (torque convertor comes with the gear box) NB. Labour included in this estimate.

The crazy thing is that simply churning out the older 5-drive gearbox model known for being faulty does not sound like a cure to me, it's a short-term expensive remedy that could lead to fatalities.

Watchdog have noted my concerns and will follow up if more disgruntled C-Max owners do write in too. My single-minded issue is the safety of motorists. Compensation is of course needed of the current value of each C-Max owner 'before' their gearboxes went belly-up. I am awaiting a formal reply from Ford.