Ford said it will also contact about 165,000 Focus and Fiesta owners to offer them a free software update. The update will provide enhanced warning if the transmission control module would fail to ...

Owners who have the update installed will also be eligible for free replacement modules, in the event they do fail, six months after the new 10-year, 150,000-mile warranty coverage expires.

Customers have mailed invoices to the Free Press reflecting recent charges for clutch repair and transmission control module repair despite the company's highly publicized announcement Aug. 14.