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Hi Fellow Fusion Fans! Feeling bummed as I am in day 4 of a cheap, tiny loaner car in my driveway to which I not-so-lovingly refer to as my Granny car. My beloved 2011 Fusion Sport, automatic, which I leased new and then purchased last year, with only 45,00 miles to it, began having issues about 4 weeks ago. Although I always let it warm up a few minutes in cold weather (a good 10 mins on first morning start), I noticed some slippage in shifting from 1st to 2nd. The engine would rev, but wouldn't shift unless I let way off gas. That made pulling out onto a busy street rather difficult. Around this same time, I began getting a quick double screech (like you would get from a belt) only on the first cold start in the morning. That was soon followed by a tapping noise, seeming to come from near bell housing. (My son is a certified mechanic, that's how I know!) The tapping was a fast 5 taps, drum roll, 5 taps, drum roll....that's the only way I can describe it! All fluids had been checked and were good and no leaks. If you put it in gear, the noise stopped. As it warmed up, the noise got quieter until it could not be heard. Because we have no lift to use and the transmission is still under warranty, my son advised I get it into Ford asap. He wondered if maybe it could be a cracked flexplate but said it's difficult to tell. So I drop it off at night at my local Ford dealership, sharing everything I just shared with you. I repeatedly advised they must listen for noise at first morning start up. Well I felt as if I was being ignored for two days as I had to keep calling them and they were either out to lunch or in a meeting. Sure. Whenever I did get them on the phone, they supposedly have heard no noise. Ok, I'm done. I want my car back to go elsewhere. I arrive a rather unhappy customer to retrieve my car when the service mgr. got involved. We go outside to start it and low & behold! There's the noise! Loud as could be! Hmmmmmm........Didn't hear for 2 days?? They convinced me to let them keep it one more night and put their 'best' tech on it first thing in the morning. I reluctantly left in the crappy loaner as I was concerned about damaging the transmission if I drove mine. The manager called the next morning saying they THINK it's a cracked flexplate and will need to drop the transmission. No worries though. It's all under warranty. No worries?? Really? How does a flexplate just crack?? Do I have company out there somewhere? Has anyone heard of this at 45,000 miles?? I have always taken excellent care of my car. To the point where some might call me obsessed! I now have a fairly large car loan and feel it may never be the same car.