Ford Facing Class-Action Lawsuit For Allegedly Ineffective Hybrid Fire Recall

Hagens Berman initially dragged Ford and Lincoln to court for this issue in August last year, but the court granted Ford's motion to dismiss because it had already issued a recall with a proposed fix.

The first recall was issued on July 7, 2022, and the fix was to modify the under-engine shield and active grille shutter. A second recall was published on May 26, 2023. This time, Ford told owners to "shut off the engine as quickly as possible if they hear unexpected engine noises, notice a reduction in vehicle power, or see smoke." The later recall said owners would be notified once a remedy is available and that it was anticipated to happen in 2023.

"Multiple named plaintiffs in this case were lucky to escape their burning vehicles with their lives," said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman and the attorney leading the case. "Drivers are still reporting under-hood fires, and Ford itself has admitted that its supposed fix does nothing to mitigate the risk of catastrophic engine failure and fires. Assuming just 1% of vehicles with this engine are impacted by the defect, as Ford claims, that means there are over 1,250 ticking time bombs out there on the road today. People's lives are at stake."

The wording is aggressive, but that's how advocates get their big payouts. So what does Ford say about the whole thing?

Ford responded to aCarBuzzemail requesting comment thus: "As we indicated in our submission to the federal regulator, we expected the initial repair to be effective but continued to monitor the performance of the vehicles and reacted responsibly as facts developed. We've now learned that some customers continued to drive on the alternative hybrid electric system even after an engine block breach, and so we are notifying customers to park the vehicle if what's known as a 'block breach' occurs. Our team is working earnestly to resolve the issue and meet the needs of our customers."

That doesn't give us much clarity about when the issue will be resolved or why the initial fix was ineffective, and that's not a good look for Ford, especially given its current quality issues.

Ford had the most recalls所有制造商,2022年will likely claim this unfortunate anti-accolade again this year. It'salready leading the recall chartsafter the first half of 2023. In addition to this, nearly 900,000 F-150shave been recalled for a parking brakethat could trigger unintentionally. Over a million Ford Fusions and Lincoln MKZs were recalled for possible brake failure, not to mention the small but still concerning F-150 Lightning fire recall.

Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, is aware of the reputational damage being done to the company and has started implementing new quality control methods to improve overall build quality.

Even with these new methods, Farley has admitted that it willtake years to rectify the problem. Theoretically, Ford can fix the problem by investing in the right places. But it might take longer if Ford has to pay punitive damages to set an example for the entire automotive industry.