Ford facing recent class action lawsuits, recalls, supply chain issues

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Ford overview: 

• Who: Ford Motor Co. has dealt with class action lawsuits, a class action settlement, a recall, a price hike, supply chain woes and a lawsuit of its own in the past several months. 
• Why: The activity has revolved around claims of defective parts and supply chain shortages, among other things. 
• Where: Nationwide 

Over the past several months, Ford Motor Co. has dealt with class action lawsuits, a class action settlement, a recall, a price hike, supply chain woes and a lawsuit of its own. 

Ford faced claims earlier this month that it sold certain vehicles with defective water pumps that could suffer a sudden internal breakdown, leading to a “catastrophic” engine failure. 

The driver behind the class action lawsuit claims thousands of Ford vehicles manufactured with a Cyclone engine — which the automaker allegedly put in its vehicles from 2007 to at least 2020 — contain faulty internal water pumps. 

Ford is accused of knowing about the water pump defect issue for more than a decade but, rather than fixing or disclosing the issue, continued to sell affected vehicles while not having the issue covered under its warranty. 

“Not only does Ford represent that the water pump will not need to be serviced or maintained, but the internal location of the water pump in the engine conceals it from view and inspection when other routine service is being performed on the Class Vehicles,” the Ford class action states. 

Ford faced a separate class action lawsuit last month alleging it knowingly sold its Ford Super Duty pick-up truck with a defective roof that was prone to collapsing in the event of a rollover crash. 

The Ford Super Duty truck rollover class action lawsuit was filed only weeks after a jury in Georgia ruled Ford must pay $1.7 billion in punitive damages to the family of a married couple who were killed after their roof collapsed during an accident involving their 2002 F-250 Super Duty. 

“This catastrophic injury and death risk is the direct result of a design defect that was known to Ford and is still unremedied by Ford,” the Ford class action states. 

Ford recalls certain vehicles over cloudy camera lenses, faces shortage of badges, nameplates

Ford initiated a recall last month for certain model year 2017-2020 F-Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, and 2017-2020 Lincoln Continental vehicles over concerns their rearview cameras have cloudy lenses. 

“Degradation of the camera’s anti-reflective lens coating can lead to a foggy or cloudy rear view camera image,” the Ford recall says. 

The recalled rearview camera was introduced into production by Ford in November 2015 and subsequently removed from production in March 2020, according to the Ford recall. 

Also last month, Ford revealed it is facing a shortage of blue oval badges and nameplates the auto manufacturer affixes to almost all of its vehicles. 

The shortage reportedly is on account of a yearslong supply-chain issue affecting the availability of, among other things, parts such as semiconductor chips, wire harnesses and other raw materials. 

Ford reportedly said that the supply chain issues have forced it to delay shipment of between 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles to its dealers. 

Ford increases price of F-150 Lighting electric pickup trucks, Ford Canada agrees to pay $82 to end collusion claims 

In August, Ford announced it would be increasing the sale price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks by $7,000 — and by $8,500 for more highly equipped models — due to “significant material cost increases.”

The price bump increases the cost of Ford’s basic F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks from $40,000 to $47,000. 

Customers who had already pre-ordered a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck for purchase at the original price of $40,000 will not be affected by the price increase, according to the automaker. 

Also in August, Ford Canada agreed to pay $82 million in order to resolve claims it colluded with other automakers to block vehicle exporting. 

The class action settlement was made in order to benefit a California class of consumers who had either purchased or leased certain makes of vehicles, including Ford, Dodge, Chrysler and Infiniti, among others. 

Ford Canada had been accused of violating California’s Cartwright Act by allegedly working with General Motors, Volvo, Honda, Toyota and Nissan, among others, to keep new vehicles from being exported from Canada into the United States. 

Ford claims companies sold counterfeit parts, confusing customers

Ford filed a lawsuit of its own in August, meanwhile, against three American companies and one Chinese company it accused of manufacturing and selling counterfeit Ford parts. 

The automaker claims the companies — along with several unknown individuals — had been manufacturing and selling counterfeit Ford parts out of warehouses for as long as two years. 

Ford argues the alleged sale of the counterfeit parts has confused its customers and harmed both its business and its goodwill with consumers. 

Have you been affected by any of the legal actions surrounding Ford in the past several months? Let us know in the comments. 

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