Ford Agrees to MyFord Touch Screen Defect Class Action Settlement

A class action settlement has been reached between Ford and a group of consumers who allege that the car company sold vehicles with defective touch screens.

Ford Motor Co. has agreed to pay up to $500 per Class consumer who would also receive a free software update for their MyFord Touch screens.

Under the Ford class action settlement, consumers are entitled to $100 if they had their touch screens repaired once, $300 if they had their touch screens repaired twice, and $500 if they had their touch screens repaired three or more times.

In addition to cash rewards, consumers will also receive a free software upgrade for their MyFord Touch screens.

If consumers choose to not take the cash reward, they can instead receive a $200 to $1,000 discount on a purchase of a new Ford or Lincoln vehicle. Similarly to the cash rewards, the discount amount is dependent on the number of times a consumer’s touch screen was repaired.

“Ford has acknowledged the imperfect nature of some of the MFT versions and has agreed to this Settlement Agreement,” the Ford settlement motion states. “The Settling Parties reached this Settlement Agreement after vigorous investigation and litigation of the claims, extensive trial preparation, and repeated follow-up conversations and exchanges of information, both mediated and direct.”

Consumers also seek approval for $22 million in court costs and attorneys’ fees. According to the Ford settlement motion, Ford has agreed to not oppose an award of court costs and attorneys’ fees up to that amount. The Ford class action settlement also grants $9,000 service awards to each Class representative.

“Ford will pay the attorneys’ fees and service awards separately from and in addition to the other consideration agreed in the settlement,” the Ford class action settlement motion states.

The MyFord Touch class action settlement follows five years of litigation and has been reached just in time to avoid a jury planned for this August. The consumers in the Ford class action are pleased with the results, according to the Ford settlement motion.

“Given the extensive pre-settlement discovery, litigation, and pre-trial preparation, plaintiffs’ counsel were well-situated to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of plaintiffs’ case,” the Ford settlement motion states. “Far from being the product of anything inappropriate, the settlement at issue is the result of hard-fought, adversarial work.”

The Ford settlement resolves numerous class action lawsuits against the automaker, brought under one consolidated litigation. Nine different Classes were certified in September 2016 by a California federal judge.

Earlier this year, Ford filed a motion for summary judgement which was denied by a federal judge. The automaker attempted to dismiss all claims against them, although only a few claims were dismissed.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Class Members are represented by Steve W. Berman, Catherine Y.N. Gannon, and Craig Spiegel of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP; Roland Tellis and Mark Pifko of Baron & Budd PC; Adam J. Levitt and John E. Tangren of DiCello Levitt & Casey LLC; and Nicholas E. Chimicles and Benjamin F. Johns of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP.

The MyFord Touch Screen Class Action Lawsuit is In re: MyFord Touch Consumer Litigation, Case No. 3:13-cv-03072-EMC, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Feb. 7, 2019, a revised $17 million proposed settlement offer is before a California federal judge that could end a Ford class action lawsuit over allegedly defective MyFord touch screens.

UPDATE 2: May 2019, the MyFord Touch class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.