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Second Ford C-Max, Fusion Hybrid Class Action Lawsuit Filed
By Matt O’Donnell
Looks like Honda, Hyundai and Kia aren’t the only automakers in hot water for exaggerating the fuel efficiency of their vehicles. A new class action lawsuit claims Ford made false and misleading marketing claims about how many miles per gallon the 2013 Ford C-Max and Fusion hybrid vehicles obtain.
Lead plaintiff Richard Pitkin alleges in the Ford fuel economy class action lawsuit that the purchased a C-Max Hybrid in October and only averaged 37 mpg – significantly lower than the EPA rating of 47 mpg.
“In its advertising and marketing campaign for the vehicles, Ford claimed that the C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid achieved a class leading 47 Miles Per Gallon,” the class action lawsuit says. “These materials helped Ford achieve record sales for the first two months of C-MAX Hybrid sales, outselling its rival, hybrid sales leader Toyota, but there was a problem. These ads were false.”
The Environmental Protection Agency announced in December it would review Ford’s fuel efficiency claims after Consumer Reports found the C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid fell significantly short of the EPA window sticker rating.
According to Consumer Reports, the Ford C-MAX obtained 37 mpg overall with 35 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway. Similar findings with the Fusion Hybrid found that the vehicle achieve 39 mpg in testing overall.
“These two vehicles have the largest discrepancy between our overall-mpg results and the estimates published by the EPA that we’ve seen among any current models,” Consumer Reports said in a statement.
Discrepancies between EPA window stickers and the actual fuel efficiency that drivers achieve have fueled a number of class action lawsuits in recent months. The Honda Civic Hybrid, Hyundai Elantra and a numerous Hyundai and Kia vehicles have been targeted by consumers who say the vehicles fell short of advertised mpg ratings.
A recent EPA investigation into Hyundai and Kia EPA ratings revealed 35% of their 2011-2013 vehicles had inflated fuel efficiency ratings.
The Ford Hybrid Fuel Efficiency Class Action Lawsuit is seeking punitive damages, including reimbursement for the purchase price of the Ford C-Max hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid.
The case is Richard Pitkin v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. 12-cv-2973, U.S. District Court, California Eastern District Court, Sacramento.
Updated June 14th, 2013
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
51 thoughts onFord C-Max, Fusion Hybrid MPG Class Action Lawsuit
I too would like information on how to join the suit. I bought a C Max in November of 2012. I fall significantly short of the claimed 47mpg. I average about 35mpg. I bought this vehicle over others because of the mpg. Complete false advertisement! Ive filed a complaint with Ford customer service but I doubt anything will come of that. I am a working single mother. I cannot afford to waste my money on something I didn’t get.
2 CMAX SE&SEL 10K MILEAGE BETWEEN neither have gotten over 37.4 had a Prius for 105K averaged 44
hhhmmm it was 2005
Mpgfraud.com
To join the suit
We also bought a ’13 Fusion Hybrid, right at about 33 mpg, ridiculous. Bought it in November ’12, the very first one in our area. SOOOOO excited, still dig the car but SOOOO feeling like we were duped!! 47mpg was the deal clincher after looking at all models and I honestly probably would have got the Sonata if I knew Ford was gonna mislead me with 47 MPG, I could live with low 40s even, but only one conclusion can be made after hearing from other owners, FORD LIED. They need to make it right!!!
Same story as all of the above. Bought my C-Max despite being given the opportunity to get a used rebuilt Prius that would get 50mpg on the highway because I liked the design and wanted to buy American. I have gone back to the service and sales folks who give me the 5 to 10000 mile break in story or the cold weather story. We live in California with great weather and I am almost at 5000 with no trend upward from about 35mpg overall. I did drive it for about 5 miles in Half Moon Bay once without signals on a flat area about 35 mph and got approximately 45 mpg for that period but after I got home I was back to less than 40mpg. I have also had problems with my clock that the service department tells us they have not found a fix for and the problem exists in other C-Maxs
Hopefully the law suit will reduce the cost of this vehicle to what it would cost us to buy a non-ford Hybrid and refund us the difference.
Baught a new c-maz last tuesday the 4th of feb 2013 and upon hearing about the law suit contacted my dealer. With only 400 miles on th car and only getting 34 MPG i requested that they just take the car back and give me my old car back. I was told it is now a used car and they would have to sell it as such. I have been told they will check with their ford rep and get back to me?
Does anyone know how to join the C MAX lawsuit? I too have a hard time getting 32mpg, even driving 68mph with the high grade fuel.
How do we join the suit? We too bought a 2013 C-Max hybrid on 6 October 2012, based on the same research, advertisements and claims Ford made, and as stated in the class action suit, which I only saw in a NYT article yesterday. We wanted to buy American, too. Not only does it average 38.2 mpg after 2600+ miles (I am an experienced 2010 Prius driver with a light foot, the Prius on the same commuter route consistently gets 50+ mpg), the most recent tank of gas in the C Max was 35.8 mpg. We asked the dealer when we picked it up if it had a breaking in period, and he said NO. Our other major source of frustration is that we have had huge problems with the Navigation equipment not working (it will not display traffic conditions, weather, fuel prices etc on the map display, traffic is ESSENTIAL for commuting. This works fine in our Prius, by the way, not so in the Ford, so there is no satellite signal issue in this region to explain it). We took it back 3 times to the dealer to be fixed, they replaced a part, they reset it and they could not fix it, claiming we just need to wait for a software update, which has dragged on for over 3 months now, beyond the 30 days to return the car of course. We first alerted them to the problem on 15 October, they could not fix it then, and have been back every month to see if they can fix it. There is one other CMAX owner who bought from the same dealer with the same problems they are trying to appease, I have the VIN of his/her car but not his/her name on correspondence Ford shared with me about their service hotline attempts. They passed us to Ford HQ customer care, so we are now involved with the national company, not the dealer, who has not called us back as promised after the first 2 phone discussions this month. This does fall under the Lemon Laws of our state, so we will ask for our money back. We have tried in good faith to get them to fix the car, and they obviously cannot or will not.
With 2000+ miles, my CMAX came with two manufacturing defects, 111 unexplained miles between purchase and delivery and 34.3 average mpg with cruise control and light foot driving. These low numbers were confirmed by 138 cars with 216,150 miles ranging from 31 mpg to 47 mpg on fuelly.com. None of the CMAX owners reported over 47 mpg as the Ford spokesperson claimed. Polite letter to the Black Belt Fly Fisherman U-MI Hon JD ExChair Clay Ford Jr went unanswered. You would think a $136 B 110 year-old company losing market share since the 70s would know or behave better…
this p.o.s. idles at