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Dozens of Ford customers in 14 states have filed a class action lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. alleging its vehicles accelerate unintentionally and suddenly without any way to stop them.
The Ford acceleration class action lawsuit, filed Thursday in West Virginia federal court, takes aim at approximately 30 Ford models from 2002 to 2010 — including the Ford Mustang, Ford F-Series pickup trucks, Mercury Cougar, Lincoln Town Car and Ford Explorer — that contain an alleged design defect that allows the electronic throttle system in the cars to take control of the accelerator from the driver. Plaintiffs note that Ford installed a brake override system in cars manufactured after 2010, but did not install this safety measure in older Ford models.
Plaintiffs say Ford deliberately hid the issue from buyers and “could have and should have prevented dangers presented by these foreseeable incidents by including a [brake-override safety feature].” As a result, customers were not only put in danger but also bought and leased vehicles that aren’t worth as much as they paid, the class action lawsuit says.
The Ford class action lawsuit is reminiscent of those filed against Toyota after the Japanese automaker recalled millions of vehicles over reports of sudden, unintended acceleration. The cases were consolidated in 2010 and have slowly made their way through the court. In February, a federal judge preliminarily approved a $1 billion class action lawsuit settlement to compensate certain Toyota, Scion and Lexus owners and lessees affected by the vehicles’ defective electronic throttle control systems.
The Ford unintended acceleration claims are the latest blow for the company, which has battled several class action lawsuits over alleged engine defects. In January, six consumers filed a class action lawsuit claiming Ford knowingly sold certain 2005-2012 vehicles, including the Ford 150 and Lincoln Navigator, with engine defects that caused performance and safety issues. One month later, U.S. consumers who purchased or leased a model year 2003-2007 Ford vehicle equipped with a diesel engine received notices of a class action settlement resolving claims the engines are defective and plagued with problems.
Plaintiffs in the Ford Unintended Acceleration Class Action Lawsuit are seeking compensation from Ford for the loss of their vehicle value. The case is Belville v. Ford Motor Co., Case No. 12-cv-06529, U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia (Huntington.)
The Ford brand vehicles listed in the class action lawsuit are:
2005-2007 Five Hundred
2005-2009 Crown Victoria
2005-2010 Econoline
2007-2010 Edge
2009-2010 Escape and 2005-2010 Escape hybrid
2005-2010 Expedition
2004-2010 Explorer and 2007-2010 Explorer Sport Trac
2004-2010 F-Series
2009-2010 Flex
2008-2010 Focus
2005-2007 Freestyle
2006-2010 Fusion
2005-2010 Mustang
2008-2010 Taurus
2008-2009 Taurus X
2002-2005 Thunderbird
2010 Transit Connect
Ford Lincoln vehicles:
2003-2006 LS
2006-2008 Mark LT
2009-2010 MKS
2010 MKT
2007-2010 MKX
2006-2010 MKZ
2005-2009 Town Car
2006-2010 Zephyr
Ford Mercury vehicles:
2002-2005 Cougar (XR7)
2005-2009 Grand Marquis
2009-2010 Mariner and 2005-2010 Mariner hybrid
2006-2010 Milan
2005-2007 Montego
2004-2010 Mountaineer
2008-2010 Sable
UPDATE 1: A new Ford unintended acceleration class action lawsuit has been filed. Plaintiffs from both cases want the class actions combined.
Update 2: A federal judge refused to dismiss the Ford class action lawsuit on March 31, 2014, but did trim several claims.
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102 thoughts onFord Unintended Acceleration Class Action Lawsuit
There have been several lawsuits filed on behalf of Ford vehicle owners but I never receive any campaign letters to join the suits. I own a 2006 Ford 500 vehicle and it has a number of defects. I just cannot drive it. What attorney out there can help me to receive a full refund?
HI My dad was so proud he purchased a 2006 Lincoln Towncar. Unfortunately he passed 4 months after his purchase. I have had the accelerate 2 times and one of those times I almost went into a busy street. Now this has happened to my mom. We took it to a Lincoln Dealer and of course they could not duplicate the problem. So now what? I cant sell the car to someone knowing the car has this issue. Any help please!!! Thanks
I was backing out of my garage this morning. I pressed on the brake and the engine started to accelerate. I hurried up and put the engine in neutral and shut it off. When i started it back up everything was running normal again. Is there any way they can fix this problem before something bad does happen? If some let me know. Thanks
i have a ford edge 2010 and ihad that problem not too long ago. i took it to the mechanic to have it fix.
did you ever get an answer on your 1997? this just happened to my mom in a 97 taurus wagon, caused a serious accident
My daughter, Wendy, wrote about what happened to me. Her comment is the one from October 23, 2014. I am the Grandma that was picking up my two granddaughters in the school car line. I had my 2009 Lincoln Town Car (only 34,000 miles on it…….TOTALED!!) due to a terrifying unintended acceleration incident. My car felt like a jet engine take-off………from a dead stop to an
extreme high speed with no way to stop it. The brake did absolutely NOTHING! I had only seconds to react and there were little children and adult teachers and parents all around. My brain realized that I had to do whatever I could – I just was in a enormous shock mode………I prayed that I wouldn’t hit (or kill) one of those little children! I purposely aimed my car at at a tree right by the school parking lot
edge and crashed into it!! (Can you imagine that the only way to stop that car was hit a TREE??)
I KNOW that my Lord helped me that day (as well as all the people around). He definitely was my
co-pilot, and not a day goes by I don’t thank Him from the bottom of my wounded heart. This was also a very traumatic incident for my grandchildren to see – and it has affected them quite a bit.
I still feel very much in terror and shock. I truly do not know if I will ever be able to drive any car again. My family encourages me to do it as soon as I can……..but I panic just thinking about getting behind the wheel! I do want to keep my independence though – and I keep telling myself that I can’t
give up driving.
I want to join your class action suit to help make sure that ultimately Ford will take responsibility and fix this problem so no one else gets killed or injured due to their design flaws. I have been driving for 54 years without any accidents or mishaps. (Always had the “safe driver” designation on my insurance and driver’s license.) I know car companies like to blame “driver error” on these kinds of things – or use a person’s “age” against them………..but they should not try that on me!!!!! If they claim there is nothing wrong with these cars in the lawsuits, then WHY did they develop some kind of part for a brake override system or something that I heard about? Ford started using it on 2011 Lincolns or
newer. What are all the people who have older Lincolns supposed to do? Drive in fear PLUS lose the
value of their expensive cars? Ford NEVER gave a notice or told any of us about the potential problem of unintended and unexpected acceleration. My 2009 Lincoln Town Car with 34,000 on it certainly was valuable to me, and I sure didn’t consider it old!!
My mother has a 2008 Ford Focus and yesterday as she pulled into her parking spot the car accelerated on its own and crashed into a building. Good thing, other than a bruises/soreness, everyone is ok. Needless to say I’d like information regarding the suit please.
Hi, please tell me how I can get involved in this lawsuit. I have a 2008 F 150 and I have had unexpected acceleration happen to my daughter and I a few times. We are just fortunate that we were not in a major accident yet. It has really scared us! Thank you! And we do not know how to stop my truck from doing this.
My mom owns a 2009 Lincoln Towncar. Just last Friday this happened to her in the car line at my daughters’ school. She was parked as the first car in car line, as she had gotten there early. She has been through this Carline many times over the years, starting with her first grandchild who is now 18. This was nothing new to her, and she has never been in an accident before. When car line started, she turned on her car put it into gear and started slowly around the corner, turning right. The car suddenly accelerated to a high rate of speed and she was unable to stop it with the break. She steered it into a tree on purpose. There were over 100 kids out there waiting to get picked up. There are NO WORDS as to how tragic this could have been. My daughters witnessed their grandma’s crash. My mom had to be moved from our local ER to the level one trauma center at ORMC in Orlando due to effusion around her heart. Luckily she had no broken bones, she will get an echocardiogram in a month to check on the effusion.
I have a 2008 Ford Taurus X (150,000 km). On 5 separate occasions, the accelerator has stuck on while driving at highway speeds, usually when I’ve been passing other vehicles. On one of the occasions, the accelerator stuck on while accelerating in “cruise mode” travelling up an incline. Hitting the brakes did not help – I had to kick the accelerator pedal to get it to release. I took it to the dealer and, of course, they told me that most likely my floor mats on the gas pedal and charged me $40 for the advice (Thanks Ford).
I now drive with my hand on the shifter (to push into neutral in case it does so again). I cannot, in good conscience, sell the car and have someone who is unaware of the issue potentially be injured or killed, so I am stuck with it.