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On June 12, a new sudden acceleration class action lawsuit against Ford Motor Company was filed in a West Virginia federal court.
The class action lawsuit alleges that Ford automobiles were subject to sudden acceleration and lacked safety mechanisms to prevent crashes. This lawsuit follows a similar suit that was filed on March 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
At issue in these class action lawsuits are Ford vehicles that were manufactured between 2002 and 2010. These vehicles were equipped with electronic throttle control, but did not have adequate safeguards to prevent incidents of sudden unintended acceleration.
According to the class action lawsuit: “[T]he Ford vehicles share a common design defect in that they lack adequate fail-safe systems, including a reliable Brake Over Accelerator system that would allow a driver to mitigate sudden unintended acceleration by depressing the brake.”
Putative members of the class action lawsuit include: “Each person who has owned or leased a Ford vehicle vulnerable to sudden unintended acceleration during the time period relevant to this action paid more for the Ford vehicle than they would have paid, or would not have purchased or leased the Ford vehicle altogether, because of the defective nature of the Ford vehicles resulting from the absence of a fail-safe such as a BOA to prevent sudden unintended acceleration events in each of them.”
There are currently 15 plaintiffs from 14 states named in the Ford acceleration class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff is Pamela D. Smith, who purchased a Ford F-150 pickup truck. She claims that she was informed by advertisements about the truck’s safety and reliability when she made the decision to purchase the F-150. Had she known about the potential for unintended acceleration and the lack of safeguards to prevent the problem, she would not have purchased the F-150, she claims.
The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit accuse Ford of concealing information about the risk of unintended acceleration that was associated with its vehicles. Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from the same time period are also included in the complaint.
This class action lawsuit is the second sudden acceleration lawsuit to be filed against Ford in recent months. On March 28, a similar class action lawsuit was filed in the West Virginia federal court (Belville v. Ford Motor Co.). Plaintiffs from both suits are seeking to have the two cases consolidated because both class action lawsuits make the same allegations against Ford. The plaintiffs claim that consolidating the actions will promote efficiency and reduce the burden on the plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the lawsuit. Many of the same attorneys are already combining efforts in these class action lawsuits.
Ford has not yet filed an answer to the class action lawsuit that was filed in March.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs include Niall A. Paul of Spillman Thomas & Battle; Guy Bucci, Timothy Bailey and Lee Javins of Bucci Bailey & Javins; Edgar F. Heiskell III and others.
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51 thoughts onNew Ford Unintended Acceleration Class Action Lawsuit Filed
I was backing up to a building basement staircase when my 2009 F-150 suddenly accelerated for about 20 feet with my foot on the brake. Luckily no one was injured but the truck sustained about $8,000 damage.
We have a 2004 Lincoln LS. It has been doing the unintended acceleration thing for a year now. When we take it in, nothing registers on the computer that anything happened. We’ll be stopped at a stop sign and it’s like someone pushes the pedal to the floor! My husband stands on the brake with both feet and it still will pull us out into traffic! VERY SCARY! When we went on vacation to Virginia, it happened and we actually hit someone! Luckily there was no damage. ..this time. Something needs to be done because we won’t always be lucky. SOMEONE COULD BE KILLED!!!!
2007 Ford Lariat. What I meant to say is that this last month, it has happened about 10 times and we are figuring that the Ford dealership will tell us we are hitting the brake and gas at the same time. We are not idiots.
2007 Ford F150 Lariat owned since 2010. Acceleration during braking first happened with me driving and my husband in passenger seat. At stoplight. Had already stopped and was on the brake. Suddenly, the gas surged and the truck jumped. I stomped on the brake harder or would have hit the vehicle in front of me. My husband thought I was crazy — until it happened to him. Over the years, it has happened infrequently, but this last month, we are very leery driving it. My husband tapped a light pole and our son-in-law who was riding with him freaked out. We are VERY aware of the likelihood and so are being really careful — also mindful of if we are hitting both the brake and accelerator at the same time. Definitely not! We are quickly putting it in neutral (engine continues to race) and then popping the accelerator pedal which has worked. We have not had to shut it off. We wish to join the lawsuit. We at least want the problem acknowledged and fixed by Ford at no charge. If there is a safeguard built in, the safeguard is broken.–Anne
2001 Ford Ranger XLT 3.0 sudden acceleration that scared the crap out of me. RPM went from 1.5 to 4 in an instant and did it multiple times in 24 hours. Parked the truck and borrowed a friends vehicle. Ford needs to get their act together on this before someone dies! I called Ford Motor Company and files a complaint and they said they will look into it. Not very confident but we will see I guess. Anyone else have luck through a different avenue?
2003 escape Unintended Acceleration during Cold weather
Car accelerates from stop on its own. Wife crashed thru parking lot barricade at airport. I couldnt stop car comming of freeway. Engine races like crazy. Very dangerous
Its in shop now they cant find problem. Ford said ice build up on throttle body.. cleaned that.. didnt work. New iac didnt solve issue
Disgusted with ford. Also new cable wasnt issue..Not driver error
Ford how many people have to get injured before you take this problem Serious?????
DEARBORN MICHIGAN
2006 ford focus just started doing this. how do we file a complaint
I own a 2009 Ford F-150 and on two different occasions this pickup truck accelerated on its own. First time this happened it was 41 months old and had a little over 51,000 miles on it. Ford is refusing to assist and they are not covering the 5 year , 60,000 mile powertrain warranty. Second time was in July 2013 and I had to place in neutral to disengage the powertrain. Each time it has happened the brakes offer no relief of this roaring engine. Each time it has happened after the engine is shut off and restarted the engine idles above 6000 rpm in Park. Counting each start up it has happened about 8 times total. Field engineer says the truck has a fail safe mode and it is not designed to do this. It has happened and they ( Ford dealership, engineers and office of general counsel ) have no plans to do anything about this.
I’ve owned my 2007 f150 for 4 months now. I was pulling out of the gas station and I went to apply the break. The truck started to accelerate, I had to put it in neutral and shut off the engine or I would have hit the car in front of me. It really upsets me to see so many people online saying they had the same issues.
May 4 2014 2010 ford fusion randomly accelerated then zero out all gauges. I drove to the nearest ford dealership where I was charged 200 to be told they couldn’t find the problem. Took off and it happened again. It has happened 3 times on the freeway since May. Very dangerous.