Case updates: On March 23, 2023, the case was transferred to the Eastern District of Michigan and assigned to Judge F. Kay Behm
On March 28, 2023, Judge Behm issued an order consolidating the case with two related actions and renamed the case In re Ford Super Duty Roof-Crush Litigation, No. 4:22-cv-12079.
On April 27, 2023, FeganScott and Co-Counsel filed a 260-page consolidated complaint. Ford has moved to dismiss the complaint. The court has yet to rule on the motion.
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On October 6, 2023, a consumer filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) claiming the automobile manufacturer knowingly sold over five million trucks possessing a safety defect that creates a serious risk of physical injury and death to passengers.
The suit asserts that Ford Super Duty trucks manufactured between 1999 and 2016 have a dangerously weak roof design that can lead to collapse, causing grave injuries in the event of a rollover accident. The vehicles included in the suit include Ford F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 vehicles.
According to the complaint filed in federal court in Illinois, Ford was aware of the safety defects, driven by a decision to increase profits by degrading the structural capacity without conducting any safety testing.
The complaint notes that while a manufacturer has a legal obligation to warn the public of safety defects, Ford ignored this obligation and instead continued to sell more than 5.2 million vehicles over the course of two decades. Indeed, Ford continues to deny the existence of the defect and has not warned passengers of its risks.
“Ford has marketed themselves as the vanguard of automobile safety, claiming to put the well-being of its passengers as its first priority,” said Elizabeth Fegan, managing partner of FeganScott, the consumer-rights law firm filing the case. “Ford’s decision to wring every dollar of profit from these vehicles at the expense of safety shows how spurious their claims of safety truly are.”
The suit contends that while Ford was aware of the defect for years, the company refused to take proactive steps to address the issue until 2022, when a lawsuit brought the issue to light. In that case, a jury found the defect responsible for the death of two passengers killed after the roof of their 2002 F-250 collapsed in a rollover accident.
Drivers of the affected vehicles are encouraged to send their contact information to autosafety@feganscott.com to learn more about their rights.