Ford is being sued by hundreds of owners over reportedly defective lug nuts, Automotive News reports.
The suit, filed by law firm Hagens Berman on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that millions of lug nuts fitted to the Ford Fusion, Flex, Focus, Escape and F-350 can swell and delaminate.
If that happens, it can become difficult to remove the wheels without paying for expensive repairs and new lug nuts, the suit claims.
In a statement, managing partner of Hagens Berman, Steve Berman, said that Ford opted to design and develop lug nuts which look good to the eye but aren’t suitably strong.
“We’re not talking about breakthrough technology or computerized aspects of the auto world. We’re talking about possibly the simplest part of the car — the lug nuts. Ford chose to make its lug nuts with an inferior design that puts cosmetics ahead of safety and directly led to harm to consumers,” he says.
The suit has been signed by owners in Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Virginia, Illinois and Ohio and claims that Ford has violated 68 different federal and state acts.
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