Lawsuit Claims Ford Falsified Pickup Fuel Economy Tests, Seeks $1.2 Billion

A lawsuit against Ford has been filed, seeking $1.2 billion in damages because the car manufacturer allegedly falsified fuel economy tests.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, covers those who own or lease a 2018-2019 Ford F-150 or 2019 Ford Ranger and says that owners could be paying an extra $,2000 on fuel as the vehicles aren’t as fuel-efficient as Ford claims.

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Earlier this year, Dearborn admitted its employees had raised concerns about the way the company calculated road loads used to provide the Environmental Protection Agency with vehicle miles per gallon ranges. Ford said it would commence an internal investigation into whether its vehicles have worse gas mileage and emit more pollutants than claimed.

In addition, the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into Ford’s testing processes for the 2019 Ranger in April. This probe focuses on the brand’s road-load estimates and includes analytical and coastdown procedures used to determine EPA fuel-efficiency figures.

According to the lawsuit, plaintiffs conducted tests using EPA-mandated coastdown procedures and found that Ford overstated the fuel economy for the F-150 by 15 per cent on the highway and 10 per cent in the city. It is claimed that, if the lifetime of a truck is about 150,000 miles, city driving would consume an extra 821 gallons over time and an extra $2,290 in fuel costs, a figure that rises to $2,700 in highway driving.

The plaintiffs are seeking to recover damages and wants to get an injunction to stop Ford’s design, manufacture, marketing, sales, and lease of the pickup truck models in question.