Hagens Berman has filed a class-action lawsuit that alleges Ford violated consumer protection laws by “selling cars equipped with faulty fuel injectors that can cause spontaneous fires and subsequently neglecting to implement an appropriate fix.”
The 266 page complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and it focuses on 2020-2023 Escapes as well as 2021-2023 Bronco Sports equipped with 1.5-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder engines. The vehicles were involved in a recall last year as there was a chance a fuel injector could crack and potentially lead to a fire.
As Ford explained last year, they received reports about under hood fires but their initial findings were inconclusive and complicated by an oil separator recall. As the automaker noted, “As of August 18, 2022, there were 36 total reports of under hood fire for 2020-2022MY 1.5L Bronco Sport and Escape [vehicles], approximately 10 of which had occurred after the oil separator production change and since FSA 22S21 (NHTSA Recall No. 22V-191) inspection was performed and passed.”
Also: Ford Recalling Over 500,000 Escapes And Bronco Sports For Fire Risk
Ford repurchased some of the vehicles and examined them. The fuel injectors were removed as part of this process and the “fuel injector supplier provided an analysis for four of the vehicles’ returned fuel injectors, finding one injector cracked from each of the vehicles.”
By November, there were 54 fires and four alleged injuries from two separate incidents. At the time, Ford estimated that besides the four confirmed cracked injectors, “approximately thirteen others were likely caused by a leaking fuel injector,” while another “three involved previous fuel system related repairs which may have been misdiagnosed and potentially involved a leaking fuel injector.”
That’s just a brief look at the chronology, but over 500,000 vehicles were recalled and the company is now being sued as the complaint alleges Ford knew or should have known about the defect. It also alleges the automaker “took steps to deliberately conceal it in order to make sales and, later on, avoid the cost and bad press associated with a recall.” It goes on to claim, “Even once Ford did issue a recall, it failed to provide its customers with any sort of meaningful redress, leaving them with vehicles that pose serious environmental and safety hazards.”
The lawsuit says Ford violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, conducted fraudulent concealment, benefited from unjust enrichment, and violated state consumer protection laws. It also says “Ford’s response to this severe defect was to issue a ‘fix’ which, rather than repairing or replacing faulty fuel injectors, creates additional safety risks by diverting leaked gasoline to the roadway beneath the vehicle or to the floors of owners’ garages, setting the stage for environmental issues, further injuries and property damage.”
That might be a little dramatic as Ford noted the recall will see the engine control software updated to detect a pressure drop in the fuel rail. If this occurs, owners will be notified by a warning message and engine power will be reduced to minimize the risk of a fire, while also giving them time to find a safe spot to stop the vehicle and call for service.
If the worst case scenario does indeed happen, a drain tube will send fuel away from the cylinder head and other hot surfaces in an attempt to avoid a fire. While the company isn’t replacing the injectors as part of the recall, their warranty has been extended for 15 years or 150,000 miles (241,401 km).
