Back in 2019, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Ford Motor Company over warped Ford F-150 dashboards in 2015-2019 pickups with XL and XLT trim. The plaintiffs in the case alleged that the dashboards in these F-150 trucks were defective and tend to prematurely bubble and warp around the defrost vents. However, the lawsuit has now been partially dismissed by a judge, which means that it will not move on to become a nationwide class-action suit, according to Car Complaints.
The ruling was issued by Judge Roy K. Altman, who, after hearing arguments from the plaintiffs and defendant, sided with Ford’s argument that it does not connect the claims of plaintiffs who live outside of Florida to that state in any way. Those plaintiffs had no connection to the state, as their trucks were allegedly defrauded and repaired outside of Florida. However, Judge Altman dismissed Ford’s argument that it was not given a chance to repair the plaintiffs’ vehicles.
A number of complaints regarding the warped Ford F-150 dashboards led to a special service message issued by the automaker in 2015, then a technical service bulletin in 2019. Under the latter action, Ford instructed dealers to replace the dashboard, but plaintiffs argue that the replacement part was also defective. Higher trim levels are reportedly unaffected by the problem, as they employ a higher-quality dashboard that isn’t susceptible to warping.
Despite dismissing part of the lawsuit, Judge Altman did let two claims against Ford stand – that the automaker violated both Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, as well as the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Thus, the lawsuit will continue, but without its non-Florida plaintiffs.
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Comments
I have a 2018 stx, and it’s dash is warped
I have a 2019 STX with a slightly warped dash, but I really don’t care.