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Ford Authority

Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator Owners Sue Over Engine Fire Risk

Last month, select 2021 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator models were recalled for underhood fires that have affected a total of 16 vehicles thus far. Ford began investigating the matter back in March but has yet to determine what’s causing these fires, and has asked owners to park their vehicles outside and away from structures for the time being. However, three owners have now filed a class-action lawsuit against the automaker claiming that it knowingly sold Ford Expedition and Lincoln Aviator models with this defect and that there is no fix, according to the Detroit Free Press.

According to the lawsuit, these vehicles “were dangerously defective and prone to catching fire, including while driving, while parked but (turned) on, and while parked and (turned) off. Then, though Ford knew or should have known of the fire risk prior to launching the vehicles, it did nothing to warn owners and lessees until very recently.”

The issue is believed to affect 39,013 vehicles in total – 32,711 Expeditions and 6,302 Lincoln Navigators built between Dec. 1st, 2020, and Apr. 30th, 2021. However, Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman Sobol and Shapiro – which is representing the class – is looking into whether or not this problem also affects model year vehicles other than 2021.

“The fire risk exposes vehicle owners, passengers, other drivers on the road and neighbors to an unreasonable risk of accident, injury, death, or property damage if the vehicle catches fire while in operation or, perhaps more commonly, spontaneously ignites while the vehicle is parked at home, on a public street, or in a public parking lot,” the firm said. “Catastrophic fire risk is the direct result of a defect that was known or should have been known to Ford and the company misrepresented the vehicles’ safety, reliability, functionality, and quality by this omission. To date, there have been 16 fires in a vehicle population of just 39,000, a number that Ford acknowledges is statistically significant.”

“We are absolutely committed to addressing potential vehicle issues and responding quickly for our customers,” said Ford spokesperson Said Deep. “We proactively monitor all potential customer concerns in the field. More than ever, we are looking at all sources of information, including connected vehicle data to identify potential concerns so we can resolve them even sooner for our customers. For our customers who are concerned, our safety team has been working around the clock to determine a repair. If a customer has unique circumstances and is unable to park outside away from structures (such as a high-rise condo with attached parking garage) they should contact their dealer, Ford Customer Relationship Center, or Lincoln Concierge.”

We’ll have more on this and all Ford lawsuits soon, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford lawsuit news, Ford Expedition news, Lincoln news, Lincoln Navigator news, and 24/7 Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. FORD has gone from somewhat hopeless to no hope at all. BEV’s are supposed to be the next big revolution for FORD? I shudder to think of the problems and this is only the beginning. Grab a big bag of popcorn and some beer. It’s gonna be interesting.

    Reply
  2. WOW! Another safety issue at Ford. I’d be pretty po’d if I were a stockholder. How many issues this year alone…so far? Seems like every week something new.

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  3. Is this the new Chevy bolt?

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  4. FORD=Fouled Operations Really Disgusting.

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  5. This lawsuit will eventually have more plaintiffs which will only hurt future sales these overpriced SUVs and will eventually make them unprofitable. So far in 2022 Expedition sales are 16,154 units down 59.67% from 2021, while Navigator sales total only 4,251 units, down 46.82% from 2021.

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  6. I am a owner of a Ford expedition 1998 Eddie Bowers I’ve had a lot of electrical problems with my vehicle I boned it for 9 years now I’ve had nothing but work done on it ever since I’ve had it I am very concerned about my safety of being in my vehicle at this time I have no other vehicle that I can drive I’m on a fixed income and I have a Lila health issues I can’t be without a vehicle I am very worried about having anybody in my vehicle so the majority of the time is just me going back and forth to my doctors doing grocery shopping and coming home I am very concerned of my vehicle catching on fire staying in park I’ve had it fixed many a times to wear that it was rolling back even with it being parked in in the park position I have a hard time getting my gear shift to go down and to go up and a lot of times I don’t want to start because I have to bring the gear shift down and take it back up into park and then start started starting it so if anybody can please help me with this issue that I’m having with my Ford expedition I’ve had it for almost 9 years now it will be 9 years since September but I am very concerned of the issue with my problems that I’m having with all the electrical problems I can put my window up and on the driver side and the back window behind me will go down I go to put the window back up behind me and my window goes down on the driver side a lot of the locks will not unlock from the power like inside I have a hard time getting my doors to open up so if somebody can please contact me and give me some information on this and I’ve had to replace the engine also in it when I should not have because it wasn’t that much mileage on my engine but I’ve been having a very hard time with my vehicle so please if anybody can contact me a lawyer or anybody with this lawsuit can you please contact me I will leave my name and my email address thank you very much have a blessed day Tammy D.Burcham

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  7. We just finished a road trip in our ‘21 Platinum which is under the list of affected vehicles, no issues with anything so far, fingers crossed it stays that way.

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  8. Six months with my hybrid Maverick and thankfully zero issues. Love it, and I say that as someone who normally doesn’t even buy Detroit vehicles (Honda-only in the past). Hope it stays that way, but the Detroit 3 don’t exactly have a great track record for this stuff (looking at the last month of recalls, all of the Detroit 3 had them), and it’s disturbing that Ford cannot identify exactly what is causing the problem.

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  9. I have a question, I have a 21 Navigator L BL. When I bought it June 2021, I was told that the Navigator had the Raptor’s 3.5 and not the Expedition’s 3.5. Does the Raptor have the same fire issue recall?

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  10. I RENCENTLY BOUGHT Ford Edge 2022 an expensive price of 49,9999. Dealer price at Puerto Rico. My issue is at this price didn’t came with memory position seat, Gas Economy etc. And why the dealer adds or ups price as a dealer feeds due to the economy status

    Reply

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