Ford Maverick Airbag Recall Shuts Down Class Action Lawsuit

Back in August 2022, FoMoCo issued a recall for select Ford Maverick pickups over a problem with the side curtain airbags as those particular units weren’t deploying properly. To rectify this issue, Ford instructed dealers to replace those airbags with new ones that feature a revised design, though a class-action lawsuit – John Solak v. Ford Motor Company – was later filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan claiming that these proposed repairs don’t actually fix the problem. However, a judge has now ruled in favor of the automaker in this particular case, according to Car Complaints.

The plaintiff in this case – John Solak – owns a 2022 Ford Maverick, but hasn’t experienced an airbag failure in his compact pickup. However, he claims that the side curtain airbags in the Maverick are defective, as they “allow for displacement of as much as approximately 112 millimeters,” according to the lawsuit, which exceeds the federal standards of 100 millimeters. Solak also argued that the government-approved repairs that are completed as part of the recall aren’t sufficient and don’t fix actually the problem.

Ford quickly filed a motion to dismiss the case, which was promptly shut down by Judge Bernard A. Friedman, who noted that its allegations “are sufficient to plausibly demonstrate that Solak and the putative class members suffered an injury-in-fact.” After Ford announced that it was recalling these pickups, the judge did change his opinion on the matter, however. “These remedial measures, coupled with NHTSA’s authority to ensure they are fully implemented, renders Solak’s claims prudentially moot,” he said.

“That position is difficult to fathom when Ford’s recall measures would remediate the very same ‘defect upon which’ the diminished-value injury claim[s] [are] based,” Freidman said in response to Solak’s argument that the recall doesn’t moot claims for potential monetary damages. “Instead, the speculation about the recall’s effectiveness raised ‘a hypothetical possibility that the plaintiffs’ vehicle was not adequately repaired’ – well short of a ‘cognizable danger.'”

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