Fuel Injector Class Action Lawsuit Should Be Dismissed: Ford

Last November, The Blue Oval issued a recall for select 2021-2023 Ford Bronco Sport and 2020-2022 Ford Escape models equipped with the turbocharged 1.5L I-3 EcoBoost engine due to defective fuel injectors that may crack and leak fuel inside the engine compartment. However, this past February, a lawsuit was filed claiming that the fix for this issue – updating the engine control software to include fuel injector leak detection and installing a drain tube – is inadequate, particularly as a number of underhood fires have occurred in affected vehicles in recent months. Now, Ford is now claiming that this class action lawsuit should be dismissed altogether, according to Car Complaints.

The lawsuit – Letson, et al., v. Ford Motor Company – was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by plaintiffs represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and The Miller Law Firm PC. Meanwhile, after discovering that this problem wasn’t caused by caused by cracks at the edges of the oil separator housings as originally believed, Ford issued another recall in November that encompassed 520,000 vehicles, though it noted that only around one percent of them are believed to be affected by the fuel injector issue.

Ford is asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit altogether for a few reasons, including the fact that it was filed over an official recall overseen by federal regulators, arguing that it disclosed the risk of fire to owners, and notes that only a “small number of underhood fires” have occurred as a result of the defect.

“At bottom, this case is part of a misplaced trend of attempting to turn real-world automotive safety recalls into class action lawsuits by criticizing the proposed fix and alleging that manufacturers who disclose the risks to the safety regulator are engaged in fraud and deception,” the automaker said. “Ford learned of a risk, investigated the risk, disclosed the risk, and is addressing the risk.”

We’ll have more on this and all pending Ford lawsuits soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford lawsuit news and ongoing Ford news coverage.