Back in June 2023, The Blue Oval recalled select 2019-2020 Ford Fusion Energi models over an issue with the battery energy control module (BECM), which could become become damaged due to excessive voltage and current flow, increasing the risk of a crash or fire. However, FoMoCo didn’t have a fix for that issue at the time, though it did launch a buyback program this past June, and announced an interim fix, which is to have a dealer disable plug-in charging until parts become available. Now, a class action lawsuit has been filed over this particular problem as well.
According to Car Complaints, this class action lawsuit – Zachary Christou v. Ford Motor Company, et al – was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by plaintiff Zachary Christou, who purchased a Ford Fusion Energi back in 2022 as a way to save on gas. However, the aforementioned recall instructed owners not to charge their vehicles until a fix was found, and as a result, the plaintiff claims that his expenses increased dramatically as a result.
The lawsuit states that “the negligent and dangerous design, manufacture and installation of the high-voltage battery energy control module in the 2019-2020 Ford Fusion PHEV vehicles” has thus far led to at least seven fires, and claims that Ford failed to properly warn owners of this risk. The automaker is allegedly responsible for ensuring that the vehicles involved in this recall are “fit for intended and/or reasonably foreseeable use.” As for the desired outcome, the plaintiff stated that Ford should be ordered to pay “general damages and special damages in the amount of $20,000,000.00; Punitive damages and/or aggregated damages in the amount of $1,000,000.00.”
In the meantime, Ford Fusion Energi owners are eligible to take advantage of a statutory refund of the vehicle’s purchase price via the automaker’s buyback program, less a reasonable allowance for depreciation. This amount is based on the fair market value of the vehicle, plus a 15 percent premium, and doesn’t include the cost of any modifications made to the vehicle after it was originally sold. Customers interested in taking advantage of this program have until July 1st, 2025, to do so, at which point Ford expects to have sufficient quantities of parts needed to complete final remedy repairs.
Comments
I have a 2014 Fusion Hybrid and I see this as a frivolus suit. The owner had plenty of time to order Ford to solve his issue, or return the Energi to the dealer and get a different model. The judge will not give him any money.
Lol, Ford owner… As in a Ford share holder? Ford deeply appreciates you polishing their boots.
I had one of the PHEV Fusions. My BECM failed twice in 4 years, both times while driving, imagine you are driving along and when your fusion tries to switch from battery to gas the check engine light comes on and you lose power in traffic… hardly frivolous.
Also the first time this happened Ford dealership took the car for 24 hours reset the battery… Said their were no error codes so they could not diagnose the issue and told me to come back if it happened again.
A year later same problem, thankfully this time the buyback program was in place and because this problem has effected me so severely Ford bought mine back at the price I paid for it 4 years before. I had to argue with them quite a bit though and produce the original proof of service for the first failure (you can find your cars dealer service history the myford portal).
Also there should be another class action for the modem… I bought mine with assurance my 2020 had a 3g modem, nope it was the 2g and Ford never produced full functionality I lost less than a year after purchase for this issue.
If you look on reddit there is a detailed buyback guide in the Fusion subreddit.