Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
As with all relationships, business partnerships can sometimes turn out to be more trouble than they are worth. Such was apparently the case in the relationship between Ford Motor Co. and Navistar. Beginning in 1994, Ford had Navistar build every Power Stroke engine used in Ford’s F-Series. However, the diesel engines produced by Navistar resulted in dozens of class action consumer lawsuits against Ford for cars it sold with allegedly defective engines.
Ford has now agreed to settle the lawsuits outside of court, which include all of the 2003-2007 Super Duty pickups and E-series vans sold by the car company. At the center of the lawsuit is the diesel 6-liter V-8 engine which allegedly had multiple problems with the fuel system, turbochargers, and other major components. The settlement covers any consumer in the United States who purchased or leased any 2003-2007 Ford vehicle which was equipped with a 6-liter Power Stroke diesel engine and had to replace, repair, or adjust the vehicle’s exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler and EGR valve, oil cooler, fuel injectors, or turbocharger before the vehicle reached 135,000 miles or six years of age.
The settlement will reportedly cover half of the full value of all of the claims made by class members in addition to $150,000, which the car company will pay to the 16 named plaintiffs of the case. The total amount of the settlement will depend upon the number of potential class members who decide to file a claim. Each component of the diesel engine has a reimbursement limit. If a class member paid at least a $100 deductible multiple times for repairs under the five-year/100,000 mile engine warranty, Ford will reimburse the consumer $50 for each deductible paid, beginning with the second deductible and going through the fifth. They will pay up to $200 covering no more than four deductible payments. All told, each consumer will be able to claim between $50 and $825 in reimbursements for repairs to their engine and engine components as a result of this settlement.
Despite the long relationship between Ford and Navistar, poor engine quality, high repair costs, and lower customer satisfaction led to the demise of that relationship. Beginning in 2010, Ford replaced the Navistar diesel engine with a new 6.7 liter diesel V-8 which the company designs itself.
Some of the failures of the Navistar 6-liter diesel engines were so severe that Ford was forced to replace entire engines. Ford also had to issue recalls which resulted in the company buying back hundreds of trucks with engines that required extensive and costly repairs. Due to all of these problems, the relationship between Ford and Navistar grew to be more costly to Ford than beneficial. They dramatically increased the warranty costs on Ford vehicles and resulted in litigation with Navistar. However, Navistar was eventually removed from the class action lawsuit which Ford has recently agreed to settle. This leaves Ford with the full burden of costs of the class action lawsuit. Because consumers grouped together in a class action they were finally able to achieve some damages for their defective trucks.
Our Chicago autofraud and Lemon law attorneys near Schaumburg and Elgin bring individual and class actions suits for defective cars with common design defects and auto dealer fraud and other car dealer scams such as selling rebuilt wrecks as certified used cars or misrepresenting a car as being in good condition when it is rebuilt wreck or had the odometer rolled back. Super Lawyers has selected our DuPage, Kane and Cook County auto-fraud, car dealer fraud and lemon law lawyers as among the top 5% in Illinois. We only collect our fee if we win or settle your case. For a free consultation call our Chicago class action lawyers with offices near Wheaton at our toll free number 630-333-0333 or contact us on the web by clicking here.