Tag Archives: Law and Order

Judge Approves Class Action Suit Against Ford Mustang

<img data-attachment-id="1333386" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/04/the-votes-are-in-here-are-your-choices-for-best-automobiles-of-2016-along-with-your-nomination-comments/the-all-new-shelby-gt350-mustang/" data-orig-file="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ShelbyGT350_01_HR-e1490279718500.jpg" data-orig-size="1503,949" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"61014784","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark III","caption":"The All-new Shelby GT350 Mustang in Oxford White with a Sonic Blue stripe.","created_timestamp":"","copyright":"","focal_length":"1\/0","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.85708959359517","title":"The All-new Shelby GT350 Mustang","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Mustang" data-image-description="

Image: Ford

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Ford has been getting into trouble over “track-ready” Mustangs after a few customers formally accused the company of erroneous marketing in 2017. A class-action lawsuit was even filed in March of that year, stating that the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 suffered from overheating problems that precluded it from being fully functional on a racetrack — specifically early examples of the car equipped with either the Technology Package or left in the base configuration.

Earlier this month, Federal Judge Federico A. Moreno certified statutory and common law fraud classes pertaining to the model in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Washington State. Additional approvals relating specifically to statutory fraud and/or implied warranty claims were made for Oregon, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.

Despite the GT350’s flat-plane, 5.2-liter V8 engine (526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft of torque) going down smooth as a dreamy performance engine, early examples of the car are alleged to have leaked fluids when exposed to the rigors of track use — even for a short time. While exclusive to lower-trimmed models, customers remained annoyed that a vehicle Ford described as “track-ready” was undergoing hardships that effectively limited its abilities to a point that it wouldn’t be competitive. Overheating Mustang GT350s would default to an engine management program colloquially known as “Limp Mode” that cut power to keep engine temperatures down.

Ford remedied the problem in 2017 by making the Track Package obligatory. All subsequent models came with the oil, transmission, and differential coolers angry customers claimed should probably have been on the car to begin with. Plaintiffs are claiming that the manufacturer originally removed these items from base-trimmed vehicles as a way to increase profits and never should have stated that they were track-ready automobiles, especially since a number of the involved parties stated they purchased the vehicles exclusively for track use.

<img data-attachment-id="1418361" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/09/disapprove-car-bought-will-defend-death-right-drive/2017-ford-shelby-gt350-mustang/" data-orig-file="http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-6.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,735" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2017 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang" data-image-description="

Image: Ford

” data-medium-file=”http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-3.jpg” data-large-file=”http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-1.jpg” class=”aligncenter size-large wp-image-1418361″ src=”http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-1.jpg” alt=”2017 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang” width=”610″ height=”350″ srcset=”http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-1.jpg 610w, http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-2.jpg 75w, http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-3.jpg 450w, http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-4.jpg 768w, http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-5.jpg 120w, http://ghostridermotorcycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/judge-approves-class-action-suit-against-ford-mustang-6.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px”>

“In reality, Plaintiffs say, the Base and Technology package versions of the cars were intentionally designed without coolers in order to inflate Ford’s profits margins,” reads the lawsuit. “As a result, the Base and Tech cars could not complete a full ‘Track Day’ without going into ‘Limp Mode.’”

The Ford Mustang GT350 has since been discontinued to give more leeway for the 760-hp Shelby GT500 and returning Mach 1 Mustang, the latter of which borrows many of the GT350’s components while taking a slightly more relaxed attitude. But its being gone does not mean it has been forgotten. Judge Moreno’s decision opens the door for the class-action experts at Hagens Berman to start making moves in numerous states.

“We are pleased the court has allowed our claims to continue and look forward to leading this case forward with something these affected Mustangs surely lack — speed and endurance,” managing partner of law firm Hagens Berman, Steve Berman, said in a statement. “The class of individuals who purchased these pricey pieces of history deserve to have more than a flashy trophy in their garage. They deserve to have a car that is capable of the track performance they were baited with.”

The international law firm also retweeted a story from The Drive this week, quoting Moreno as cautiously criticizing Ford’s marketing relating to the Mustang.

“Through product placement in James Bond movies and racing partnerships with figures like Carroll Shelby, Ford has spent half a century cultivating an aura of performance and adventure,” the judge wrote in his order. “But these Plaintiffs allege, to Lee Iacocca’s chagrin, that their cars are more like Pintos than Mustangs.”

The Mustang’s track-related issues seem quite a bit less dire than the Pinto fires. But it’s another item in what’s been a prolonged rough patch for Ford’s quality control. While automakers around the globe are perpetually subject to regulatory action and lawsuits relating to false promises, cost-cutting, and general defects, Ford has been getting some high-profile attention of late. While not all of that attention pertains to the Mustang, GT models equipped with the MT82 six-speed manual transmissions supplied by Getrag were hit with a lawsuit of their own. Ford has had a lot of issues with Getrag-sourced gearboxes, with the MT82 starting to get serious attention in 2020.

“The transmission is defective in its design, manufacturing, and or materials in that, among other problems, the transmission slips, jerks, clashes gears, and harshly engages; has premature internal wear, increased shift efforts, inability to drive, and eventually suffers a catastrophic failure,” states the lawsuit. “Ford repeatedly failed to disclose and actively concealed the defect from class members and the public and continues to market the class vehicles without disclosing the transmission defect.”

Problems are suspected to go back to 2010 and incorporates a 2011 investigation conducted by the NHTSA, though it failed to conclude the MT82 posed any “unreasonable” safety risks. The suit was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California but has since been moved to the Eastern District of Michigan. Earlier this year, Ford also settled a class-action lawsuit pertaining to those pesky PowerShift DSP6 dual-clutches sold by Getrag and installed in Fiesta and Focus models between 2011 and 2016.

[Images: Ford Motor Co.]

Fiat Chrysler to Judge: GM’s Being Paranoid, Please Ignore

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Daniel J. Macy/Shutterstock

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General Motors desperately wants to reopen a case dismissed last month by a federal judge, but Fiat Chrysler’s having none of it.

The racketeering lawsuit filed by GM against its crosstown rival alleged that FCA secured unfair labor advantages over GM via bribed UAW officials, with the automaker claiming last week that it possesses new evidence capable of convicting its automotive foe. A number of offshore bank accounts fueled the bribery effort, GM claims, with the automaker’s court filing accusing former UAW Vice President (and ex-GM board member) Joe Ashton of being a paid mole.

Gripping stuff, but FCA says it’s seen this movie before — and it’s a stinker.

According to Reuters, FCA has requested U.S. District Judge Paul Borman to pay no attention to GM’s request, saying its rival’s allegations amount to a “third-rate spy movie, full of preposterous allegations.”

The conviction of Ashton and imprisonment of former FCA labor negotiator Alphons Iacobelli, as well as the sweeping federal investigation into corruption and bribery at the highest levels of the UAW gives GM’s lawsuit weight, but the automaker won’t be able to prove anything unless it gets its day in court. Former UAW president Dennis Williams is also named in the suit as a beneficiary of FCA’s alleged bribery scheme.

GM has claimed since the outset that corrupted bargaining practices left FCA with an unfair labor cost advantage over its domestic rivals, costing its own operations billions. It wanted to collect, and still does.

In a court filing early last week, GM claimed that FCA’s bribery cash flowed by way of bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Italy, and Singapore. FCA says it’s all bunk, stating to the judge that it operates facilities in dozens of countries. As such, the number of offshore accounts is “unremarkable, and certainly not illegal.”

Continuing, FCA said the naming of FCA officials was a “despicable” act reminiscent of the McCarthy witch hunt of the 1950s.

In a letter seen by Reuters on Monday, FCA CEO Mike Manley told employees that GM’s efforts amount to a case of sour grapes.

“It is… clear to me that this series of attacks is directly related to our success in competing and winning where it matters, in the market,” Manley wrote. “The consistent strengths we’ve demonstrated over the last decade will be deployed to even greater effect as we complete our merger with Groupe PSA.”

Unswayed by FCA’s new filing, GM remained adamant that it would reveal “the full extent of harm the FCA bribery scheme caused GM,” stating that, “FCA’s corruption of the collective bargaining process remains undeniable.”

[Image: Daniel J. Macy/Shutterstock]