— A Ford F-250 and F-350 emissions lawsuit alleges the trucks are more “Super Dirty” than Super Duty.
The proposed class-action lawsuit includes current and former owners or lessees of 2011-2017 Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks equipped with 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel engines.
According to the lawsuit, Ford advertised the trucks as the “Cleanest Super Diesel[s] Ever” that reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent over previous models.
However, the plaintiffs claim their scientifically valid emissions testing has revealed the trucks emit levels of nitrogen oxides many times higher than their gasoline counterparts and higher than Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum standards.
Furthermore, the fuel economy and towing capacity are allegedly obtained only by turning off or turning down emission controls when the software senses the trucks are not undergoing emissions testing in a lab.
The lawsuit alleges the F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks exceed federal and state emission standards and use “defeat devices” that are almost always activated by illegal software in the vehicle’s engine control module, the computer that controls the operation of the engine and emission control devices.
The plaintiffs say Ford accomplishes the alleged fraud by reversing the traditional order of the exhaust treatment components and putting the selective catalytic reduction in front of the diesel particulate filters. But the reordering allegedly increases the need to use "active regeneration" to burn off collected soot at high temperatures.
Ford's alleged solution was to conspire with the Robert Bosch company to install defeat devices to purposefully reduce in-cylinder nitrogen oxide controls that increased emissions.
According to the lawsuit, emission levels are routinely as high as five times the standard in stop-and-go conditions. And in modest uphill road grades or with the use of a trailer that adds weight, emissions allegedly exceed the standard by 30 to 50 times.
Specifically, the plaintiffs say testing shows the F-250 and F-350 trucks operate 69 percent of the time above the emissions standard, 45 percent of the time at twice the standard and 9 percent of the time at five times the standard.
As in lawsuits against Volkswagen and General Motors, parts supplier Bosch is named in the Ford lawsuit as the company that developed, manufactured and tested the electronic diesel control (EDC) that allowed Ford to use the alleged defeat device.
The Bosch EDC17 is allegedly a good component for manufacturers to employ defeat devices as it enables the software to detect conditions when emission controls can be manipulated. In addition, the lawsuit says almost all of the vehicles found or alleged to have been manipulating emissions in the U.S. (Audi, Chrysler, General Motors, Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen) use Bosch EDC17 devices.
The Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty emissions lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan - Len Gamboa, et al., v. Ford Motor Company, and Robert Bosch GMBH, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, The Miller Law Firm PC, Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody, Agnello, P.C., and Seeger Weiss LLP.
Read what owners have told CarComplaints.com about Ford F-250 and F-350 trucks.
