— A Ford cracked fuel injector lawsuit has been revived after the class action lawsuit had been dismissed because a recall had already been issued before the lawsuit was filed.
Make sense?
Numerous automotive class action lawsuits are not filed until after an automaker issues a recall or safety regulators open an investigation.
In the case of Ford cracked fuel injectors, the judge has granted a motion for relief of judgment filed by the 12 Ford owners who sued.
Ford Cracked Fuel Injector Recalls
In March 2022, Ford recalled 2020-2022 Ford Escapes and 2021-2022 Ford Bronco Sports as engineers tried to determine the root cause of engine compartment fires.
Then in November 2022, a Ford cracked fuel injector recall was announced for about 522,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes following 20 engine fires in vehicles equipped with 3-cylinder 1.5L engines.
And in April 2024, Ford announced a recall of about 43,000 model year 2022-2023 Ford Bronco Sport and 2022 Ford Escape SUVs equipped with 1.5L engines. The recall was an expansion of the November 2022 fuel injector recall after Ford determined all of the affected vehicles may not have been recalled.
Ford Cracked Fuel Injector Lawsuit
In February 2023, the Ford cracked fuel injector lawsuit was filed which alleges the recalls didn't fix the vehicles. According to the class action, originally filed by three Ford customers, Ford knew about the fuel injector problem but still sold the vehicles to the plaintiffs.
Eventually, 12 vehicle owners argued 2020-2023 Ford Escapes and 2021-2023 Ford Bronco Sports were equipped with fuel injectors that could crack and cause engine fires.
According to the lawsuit, Ford knew of at least 17 confirmed fires and two injuries caused by cracked fuel injectors, and Ford noted how those 17 fires occurred out of a total of 521,778 vehicles.
Ford further argued no vehicle has failure-proof fuel injectors.
Ford Cracked Fuel Injector Lawsuit Dismissed
In its motion to dismiss the class action, Ford told the judge the case should be tossed because the recalls rendered the lawsuit "prudentially moot."
Judge Shalina D. Kumar agreed and said although the plaintiffs claimed a recalled vehicle had caught fire after recall repairs had been performed, the plaintiffs never provided any details alleging the fire was caused by a cracked fuel injector.
"But plaintiffs do not allege that a cracked fuel injector caused this fire, and without more, the Court cannot properly make such an inference where the complaint shows that very few fuel injectors ever crack and other parts may cause fires in the class vehicles." — Judge Shalina D. Kumar
The judge dismissed the class action lawsuit by ruling federal safety regulators were the ones to monitor the Ford cracked fuel injector recall. In short, the judge agreed with Ford and found the claims against Ford were prudentially moot.
Ford Cracked Fuel Injector Lawsuit Resurrected
In April of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was investigating the Ford cracked fuel injector recalls because the "recall remedy does not include replacement of the cracked fuel injector."
Based on NHTSA's investigation, the plaintiffs who filed the previously dismissed Ford cracked fuel injector lawsuit went back to court and filed a motion for relief of judgment.
This was enough for Judge Kumar to bring the class action lawsuit back to life, even before NHTSA concludes its investigation.
The Ford cracked fuel injector lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: Letson, et al., v. Ford Motor Company.
The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and The Miller Law Firm PC.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with further court proceedings.
