F-150 Class Action Lawsuit
#1
04-16-2002, 05:10 PM
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F-150 Class Action Lawsuit
OK, I just came across this news story today and had to vent.
Class-action status was just granted to a lawsuit against Ford charging that they charged owners for the heavy duty radiator but did not receive this on their trucks. This happened to about 450,000 F-150 models from the 2000 and 2001 model years. Ford realized they made a mistake (another of Jac the Knife's screwups) and "has offered affected customers a choice between $100 cash, a $500 "Owner Loyalty Certificate" good toward the purchase or lease of a new Ford, or replacement of their existing radiators with the upgraded heavy-duty radiator."
So, why the hell are these people suing Ford when they admitted a mistake and making good on the deal. This is not a safety issue where anyone has been killed. This just shows how "sue happy" our society is and it makes me sick.
Last time I checked, all us humans were imperfect and made mistakes. I just don't know where our world is headed. :-X23
Class-action status was just granted to a lawsuit against Ford charging that they charged owners for the heavy duty radiator but did not receive this on their trucks. This happened to about 450,000 F-150 models from the 2000 and 2001 model years. Ford realized they made a mistake (another of Jac the Knife's screwups) and "has offered affected customers a choice between $100 cash, a $500 "Owner Loyalty Certificate" good toward the purchase or lease of a new Ford, or replacement of their existing radiators with the upgraded heavy-duty radiator."
So, why the hell are these people suing Ford when they admitted a mistake and making good on the deal. This is not a safety issue where anyone has been killed. This just shows how "sue happy" our society is and it makes me sick.
Last time I checked, all us humans were imperfect and made mistakes. I just don't know where our world is headed. :-X23
#2
04-16-2002, 08:07 PM
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04-16-2002, 11:18 PM
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I guess the whole reason I'm upset is because people don't seem to want to let up on Ford. The company is going through a turbulant time and the lawyers seem to want to add fuel to the fire. Nasser alientated a lot of employees, from what I hear, which really hurt the company moralle. It's easy to see then how they could allow some issues to slip through as have happened recently. The media loves to play up on it, though, which doesn't help either. Since the major restructuring at Ford, I think they are headed back on the right track. Their main goal, once again, is provding the best automobiles, not to take over the world or whatever crazy plans Nasser had. Ford has a lot on their plate right now, and declaring this lawsuit "class-action" after they admitted a problem seems rediculous.
Ford has seen how quickly the tide can turn on them and they'd be foolish not to learn from this to make the company better than they were before. I feel with a Ford in charge, the company will do what they have to not only to improve quality, but also to not be so slow to admitt a problem. This news story shows that some are only trying to beat Ford more into the ground. This is why I get upset. Since they have restructured, Bill Ford has done a lot to win back to support of employees and dealers. Issues have been solved and some prevented. Sure, some could still slip out the door during the transition and others from the "dark days" may come out, but this doesn't mean they aren't changing. They realized the company was in trouble and it is now being saved. Unfortunately, such things don't happen overnight.
The bottom line is I'm a die hard Ford man and I want the best for my company. They will always be the best company IMHO, as others on this site feel, too. I also want them to prove they are the best to the rest of the world and to continue to have many best-sellers.
Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to explain myself.
Ford has seen how quickly the tide can turn on them and they'd be foolish not to learn from this to make the company better than they were before. I feel with a Ford in charge, the company will do what they have to not only to improve quality, but also to not be so slow to admitt a problem. This news story shows that some are only trying to beat Ford more into the ground. This is why I get upset. Since they have restructured, Bill Ford has done a lot to win back to support of employees and dealers. Issues have been solved and some prevented. Sure, some could still slip out the door during the transition and others from the "dark days" may come out, but this doesn't mean they aren't changing. They realized the company was in trouble and it is now being saved. Unfortunately, such things don't happen overnight.
The bottom line is I'm a die hard Ford man and I want the best for my company. They will always be the best company IMHO, as others on this site feel, too. I also want them to prove they are the best to the rest of the world and to continue to have many best-sellers.
Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to explain myself.
#6
04-20-2002, 01:51 AM
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This is not the only problem Ford has tried to hide from us in the past few years. The Ford corporate machine has become a poorly run, unaccountable business. I don't see anything in William Ford that will take their sole focus away from their bottom line.
This is not about a litigious society. It's about Ford's screw the consumer, we are your God additude. Their official position in the beginning, when the complaints started to add up on the net, was that there was a publication error with vehicle specifications. The trouble was that they still charged people for the heavey duty electrical cooling group but didn't install it. Before the class-action was filed, Ford didn't pay any attention to the individual complaints. If you read the 04/16/02 press release from Ford, you'd see that they are appealing to have the class action dismissed. If Ford behaved properly in the beginning then there would not have been an issue. They want the class action dismissed because they know that only about 1% of affected owners would take the time to file suit on their own. Ford deserves to lose money over this. They certainly should be made to pay compensitory damages to each affected owner that had to take the time to have the proper radiator installed. What are the owners supposed to do while their vehicle is at the dealer for 1-2 days having their radiator replaced? This is very inconvenient for the average person.
Who are you going to complain to, Matt when your plastic intake manifold warps??? Are you going to blame yourself for not knowing better or blame the Ford engineers for such a foolish design???
To hell with letting Ford off the hook and making excuses for them. This is a muti-billion dollar international company. They should not only be able to take care of themselves, but their customers as well.
If not, then let them continue down the road of the dinosaurs.
If they have time to sue a 12 year old girl for registering www.jaguarcenter.com then they should certainly have time to install the radiators that the customer paid for. They are spending a lot more on attorney fees than they would have if they hadn't been ripping off their customers and ignoring complaints to begin with.
I hope that Ford quality control and customer relations improve now that a Ford is in charge but they still need to address the problems with the gaskets on 5.4L's and '97-'98 4.2L's. If Ford is serious about taking care of their loyal customers, they need to take full responsibilty for the atrocious reliabilty of the '97-'98 4.2L. By my estimates, the average life of the '97-'98 is figuring to be 60,000-80,000 miles. Ford has known for years that the 4.2L leaks coolant through the manifold and head gaskets and they still refuse the issue a recall or offically extend the warranty. This is a $5,000.00 engine and Ford will not stand behind it.
This is not about a litigious society. It's about Ford's screw the consumer, we are your God additude. Their official position in the beginning, when the complaints started to add up on the net, was that there was a publication error with vehicle specifications. The trouble was that they still charged people for the heavey duty electrical cooling group but didn't install it. Before the class-action was filed, Ford didn't pay any attention to the individual complaints. If you read the 04/16/02 press release from Ford, you'd see that they are appealing to have the class action dismissed. If Ford behaved properly in the beginning then there would not have been an issue. They want the class action dismissed because they know that only about 1% of affected owners would take the time to file suit on their own. Ford deserves to lose money over this. They certainly should be made to pay compensitory damages to each affected owner that had to take the time to have the proper radiator installed. What are the owners supposed to do while their vehicle is at the dealer for 1-2 days having their radiator replaced? This is very inconvenient for the average person.
Who are you going to complain to, Matt when your plastic intake manifold warps??? Are you going to blame yourself for not knowing better or blame the Ford engineers for such a foolish design???
To hell with letting Ford off the hook and making excuses for them. This is a muti-billion dollar international company. They should not only be able to take care of themselves, but their customers as well.
If not, then let them continue down the road of the dinosaurs.
If they have time to sue a 12 year old girl for registering www.jaguarcenter.com then they should certainly have time to install the radiators that the customer paid for. They are spending a lot more on attorney fees than they would have if they hadn't been ripping off their customers and ignoring complaints to begin with.
I hope that Ford quality control and customer relations improve now that a Ford is in charge but they still need to address the problems with the gaskets on 5.4L's and '97-'98 4.2L's. If Ford is serious about taking care of their loyal customers, they need to take full responsibilty for the atrocious reliabilty of the '97-'98 4.2L. By my estimates, the average life of the '97-'98 is figuring to be 60,000-80,000 miles. Ford has known for years that the 4.2L leaks coolant through the manifold and head gaskets and they still refuse the issue a recall or offically extend the warranty. This is a $5,000.00 engine and Ford will not stand behind it.
#7
04-20-2002, 07:41 AM
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Some of these problems seem mute to me. There has and always will be problems with suppliers.This is where most of the bad parts start from. I see some of the trouble annoying also. We are on our second SHO. This is like driving a timebomb. The 1st Gen SHO had many problems and none were addressed by Ford. Currently a valvetrain problem in the SHO has me concerned but I did opt for the extended warrenty. This is a $10,000+ motor!!!!! I understand for the money that we pay for these vehicles is alot and we do expect a long trouble free life but chances are until more bitching is done we as a consumer will be on the losing end. Every make has inherited problems and I believe for the most part they(manufacturers) all try to coverup what they can. We all need to do our part to stay abreast of what is breaking and try to complain loud enough that Ford will listen. As for when Quaility is Job 1 starts showing up, well don't hold your breath.
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#8
04-20-2002, 12:55 PM
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F-150 Class Action Lawsuit
>I don't see anything
>in William Ford that will take their sole focus away from
>their bottom line.
The company is his family. He has a special connection to it. So far since he's taken over, he has already worked on healing the realtions of the employees and suppliers. This is important because employees with higher morale will turn out a higher quality product and suppliers that are on good terms with the company will also provide better parts. Many of the recent recalls dealt with faulty parts that Ford installed, but were made by suppliers. Having improved realtions with suppliers can certainly solve a lot of issues before they become a problem.
>This is not about a litigious society. It's about Ford's
>screw the consumer, we are your God additude. Their official
>position in the beginning, when the complaints started to
>add up on the net, was that there was a publication error
>with vehicle specifications. The trouble was that they still
>charged people for the heavey duty electrical cooling group
>but didn't install it. Before the class-action was filed,
>Ford didn't pay any attention to the individual complaints.
>If you read the 04/16/02 press release from Ford, you'd see
>that they are appealing to have the class action dismissed.
>If Ford behaved properly in the beginning then there would
>not have been an issue. They want the class action dismissed
>because they know that only about 1% of affected owners
>would take the time to file suit on their own. Ford deserves
>to lose money over this. They certainly should be made to
>pay compensitory damages to each affected owner that had to
>take the time to have the proper radiator installed.
>What are the owners supposed to do while their vehicle is at
>the dealer for 1-2 days having their radiator replaced? This
>is very inconvenient for the average person.
My point was the judge declaring it "class-action". It said that Ford had started making good on it last Fall, where as the class-action status was just granted. They got Ford's attention and were getting assistance, why waste your time taking it any further.
>Who are you going to complain to, Matt when your plastic
>intake manifold warps??? Are you going to blame yourself for
>not knowing better or blame the Ford engineers for such a
>foolish design???
I'd acknowledge it was a faulty design, get it repaired and get on with my life. Hey, if this is the worst problem I have to deal with, then thank God. Everyone has struggles in their life (divorce, abuse, poor health, no spirituality, etc.). Sure, it would be an inconvience but my dealer would give me a loaner and take care of it.
>To hell with letting Ford off the hook and making excuses
>for them. This is a muti-billion dollar international
>company. They should not only be able to take care of
>themselves, but their customers as well.
>If not, then let them continue down the road of the
>dinosaurs.
I don't know if you saw about the sludge issue in some Toyota's recently. They denied it, saying the customer's weren't taking care of their cars. Independent mechanics said, though, that the engine's design caused them to run hotter which lead to the sludge. They finally started a program to fix the engines that had the faulty design causing sludge, however they still stand by their word that it's the owner's fault. The only reason they did the program was so that wouldn't tarnish their "reputation". What's my point, no one want's to admitt a problem. I hope Ford will become more customer friendly as they reform the comapny. But they certainly aren't the only ones they don't want to admitt to an issue. And why shouldn't I let Ford "off the hook"? Former President Clinton was let "off the hook" more times than I can remember for doing things that were much worse. If anyone else did what he did, especially a republican, they would've been thrown in jail a long time ago.
>I hope that Ford quality control and customer relations
>improve now that a Ford is in charge but they still need to
>address the problems with the gaskets on 5.4L's and '97-'98
>4.2L's.
Ford has recently acknowledged the 5.4 Liter issue and is taking care of it. I have not heard anything about the 4.2 Liter problem. Maybe the problem isn't as wide-spread as you think. I'm not dening your problem, I just haven't ever heard it mentioned.
>If Ford is serious about taking care of their loyal
>customers, they need to take full responsibilty for the
>atrocious reliabilty of the '97-'98 4.2L. By my estimates,
>the average life of the '97-'98 is figuring to be
>60,000-80,000 miles. Ford has known for years that the 4.2L
>leaks coolant through the manifold and head gaskets and they
>still refuse the issue a recall or offically extend the
>warranty. This is a $5,000.00 engine and Ford will not stand
>behind it.
Have you written to Ford, expressed your concern. I know I hear of people who have no luck doing this, however I've also heard of people that do. I just noticed a post recently by Deb (Deb, feel free to elaborate) that said she had an issue with her Expy and the dealer wasn't any help. She contacted Ford and the problem was solved and has had no problem since. Hey, manure happens! My father had a Subaru that the enigine burned out in at 81,000. That's when he traded it (was a crappy car anyways) and got into Fords.
>in William Ford that will take their sole focus away from
>their bottom line.
The company is his family. He has a special connection to it. So far since he's taken over, he has already worked on healing the realtions of the employees and suppliers. This is important because employees with higher morale will turn out a higher quality product and suppliers that are on good terms with the company will also provide better parts. Many of the recent recalls dealt with faulty parts that Ford installed, but were made by suppliers. Having improved realtions with suppliers can certainly solve a lot of issues before they become a problem.
>This is not about a litigious society. It's about Ford's
>screw the consumer, we are your God additude. Their official
>position in the beginning, when the complaints started to
>add up on the net, was that there was a publication error
>with vehicle specifications. The trouble was that they still
>charged people for the heavey duty electrical cooling group
>but didn't install it. Before the class-action was filed,
>Ford didn't pay any attention to the individual complaints.
>If you read the 04/16/02 press release from Ford, you'd see
>that they are appealing to have the class action dismissed.
>If Ford behaved properly in the beginning then there would
>not have been an issue. They want the class action dismissed
>because they know that only about 1% of affected owners
>would take the time to file suit on their own. Ford deserves
>to lose money over this. They certainly should be made to
>pay compensitory damages to each affected owner that had to
>take the time to have the proper radiator installed.
>What are the owners supposed to do while their vehicle is at
>the dealer for 1-2 days having their radiator replaced? This
>is very inconvenient for the average person.
My point was the judge declaring it "class-action". It said that Ford had started making good on it last Fall, where as the class-action status was just granted. They got Ford's attention and were getting assistance, why waste your time taking it any further.
>Who are you going to complain to, Matt when your plastic
>intake manifold warps??? Are you going to blame yourself for
>not knowing better or blame the Ford engineers for such a
>foolish design???
I'd acknowledge it was a faulty design, get it repaired and get on with my life. Hey, if this is the worst problem I have to deal with, then thank God. Everyone has struggles in their life (divorce, abuse, poor health, no spirituality, etc.). Sure, it would be an inconvience but my dealer would give me a loaner and take care of it.
>To hell with letting Ford off the hook and making excuses
>for them. This is a muti-billion dollar international
>company. They should not only be able to take care of
>themselves, but their customers as well.
>If not, then let them continue down the road of the
>dinosaurs.
I don't know if you saw about the sludge issue in some Toyota's recently. They denied it, saying the customer's weren't taking care of their cars. Independent mechanics said, though, that the engine's design caused them to run hotter which lead to the sludge. They finally started a program to fix the engines that had the faulty design causing sludge, however they still stand by their word that it's the owner's fault. The only reason they did the program was so that wouldn't tarnish their "reputation". What's my point, no one want's to admitt a problem. I hope Ford will become more customer friendly as they reform the comapny. But they certainly aren't the only ones they don't want to admitt to an issue. And why shouldn't I let Ford "off the hook"? Former President Clinton was let "off the hook" more times than I can remember for doing things that were much worse. If anyone else did what he did, especially a republican, they would've been thrown in jail a long time ago.
>I hope that Ford quality control and customer relations
>improve now that a Ford is in charge but they still need to
>address the problems with the gaskets on 5.4L's and '97-'98
>4.2L's.
Ford has recently acknowledged the 5.4 Liter issue and is taking care of it. I have not heard anything about the 4.2 Liter problem. Maybe the problem isn't as wide-spread as you think. I'm not dening your problem, I just haven't ever heard it mentioned.
>If Ford is serious about taking care of their loyal
>customers, they need to take full responsibilty for the
>atrocious reliabilty of the '97-'98 4.2L. By my estimates,
>the average life of the '97-'98 is figuring to be
>60,000-80,000 miles. Ford has known for years that the 4.2L
>leaks coolant through the manifold and head gaskets and they
>still refuse the issue a recall or offically extend the
>warranty. This is a $5,000.00 engine and Ford will not stand
>behind it.
Have you written to Ford, expressed your concern. I know I hear of people who have no luck doing this, however I've also heard of people that do. I just noticed a post recently by Deb (Deb, feel free to elaborate) that said she had an issue with her Expy and the dealer wasn't any help. She contacted Ford and the problem was solved and has had no problem since. Hey, manure happens! My father had a Subaru that the enigine burned out in at 81,000. That's when he traded it (was a crappy car anyways) and got into Fords.
