Ford Mustang Mach-E Defect “Solved” by Downgrade Class Action

The complaint for this class action opens by saying, “The most important duty of a car manufacturer is to provide consumers with a safe car.” The car at issue is the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which the complaint alleges is defective and may suffer a complete or partial shut-down while it is being driven. Ford is now recalling the vehicles, but the complaint alleges that the company is not so much fixing the problem as reducing the vehicles’ power.

The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons or entities who bought or leased 2021-2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles that were included in Part 573 Safety Recall Report No. 22V-412. A Pennsylvania Subclass has also been defined for those who bought or leased one of the above vehicles in Pennsylvania.

One Ford ad for the Mach-E vehicles, reproduced in the complaint, is headed, “Confidence. Mile After Mile.” It presents the vehicles as safe, advertising features like pre-collision assist, a lane-keeping system, and rearview cameras. But in reality, the vehicles may shut down while they are being driven, putting in danger both the occupants of the vehicle and those in any surrounding vehicles.

What causes the defect? The complaint quotes the recall report as saying that “[t]he design and part-to-part variation of the high voltage battery main contactor is not robust to the heat generated during DC fast charging and multiple wide open pedal events[.]”

Ford claims to have a fix for the problem, but it does not involve repairing or replacing the high voltage battery connectors. Instead, the complaint alleges, it is a software update that will “reduce battery power to prevent damage to the contactor” and “reduce vehicle power to prevent further damage.” In other words, the complaint claims, Ford is not so much eliminating the defect as downgrading the vehicle’s power and performance.

The complaint objects to this partially on the grounds that, it claims, the Mustang mark “is synonymous with power and speed” and that that is what buyers of these vehicles are looking for.

The Mach-E vehicles were first released in December 2020, but the complaint alleges that warranty claims about the shutdown defect began appearing just seven months later. The complaint claims that Ford has therefore known about the defect for a while but has done nothing to warn prospective customers before they buy the vehicles.

The problem is serious enough that the complaint alleges Ford is not permitting its dealers to release any of the Mach-E vehicles to customers, even if the customer has already paid for the vehicle. However, it has not given owners and lessees any other options for transportation.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Battery System, Defective Automobile