MIAMI (Sept. 2, 2011) – Leading Miami trial law firm Colson Hicks Eidson filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 26, 2011 on behalf of Plaintiff Eduardo Pezzi and similarly situated Florida class members against Defendant Ford Motor Company.
The complaint alleges that Ford used defective spark plugs that were covered by Ford’s Technical Service Bulletin 08-7-6 in Ford F-150 trucks, Ford Mustangs, Ford Explorers, Ford Expeditions, Lincoln Navigators, Lincoln Mark LTs, and Mercury Mountaineers model years 2004 to 2008.
According to the suit, the defective plugs break or snap during the removal process, leaving a substantial portion of the defective plug lodged in the cylinder head, substantially increasing the costs of changing spark plugs. Class members have been required to spend hundreds, and in many instances, thousands of dollars more than they should have to pay to remove the broken spark plugs and in some cases, repair damage to the engines caused by the removal process.
“In addition to these excessive maintenance costs, the defective spark plug problem may also reduce the value of the vehicles. Ford has known about this problem for years, even to the point of designing a special procedure to help its technicians reduce problems during the spark plug removal process. Despite its knowledge, Ford did not disclose the defects to class members or fix the defective spark plugs prior to their sale or lease,” says Lewis S. “Mike” Eidson, lead counsel on behalf of the Plaintiffs. “This action seeks to force Ford to take appropriate steps to compensate these class members for their excessive maintenance costs, consequential damages and the reduced value of their vehicles. In addition the action also seeks to have Ford implement an immediate design change to eliminate the problem of broken spark plugs in the affected vehicles. Changing spark plugs is supposed to be a simple, inexpensive, and routine maintenance procedure costing on average $150, taking a couple of hours instead of thousands of dollars and days of maintenance as happened to Mr. Pezzi.”
The suit further alleges Ford knew about the defect and issued at least three Technical Service Bulletins concerning the defective spark plugs and related engine defects. After receiving complaints from U.S. customers, the company developed its own special tool and procedure to remove the defective plugs, and even after a replacement spark plug was developed, it continued to manufacture, sell and lease the covered vehicles with the defects alleged in the class action providing no notice to Plaintiff or class members about the defective spark plugs and related engine defects. More than 240,000 of these covered vehicles were sold or leased in Florida.
Lewis S. “Mike” Eidson, founding partner at Colson Hicks Eidson, is a nationally recognized authority on automotive recalls. Eidson, at age 29, and his partners, tried and won the first case alleging that the Ford Pinto fuel system was defective. He was also on the plaintiff’s steering committee in the Toyota defective electronic throttle case, Chrysler Minivan latch case that led to the recall of 4 million vehicles, and was national co-lead counsel in the Ford Explorer/ Firestone tire litigation. For more information call 305-476-7400.
