Law firm claims Ford defect
Engines in question in 17 million vehicles

By Harry Stoffer
Automotive News / September 26, 2005

A California law firm is asking federal safety officials to investigate as many as 17 million Ford Motor Co. vehicles for what it says is a costly and dangerous engine defect.

The petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says spark plugs can blow out of the engines because cylinder heads have too few threads and contain a metallurgical weakness.

The petition says the engines, 4.6-liter and 5.4-liter V-8s and a V-10, are in 1997-2004 E-series vans, F-series pickups, SUVs, Mustangs and Crown Victorias.

The petition was submitted in late August. Its existence was made public on NHTSA's website Monday.

Anyone can file a defect petition, and agency officials say they need to evaluate this one to determine whether to accept or reject it.

The petition, filed by attorney Donald Ricketts of Santa Clarita, Calif., claims spark plugs have shot out of Ford engines thousands of times. And it says the defect is a safety hazard, both because the plugs become projectiles and because they can start fires. Plus, engines often must be replaced, the petition says.

The petition asks that Ford be fined $15 million for failing to disclose the defect.

Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said Monday that the company hasn't seen the petition. She says the company was aware of some vehicles with mismatched spark plug and cylinder head threading. But she says there were "not enough for us to indicate a systemic issue."

Ricketts could not be reached late Monday.

 

Now, that's ^ a pretty funny/misleading answer. "Some" vehicles? Yeah, like, we had no idea how many vehicles have had this problem.

 

ANOTHER BLOOD SUCKER...
How many fires have been caused by this? -0- reported
How many individuals have been struck by a "projectiled" plug? -0- reported
And I suppose Ford is the only Company that has this type of issues too?
I am sick and tired of reading this kind of trash!!!!

 

How many have there been Hatch??
Who has this statistic?
Sure there was a problem, and it was recognized by the Company and the proper changes were introduced into the newer cylinder heads.
I suppose Ford should recall "all" of the effected vehicles and replace the heads free//
How about if the Attorney that filed the claim takes any settlement $$ that he will surely recieve and use it to replace the effected heads???
He has only one thing in mind and that is to line his pockets and to he!! with any others.....

 

If Ford is ever forced to recall these heads they will probably just issue you a catchers mitt. That will be their fix!!!

 

enough to know that there is obviously a problem.............

 

I plainly said that the Company knew of the issue and remedied it..
Hell I would have been PO"d if I would have blown a plug out of my Lightning..But the pending law suit is BS, the only one that stands to gain anything is the Ahole that filed it...

 

 

They fixed the problem on newer models.........yes.

They fixed the problems on vehicles that have had the problems while under warranty- Sometimes.

The poor ***** with the regular F150 that popped a plug at 40k miles is paying out of his pocket to fix this problem that ford is aware of. It's not just Lightning owners. It's happening on mustangs, f150's and vans. Do some research if you haven't already. Ford shouldn't have to recall every head ever made but if it happens whether it's in the 36k 3 year warranty or out of warranty, they should be liable for the repair.

How do you know agree with that???

 

I am one of those poor ******... Less than 45k miles too - just out of warranty...

It certainly sucked to have to pay out of pocket and be without my vehicle while this "known problem" was getting fixed...

It's a shame that Ford won't even offer free plug checks for the effected vehicles even after they are out of warranty... While it is great that Ford "fixed" this "known problem" on newer year vehicles, they should at least do something to help prevent the people that purchased the effected year vehicles from having this happen...

 

That sucks my stock ones have never blown crossing my fingers

 

You need to take that up with the California legislature. The consumer protection statutes in California were intended to encourage these kinds of suits by making attorney fees recoverable if the attorney secures relief for the class.

The attorney is only doing what the law encourages him to do.

 

"Should" as in compelled by law? NFW. They sold a 36K mile warranty. No more, no less. It's a contract.

"Should" as in would be a good business practice and a decent/smart thing to do? Yes.

 

I don't disagree with you on the motives of the attorney. In this case, it would be a necessary evil to cost Ford enough money, and possibly have a judgement against them forcing them to remedy the present owners still facing this problem. Believe me, I see personal injury attorneys peddling crap every day trying to extort a buck.

 

Marc maybe I will send all the customers to you so you can explain to them that its ok to have this problem...we have seen tons trucks with this problem and there not to happy that they have to shell out a crap load of there own money to have this repair done...I dont see any other brands of cars coming into the shop for plugs blowing...so if someone wants to take legal action thats his choice....you are far from perfect yourself