Ford Agrees to Settle Rollover Case

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday agreed to settle class-action lawsuits covering plaintiffs in four states who claimed its Explorer sport utility vehicles were prone to rollovers, the company and an attorney for the plaintiffs said.

The settlement applies to about 1 million people in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, said Kevin P. Roddy, a New Jersey attorney and co-counsel for the SUV owners who brought the lawsuit.

He said the settlement will be filed later Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.

It will allow vehicle owners to apply for $500 vouchers to buy new Explorers or $300 vouchers to buy other Ford or Lincoln Mercury products, Roddy told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?news_id=ap-d8t6vdco3&

[peacebird]

1. wow. Truly a "generous" settlement, no? Apply for a $500 voucher towards the purchase of a new

gas guzzling Explorer (that is tanking in sales currently) OR a $300 voucher towards other Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury products.... Because people are just dying to get a couple hundred off the price of a new car.... Now was it $500 or $300 in cash outright that would at least be useful.

This case has (like most class action lawsuits) only served the lawyers.

The one exception was the class action lawsuit for tampons that caused womens deaths in the early 1980's.... THAT actually got the super absorbent tampon off the market.

[CRF450]

2. Stupid.

All SUV's and any large vehicle is prone to rollovers. But if they know how to control a vehicle that big in the first place, they wont rollover as much. I wont tell people what they should and should not drive like most do here on DU, but I wish their was some kind of mandatory course for getting a DL on how to control differnt vehicles in an emergancy situation and not make stupid mistakes, so our roads can be safer!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

3. "The settlements apply to Explorers in model years 1991 through 2001"

That's one reason in 2002 I bought an Explorer Sport Trac..I know it could "roll" (if I drove like Bo Duke) but not like it's sister Explorer.

[CRF450]

5. I'd take a truck anyday of the week over an SUV.

I was close to buying an Explorer Sport Trac, instead I got this Dakota.

[Heywood J]

4. So about a million people just got shit on.

"Here's a coupon for $500 off a new $30,000 Explorer, an SUV you probably can't afford now anyway in this economy. By the way, sorry about your family. We'll write you a postcard from our vacation in Acapulco."



How many people have the disposable cash to use that? It probably has a frigging expiry date on it. How many people would even want to buy another of the same thing after the way this has been handled? Some lawyers just made a killing there, while the plaintiffs got nothing. I think that's about the dictionary definition of being shit on.

[Solon]

6. I never did understand why they would design vehicles with such a high center of gravity...

OK, so it was most likely laziness on Ford's and other SUV makers parts. I feel that if such vehicles are to be made, there needs to be a different driver's license classification for them to deal with the differences in handling an SUV compared to a car. Similar to Commercial licenses and Motorcycle licenses, some specific knowledge needed to handle vehicles like SUVs safely.

[CRF450]

7. The high center of gravity of for ground clearance,

Right much of SUV's are made to handle offroading, problem is, 90% of them ARENT taken offroad. Funny thing is, my Dakota, being a midsize truck, has a higher ground clearance than a full size SUV. The slightly lifted supension is factory BTW.