2018-2020 Ford F-150 Trucks Burn ‘Excessive’ Amounts of Engine Oil, Class Action Lawsuit Claims [UPDATE]
Last Updated on April 28, 2023
Lyman et al. v. Ford Motor Company
Filed: January 6, 2021 ◆§ 2:21-cv-10024
A class action claims 2018-2020 model year Ford F-150 pickup trucks suffer from a defect that causes the vehicles to consume excessive amounts of engine oil.
April 28, 2023 – Some Claims in Ford F-150 Engine Oil Class Action Sent to Arbitration
A federal judge has ordered nine out of 14 plaintiffs in the proposed class action detailed on this page to handle their claims before an arbitrator, finding that the individuals consented to arbitration in their purchase agreements with Ford.
Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.
United States District Judge Gershwin A. Drain granted Ford’s motion to compel arbitration for five plaintiffs in an order issued on March 22, 2022 after finding that the consumers had signed motor vehicle retail installment sales contracts that contained delegation clauses that stated that an arbitrator must determine issues of arbitrability.
Also in the March 2022 order, Judge Drain dismissed the plaintiffs’ implied warranty, nationwide common law, unjust enrichment and injunctive relief claims.
In a 20-page order issued on March 28, 2023, the judge granted Ford’s motion to compel arbitration for four additional plaintiffs who had entered into arbitration agreements that “clearly and unmistakably” delegate issues of arbitrability to an arbitrator. Judge Drain shot down the plaintiffs’ relitigated implied warranty, nationwide common law, unjust enrichment and injunctive relief claims, and he also dismissed one plaintiff’s negligent misrepresentation claim.
Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.
Model year 2018-2020 Ford F-150 vehicles equipped with a 5.0-liter engine are predisposed to consume “abnormal and excessive” amounts of oil as the result of a defect, a proposed class action alleges.
The 84-page page lawsuit out of Michigan federal court alleges the F-150 oil consumption defect typically manifests during and shortly after a vehicle’s limited warranty period has expired and poses a significant safety risk to drivers and passengers in that the problem can be neither reasonably anticipated nor predicted.
According to the case, the oil consumption problem can cause an F-150’s engine, specifically the 5.0-liter modular V-8 piston engine with direct fuel injection nicknamed “Coyote,” to unexpectedly stall or fail while the vehicle is in use in any driving condition and at any speed, exposing drivers, passengers and others on the road to an increased risk of accident, injury or death. The lawsuit says the problem stems from a manufacturing defect affecting the engines’ piston and piston ring assembly that causes them to allow engine oil into an engine’s combustion chamber. As a result, the case explains, oil is not separated from the combustion cycle as intended and is instead burned and consumed during the combustion cycle.
Compounding matters for the F-150, the lawsuit goes on, is the presence of an inadequate positive crankshaft ventilation (PCV) system that fails to reduce the pressure within an engine’s crankcase caused by combustion gases escaping from the combustion chamber, past the piston and oil rings and into the crankcase. According to the suit, this “has a direct negative impact on the vehicles’ durability, life expectancy, performance and emissions.”
The lawsuit alleges Ford not only actively concealed the fact that certain components within the F-150’s 5.0-liter engine were defective but did not reveal that the existence of the oil consumption problem would “diminish the intrinsic and resale value of the Class Vehicles” and lead to the safety concerns detailed in the complaint. Despite its apparent longstanding knowledge of the manufacturing defect, Ford has “routinely refused to adequately repair” affected F-150 trucks free of charge, the suit says.
In many cases, Ford has even refused to disclose the existence of the oil consumption defect even when a driver’s F-150 displays symptoms consistent with those of the problem, the case further claims. According to the lawsuit, Ford instead “choos[es] to ignore the defect until it has caused significant mechanical problems necessitating costly repairs or provid[es] a band-air repair to mask the oil consumption from consumers.”
“Many Plaintiffs and Class members have communicated with Ford and/or Ford’s agents to request that they remedy and/or address the Oil Consumption Defect and/or resultant damage at no expense,” the suit reads. “Ford has routinely failed to do so.”
Moreover, Ford has also failed to do anything to correct the “concealed manufacturing defect” when it manifests outside of a vehicle’s warranty period, the complaint claims. The lawsuit decries Ford’s apparent attempts to limit the scope of its warranty responsibility as it pertains to the oil consumption defect as “unconscionable and unenforceable.”
Upon information and belief, the lawsuit continues, Ford was “forced to acknowledge” the oil consumption problem plaguing 2018-2020 F-150 models as the number of complaints increased and drivers “grew dissatisfied” with the rate their engines were burning through oil. Rather than provide adequate repairs, Ford has, according to the case, “simply attempted to mask the Oil Consumption Defect from Class Members.”
The suit alleges violations of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, New York General Business Law, California consumer protection statutes, Song-Beverly Act and Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.
Hair Relaxer Lawsuits
Women who developed ovarian or uterine cancer after using hair relaxers such as Dark & Lovely and Motions may now have an opportunity to take legal action.
Read more here: Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuits
How Do I Join a Class Action Lawsuit?
Did you know there's usually nothing you need to do to join, sign up for, or add your name to new class action lawsuits when they're initially filed?
Read more here: How Do I Join a Class Action Lawsuit?
Stay Current
Sign Up For
Our Newsletter
New cases and investigations, settlement deadlines, and news straight to your inbox.
Before commenting, please review our comment policy.