Class Action Says Engine Defect Can Cause Certain Ford Escapes, Mavericks, Lincoln Corsairs to Suddenly Stall, Catch Fire

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Ford Motor Company faces a proposed class action that claims 2020-2023 Ford Hybrid Escapes, 2022-2023 Ford Hybrid Mavericks and 2021-2023 Lincoln Hybrid Corsairs are equipped with faulty engines that can spontaneously stall and catch fire.

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The 124-page lawsuit alleges that although Ford “knew or should have known” of these risks before placing the vehicles on the market, the automaker did nothing to warn drivers and continued to sell the cars until it issued a stop-sale order on June 8, 2022. What’s more, Ford’s current “fix” to help prevent affected vehicles from catching fire “utterly fail[s]” to address the underlying manufacturing problems with the engine, the complaint contends.

The case claims that the “dangerous defect” in affected vehicles’ engines can cause internal engine components to explode and pierce the metal shells of the engine assembly, causing the engine to stall. Though Ford gently refers to it as a “block breach,” this explosion is more commonly known as a blown engine and can cause flammable gas and fluids to be ejected from the engine and accumulate near ignition sources, which can result in catastrophic car fires, the filing charges.

By June 22, 2022, Ford had received at least 23 reports of under hood fires or smoke in the engine compartment of the affected vehicles, the suit relays. One of the suit’s six plaintiffs, an Arizona resident who purchased a 2021 Ford Escape Hybrid, says he was driving the vehicle in April 2022 when he noticed white smoke coming from under the car. According to the plaintiff’s account, after he pulled over and promptly exited the vehicle, fire completely consumed the car within 15 minutes.

In July 2022, Ford announced a recall affecting 100,689 vehicles, including certain 2020-2022 Ford Escapes, 2022 Ford Mavericks and 2021-2022 Lincoln Corsairs, the lawsuit shares. In its recall notice, Ford admitted that an estimated 1,250 recalled vehicles suffer from engine manufacturing issues that can lead to “under hood fire, localized melting of components, or smoke,” the filing says.

Also that month, the automaker began offering drivers a so-called “remedy” for the issue, which involved drilling holes in the vehicles’ under-engine shield and removing four blinds from their active grille shutter systems to allow fluids and vapors expelled from the blown engines to escape before igniting, the case explains. 

However, Ford has since been forced to admit that the “fix” was “entirely ineffective” at mitigating the risk of a stall and preventing blown engines from causing under hood fires, the complaint contends, noting that the automaker continued to receive reports of block breach fires in vehicles that had the recall repair properly performed.

Importantly, a prior recall of a small subset of the affected vehicles has shown that Ford knows how to address this dangerous defect yet chooses not to “likely because it will cost too much money,” the filing alleges. In a March 2022 recall of 2021 Ford Escapes issued over the same “block breach” problem described above, the defendant instructed dealers to inspect the vehicles and replace the engine should the defect be detected, the case relays.

“Ford could easily implement that same recall inspection and repair here,” the suit says, arguing that it is now refusing to do so “presumably because it does not want to pay the approximately $470 per car inspection time that it authorized for its dealers in the [March 2022 recall], which would cost Ford at least $59 million.”

To make matters worse, the recall repair creates a new environmental and safety hazard, as it allows fluids and vapors to leak out of the vehicles into the road or consumers’ driveways or garages, the filing stresses. The complaint claims that the “fix” also reduces the vehicle’s fuel efficiency, increases the time it takes to warm up and defrost the windshield, amplifies road noise and diminishes durability.

In June 2023, the automaker expanded the recall to include all 2023 Ford Hybrid Escapes, Ford Hybrid Mavericks and Lincoln Hybrid Corsairs, the suit shares. Although Ford says in its recall notification that the now 125,322 affected vehicles will “need to have the new remedy completed,” the defendant has offered no information about an actual repair and only promised to mail a future letter when it was available, the case states.

The complaint chides Ford for failing to provide drivers reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, loss of use or loss of value, even though their vehicles may very well be “ticking time bombs” that can expose them, passengers, other drivers and bystanders to an “unreasonable risk” of accident, injury, death and property damage.

The lawsuit looks to represent any persons or entities who purchased or leased a 2020-2023 Ford Escape, 2022-2023 Ford Maverick or 2021-2023 Lincoln Corsair.

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