Ford Infotainment Systems Illegally Store Text Messages, Make Them Available to Law Enforcement, Class Action Alleges

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Two Washington residents allege Ford Motor Company has violated a state privacy law by downloading and storing copies of text messages on smartphones connected to the infotainment systems in vehicles made since at least 2014. 

The 13-page case moreover alleges that although a vehicle owner does not have the capability to retrieve a text message automatically downloaded and stored by a Ford infotainment system, third-party technology made by non-party Berla Corporation makes it possible for law enforcement to extract and access the messages. 

“Berla specifically restricts access to its systems, making them available primarily to law enforcement and private investigation service providers,” the case says. “No Plaintiff is able to acquire a Berla system in order to be able to access the text messages stored on his own or any other Ford vehicle.” 

According to the suit, the Washington Privacy Act (WPA) forbids any entity in the state from intercepting or recording any private communication without first obtaining the consent of all participants in the communication. The lawsuit argues Ford is liable for liquidated damages at the rate of $100 per day for each alleged WPA violation. 

Ford vehicles manufactured since at least 2014 come standard with infotainment systems that can connect to an individual’s smartphone via USB or Bluetooth, the case begins. Once a smartphone is connected, the system offers additional apps and functionality controllable through the vehicle’s infotainment system, such as playing music, making phone calls, navigation and sending and receiving text messages hands-free, the suit relays. 

On information and belief, however, the infotainment systems in Ford vehicles from at least 2014 onward also download and store in the computer’s memory a copy of all text messages on smartphones connected to the system, the case alleges. 

The suit cites a December 2020 NBC News article on the loose privacy standards for vehicle data in which Ben LeMere, the CEO and founder of Berla, was quoted saying on a podcast that “[p]eople rent cars and go do things with them and don’t even think about the places they are going and what the car records.” 

In another article, published in May 2021 by The Intercept, LeMere, in another podcast, was quoted recounting a time when his company pulled data from a rental car at BWI Marshall Airport outside Washington, D.C.:  

“We had a Ford Explorer … we pulled the system out, and we recovered 70 phones that had been connected to it. All of their call logs, their contacts and their SMS history, as well as their music preferences, songs that were on their device, and some of their Facebook and Twitter things as well. … And it’s quite comical when you sit back and read some of the the [sic] text messages.” 

The plaintiffs claim to have never consented to Ford downloading and storing their text messages, nor to third parties such as Berla or law enforcement having access to copies of their messages. 

The case looks to represent all persons who, within the last three years, had their text messages recorded by the infotainment system in a Ford or Lincoln vehicle while a resident of the State of Washington. 

Initially filed in Thurston County Superior Court on August 9, the case was removed to Washington’s Western District Court at Tacoma on September 10. 

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.