Ford Rollover Lawsuit Says Super Duty Pickups’ Roof Structure ‘Dangerously Weak’

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A proposed class action alleges Ford Motor Company has failed to warn the public that certain Super Duty pickup trucks have been built with a dangerously weak roof structure that can collapse in the event of a rollover. 

The 54-page complaint, filed in Michigan on September 2, says that the defective roof design of 1999-2016 model year Ford Super Duty pickups, including the F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550, increases the risk of catastrophic injury and death should a vehicle be involved in a rollover accident. 

According to the lawsuit, Ford has known of the roof design defect and the associated risks yet failed to disclose the problems to consumers prior to purchase. The automaker thus misrepresented the pickups’ “safety, reliability, functionality, and quality,” the case argues. 

The lawsuit’s filing comes in the wake of a Georgia jury awarding $1.7 billion in putative damages to the family of two individuals who were killed when the roof of their 2002 F-250 Super Duty collapsed during a rollover. In that case, the suit shares, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the roofs on 1999-2016 model year Super Duty pickups were “defectively designed and dangerously weak,” and that Ford knew of the dangers posed by the roofs. The attorneys highlighted evidence that they said showed the roof on affected pickup trucks “failed in the company’s own internal testing,” and that the automaker’s engineers developed a stronger roof in 2004 that was not used in trucks available to the public until 2017, the complaint states.

Court documents from the Georgia case indicate that Ford has “identified 162 lawsuits and 83 similar incidents of the roof crush involving 1999-2016 Super Duty trucks,” the case relays. Documents from the tableau of legal action Ford faces, according to the suit, “establish a disturbing timeline” that shows the company not only knew that the roofs of its Super Duty trucks were “unsafe and inadequate” but that it “purposely downgraded the roof strength” to save on manufacturing costs and thereby boost profits. 

“These facts establish that Ford had safer alternative designs available, yet it chose not to rectify this defect.” 

According to the complaint, Ford has offered no reimbursement to drivers of 1999-2016 model year Super Duty pickups for out-of-pocket expenses and loss of use and vehicle value. The suit charges that the automaker has violated myriad state consumer protection laws, been enriched unjustly and breached the implied warranty of merchantability for affected Super Duty pickups. 

The filing contends that although Ford may argue in its defense that many Super Duty pickup drivers have not experienced a rollover crash where their roof was crushed, and are thus uninjured, the automaker nevertheless was obligated to disclose the roof-crush defect to buyers and lessees, who’ve lost money and property due to Ford’s apparent “omissions.” 

“Ford had a duty to tell the truth at the point of sale and plaintiff and members of the class were injured by overpaying for cars that would have sold for less if the truth had been told, or they would not have paid for them at all,” the suit reads. “And plaintiffs don’t have to wait for the ticking time bomb to explode before they can claim injury.” 

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons or entities who bought or leased a 1999-2016 model year Ford Super Duty vehicle, including the F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550.

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