Ford Super Duty Lawsuit Alleges Roofs Crush in Rollover Crashes

By David A. Wood CarComplaints.com

A Ford Super Duty truck roof lawsuit alleges occupants are injured and killed in rollover crashes because the truck roofs are weak and dangerous.

The class action lawsuit includes 1999-2016 Ford F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty trucks that allegedly have roofs that cannot handle the weight of the trucks in rollover incidents.

Even if the crash impact leaves truck occupants unscathed, the roofs allegedly collapse onto the occupants as the trucks roll over.

Ford truck roof-crush class action lawsuits began being filed following a Georgia court case where the jury awarded $1.7 billion to the family of two 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck occupants.

The crash was allegedly caused by a Pep Boys service shop that installed the wrong size tire on the Ford F-250, which caused the tire to blow out. The truck rolled, which caused the roof to collapse.

The class action alleges the Ford Super Duty trucks are built around steel frames which should maintain the form and structure of the trucks to keep occupants safe.

But the plaintiffs assert the Super Duty steel frames aren’t strong enough to support the weight of the trucks, which causes the roofs to collapse onto occupants in rollover crashes.

“The Roof Defect has caused serious injury, paralysis and death to vehicle drivers and occupants. Ford has repeatedly been found liable for injuries and deaths resulting from the Roof Defect in the over 160 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits that have been filed against it regarding the Defect,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit further alleges that with more than 5 million Super Duty trucks equipped with defective weak roofs, Ford has allegedly admitted more than “80 incidents of roof crush resulting from the Defect.”

According to the plaintiffs, the allegedly weak defective roofs also affect safety features such as the Safety Canopy System, which is advertised as a way to increase safety in rollover crashes.

Those plaintiffs also claim their 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty trucks have lost their resale values because of the roofs.

According to the Super Duty roof class action lawsuit, “Ford must buy back these dangerous Vehicles or reimburse Plaintiffs and Vehicle Owners and Lessees for the serious risk inherent in continuing to drive them.”

The Ford Super Duty truck roof lawsuit was filed by these plaintiffs:

Curtis Bright, Washington, 2000 Ford Super Duty Extended Cab

William P. Griffitt, Oklahoma, 2000 Ford F-250 Lariat Super Duty

Desmond Rains, Oregon, 1999 Ford F-350 Super Duty

Ivan Tellez, California, 2016 Ford F-350 Super Duty

Kevin Thomas, Kentucky, 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty

The Ford Super Duty roof class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco Division): Bright, et al., v. Ford Motor Company.

The plaintiffs are represented by Keller Rohrback L.L.P.

Jaguar Land Rover Joins I-CAR Program

I-CAR on Dec. 15 announced Jaguar Land Rover has joined I-CAR’s Sustaining Partner Program, designed to fund the various initiatives that drive I-CAR’s vision that every person in the collision repair industry has the information, knowledge and skills required to perform complete, safe and quality repairs for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.

The move builds upon Jaguar Land Rover’s longstanding training partnership with I-CAR, which provides customized training programs to Jaguar Land Rover’s Authorized Repair Network facilities throughout North America.

Since the program’s founding in 2017, I-CAR Sustaining Partners has helped fund I-CAR curriculum and student fees in career and technical schools, which have become I-CAR fixed training sites; that funding exceeds $3 million. Sustaining Partners has also funded all Industry Training Alliance training credit fees for individuals who train with curriculum from approved Industry Training Alliance partners.

Source: I-CAR

Tesla Fremont Factory Pickup Center Packed With Cars Amid End-of-Year Push

By Simon Alvarez Teslarati

All signs are pointing to Tesla pushing deliveries to the end of the year. This was hinted at in a recent flyover of the Fremont Factory, Tesla’s California-based EV production facility.

Tesla’s Fremont Factory is no longer the company’s largest plant by volume, with the title now being held by Gigafactory Shanghai. Despite this, the Fremont Factory is still one of Tesla’s most important facilities, being the only one that produces the entire S3XY lineup. In 2021, it was also deemed the most productive auto plant in the U.S.

This is why it has become a tradition for the EV community to observe the Fremont Factory during Tesla’s typical endof-quarter delivery efforts. It provides a glimpse of Tesla’s activities, as well as the company’s momentum at the end of a quarter.

A drone flyover conducted Dec. 28 suggested Tesla is hard at work producing and delivering as many vehicles as it can. The plant’s customer delivery area in particular is filled with vehicles ready to be handed over to their respective owners.

The busy nature of the Fremont Factory bodes well for Tesla’s fourth-quarter vehicle delivery results.

“Since we have a lot of cars arriving at the last minute, it is important to rally hard and do everything we can to get our cars to customers who have ordered them before midnight on Dec. 31,” CEO Elon Musk said recently in a message to employees. “Also, every incremental car we produce that can be delivered in time also matters. Please go all out for the next few days and volunteer to help deliver if at all possible. It will make a real difference!”

F-150 Lightning Wins 2023 North American Truck of the Year

The Ford F-150 Lightning is charging into the new year as the North American Truck of the Year™.

This is the latest award in the electric truck’s trophy case and marks the third straight NACTOY Truck of the Year award for Ford. It’s also the fifth NACTOY award for Ford in the past three years.

“Earning North America’s Truck of the Year is huge for the team that has been working so hard to build and deliver as many Lightnings as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “We’re moving fast to further ramp production to a 150,000 run rate this fall and pushing to improve every aspect of this truck. We’ve started delivering Lightnings from the factory with a fantastic new user interface update to improve the driver experience that we’ll also roll out to all of our Lightning owners over-the-air.”

The F-150 Lightning is the bestselling electric truck in the U.S. since its launch in May 2022, with sales totaling 15,617, helping Ford to become the No. 2 EV automaker

ASE Announces New Officers

The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) announced its officers for its 2023 Board of Directors. The officers were elected during the annual ASE board meeting held in Arizona.

The officers are Chair Homer Hogg, vice president of truck service, TravelCenters of America; Vice Chair Tom Trisdale, vice president of quality, Toyota; Treasurer Jason Rainey, vice president of NAPA AutoCare; Secretary John Wolf, president of Snap-on Business Solutions; and Past Chair Brad Pellman, president of Pellman’s Automotive.

“Volunteer leadership is instrumental in helping ASE set an agenda and fulfill the established mission each year,” said Tim Zilke, ASE president and CEO.

ASE also elected three new governors to its board of governors: Stacy Balzar, Ford; Elisha Huddleston, GM; and Gary Uyematsu, BMW.

Source: ASE in the U.S. in 2022.

“When America’s best-selling vehicle goes electric you know the transition has momentum,” said Karl Brauer, NACTOY juror and freelance journalist for Forbes. “Ford’s effort to create an all-electric F-150 is remarkable because it combines the standard truck’s dimensions, which means it retains massive aftermarket support, with substantial upgrades to areas like storage and mobile power support. It’s really the best of all worlds, giving the F-150 Lightning a wide range of applications for both traditional and new-to-the-segment truck customers.”

To win the North American Truck of the Year, vehicles must be new or substantially changed for the year. The jury of 50 professional automotive journalists from across North America choose a winner based on innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, user experience, driver satisfaction and value.

North American Truck of the Year is the latest award in the F-150 Lightning trophy case. Others include Motor Trend Truck of the Year, The Car Connection Best Car to Buy, Edmunds Top Rated, Detroit Free Press Truck of the Year, Green Car Reports Best Car to Buy, TIME Top 200 Invention of 2022, 2023 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Award, 2022 Altair Enlighten Award, Sobre Ruedas 2022 Awards, Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems, Internet Brands Best Car to Buy, Victory & Reseda Vehicle of the Year, TopGear.com 2022 American Car of the Year, Autoblog Technology of the Year 2022, Motor1 Star Awards, CarBuzz Save the Planet award and multiple Sabre awards.

Source: Ford

AsTech’s Rules Engine Now Available

asTech, a Repairify company, on Jan. 11 announced the full deployment of its patented Rules Engine, which presents users with the most accurate and cost-effective diagnostic scan type for the vehicle throughout the blue printing process and repair workflow.

The new feature gives asTech customers access to the most accurate way to identify the diagnostic and calibration scan tools that read all of a car’s OEM modules correctly—versus those that don’t— down to the year, make, model and trim. With the Rules Engine enabled, asTech users, insurance carriers and their customers can be confident with the accuracy and cost of the recommended scan type.

To build the Rules Engine, Repairify’s research and development team scanned tens of thousands of vehicles from different years, makes, models and trim levels with the leading aftermarket tools available, then compared the results to the relevant OEM tool. Researchers used like-for-like tools on the same cars at the same time to ensure accuracy.

Ram 1500 Revolution EV Concept Unveiled At CES 2023

The Ram Truck brand introduced a visionary road map Jan. 5 at CES 2023 with its Ram 1500 Revolution Battery-electric Vehicle (BEV) Concept, which provides a glimpse into the future and demonstrates how the industry’s leading truck brand will once again redefine the pickup truck segment.

The leading-edge Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept showcased a truckload of innovative features that will be seen in future Ram trucks and in particular on Ram’s electrification journey.

Ram will differentiate itself by offering a portfolio of fully electrified solutions to better meet customer needs, including a segment-redefining Ram 1500 BEV in 2024. The entire Ram lineup will offer electrified solutions with leading-edge advanced technology in the years to come. The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept establishes how Ram will push past competitors’ future EV offerings.

“The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept is our clearest signal yet that we’re on the precipice of something extraordinary at Ram and points directly to where we’re going on our electrified journey,”

Source: AsTech

“The Ram Revolution represents several important things to the Ram brand,” Koval added. “Of course, it’s our new Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept that serves as a roadmap to our electrified future. Yet Ram Revolution is also our philosophy as we redefine the pickup segment, with a steady drumbeat of announcements and initiatives as we embark on our electrified journey.” said Mike Koval Jr., Ram brand CEO-Stellantis. “At Ram, we’ve redefined what pickup trucks can be, and we will do so again by pushing past what competitors are offering by delivering the best electric pickups on the market.”

The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept is part of Ram’s significant contribution to Stellantis’ Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan to lead the way the world moves by delivering innovative, clean, safe and affordable mobility solutions.

Ram will once again redefine the pickup truck segment with its revolutionary Ram 1500 BEV production model in 2024. It will be the leader in a combination of areas customers care about the most: range, towing, payload and charge time. More news on the production version will be available in the coming months.

Source: Ram

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