A lawsuit filed in federal court in January alleges that a Modesto man and two others bought 2018-2020 Ford F-150 trucks with 5.0L engines with defects leading to excessively high oil consumption rates.
The defect, according to the complaint, is insufficient piston ring tension, which allows engine oil into the combustion chamber of the engine, where it is burned and consumed. The lawsuit claims the defect poses a significant safety risk to those inside the vehicle because the excessive oil consumption rate can cause unexpected engine failure or stalling, exposing those inside the vehicle to an increased risk of accident, injury and/or death.
Ford, according to the lawsuit, had “longstanding knowledge” of this defect, but “routinely refused” to repair vehicles with this defect without charge, and has even “refused to disclose” the defect’s existence when trucks with the defect are taken in for service, “instead choosing to ignore the defect until it has caused significant mechanical problems necessitating costly repairs.”
The complaint claims “Ford has also refused to take any action to correct this concealed manufacturing defect” when it happens in trucks outside of the warranty period. The defect, being safety-related, according to the complaint, renders Ford’s attempt to limit the warranty regarding the defect “unconscionable and unenforceable.”
Ford has refused to recall the defective vehicles, according to the lawsuit, despite knowing about the defect from customer complaints, dealer information, NHTSA complaints, and its own durability testing.
These business practices, according to the lawsuit, are “unfair, deceptive and/or fraudulent.”
The Modesto man, according to the complaint, bought a 2019 Ford F-150 from Heritage Ford Lincoln in Modesto in July 2019. He noticed, after driving his truck 4,000 miles, that his engine oil levels were “a few quarts low,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint claims he brought it back to Heritage Ford, asking about the cause, and was told that his truck was brand new “and needed to be broken in and that consuming oil was normal.”
The dealership topped up his oil, but at 5,000 miles, he checked his oil levels again and observed they were a quart low, according to the lawsuit. The dealership then changed his oil and overfilled it by about a half quart, but he noticed he was two quarts low at 8,000 miles, according to the complaint.
At this point, according to the complaint, Heritage Ford performed an oil consumption test and determined his vehicle was burning about 1 quart of oil every 1,500 miles.
He brought the truck back at 9,261 miles, according to the lawsuit, and Heritage Ford then told him his dipstick was not sealed.
He brought it back at 12,000 miles after finding his oil was one quart low, according to the complaint, and Heritage Ford gave him more oil and told him his oil consumption rate was normal and he would not be eligible for warranty repairs.
He brought it back again at 13,100 miles, according to the lawsuit, after noticing it was one-half quart low, and Heritage Ford performed another oil change.
The lawsuit claims that a consumption rate of 1 quart of oil per 1,500 miles is abnormally high, and that this causes the Modesto man to “endure the expense and inconvenience of having to constantly monitor his engine oil levels and both change the engine oil and add additional oil frequently.”
The lawsuit, attempting to bolster its case that Ford has known about the defect for quite some time, mentions a technical service bulletin Ford issued to authorized dealerships in March 2019 regarding excessive oil consumption in 2018 Ford F-150 trucks with 5.0L engines. This bulletin, according to the complaint, explained that the 5.0L engines can exhibit excessive oil consumption without presenting visible oil leaks.
Ford, according to the complaint, issued additional technical service bulletins regarding the same defect in May 2019 and November 2019.
The November 2019 bulletin appears to show Ford had diagnosed the defect, mentioning “high intake manifold vacuum which can pull oil past the piston rings and into the combustion chamber.” This bulletin, according to the lawsuit, instructed technicians to, instead of replacing the engine when a truck with this defect came in, “a measure needed to adequately correct the oil dilution issue,” simply add oil to the engine as necessary.
Another technical service bulletin was issued regarding the defect in December 2019, according to the complaint, and this bulletin proposed installing a new dipstick.
“Rather than adequately repair the [defect], Ford simply lowered the minimum fill level on the revised dipstick to mask the oil consumption problem,” the complaint claims.
“This change means that a dipstick reading that was once at or below the minimum fill line, previously requiring an engine replacement, and perhaps caused customers to become alarmed or concerned with excessive oil consumption, is now considered normal and within Ford’s acceptable parameters. This change only sought to save Ford the cost of repairs and did nothing to correct the” defect, the complaint states.
The complaint also lists numerous NHTSA complaints about the defect, dating back as far as April 15, 2019. That complaint noted the owner’s truck used 2.5 quarts of oil in the first 3,500 miles.
Numerous violations are alleged by the complaint, including violation of Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, violations of the California Unfair Competition Law, violation of California False Advertising Law, violation of the Song-Beverly Act, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, violation of the New York General Business Law, violations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, fraudulent concealment, and negligent misrepresentation.
