— A Ford class action lawsuit alleges California vehicle owners are forced to pay for emissions-related repairs for parts allegedly covered by an extended emissions warranty.
California plaintiff Victoria Berghuis owns a 2014 Ford Focus, and in December 2021 she took her Focus to a Ford dealership when the odometer read 77,283 miles.
The plaintiff says she paid $180 for a diagnostic fee which indicated a defective transmission clutch.
The plaintiff was charged for the work because her Ford Focus powertrain warranty expired at 60,000 miles. The plaintiff says she "paid to repair or replace her transmission."
The Ford class action lawsuit alleges the repairs should have been free under the California emissions warranty which provides extended coverage up to 15 years or 150,000 miles. The lawsuit alleges the transmission clutch is a warranted part which should have been covered.
The class action alleges the transmission clutch is a warranted part based on the following:
- The transmission clutch was slipping outside of expected limits which caused an increase in regulated emissions.
- The allegedly defective transmission clutch should have caused the “check engine light” to illuminate.
- The allegedly defective transmission clutch would cause the vehicle to fail a smog check.
The Ford class action also asserts Ford illegally failed to list the transmission clutch as a warranted part under the California emissions warranty in their application for certification to the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
According to the class action lawsuit, all partial zero emissions vehicles (PZEVs) in California for which Ford has received a zero emissions credit from CARB should be covered by the extended emissions warranty.
Ford Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed
Judge James E. Simmons Jr. notes the plaintiff contends the transmission clutch is a warranted part under the California emissions warranty, the clutch should have been included in Ford’s list of warranted parts and her Ford Focus should have been repaired for free.
Ford argues the plaintiff does not plausibly allege her Ford Focus repair involved a requisite “materials and workmanship” defect that necessitates warranty coverage, and she fails to allege the transmission clutch qualifies for coverage under the extended warranty.
Judge Simmons does not currently accept the plaintiff’s "expansive interpretation of a warranted part” under the California emissions warranty, in part because she failed to attach the CARB declaration to her second amended class action lawsuit.
However, "even if the plaintiff provides the declaration and the judge accepts her "expansive interpretation, she has not sufficiently pleaded facts to survive Defendant's motion to dismiss."
According to the judge, the plaintiff does not allege the Ford Focus warning light was lit when she sought repairs, and the plaintiff does not allege her car repair work order indicated that the warning light was illuminated. In addition, the plaintiff does not allege her Ford Focus failed a smog check.
The plaintiff does not allege the OBD II system failed or malfunctioned. Instead, the judge says the plaintiff alleges the warning light "should have illuminated, such illumination would cause the car to fail a smog check, and the lack of illumination means that the OBD II system in the car was not in compliance with regulations."
In addition to failing to allege the warning light illuminated, the judge found the plaintiff does not allege the transmission clutch is on CARB’s emissions-related parts list.
The judge says he must accept as true all factual allegations in the Ford class action lawsuit, but the judge ruled the allegations are "speculative and amount to legal conclusions. The Court holds that Plaintiff has not stated a claim for relief that is plausible on its face."
The Ford class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California: Victoria Berghuis v. Ford Motor Company, et al.
The plaintiff is represented by the Law Office of Robert L. Starr, Pomerantz LLP, and Frontier Law Center.