FORD 12V BATTERY CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: INCLUDES BRONCO SPORT AND MAVERICK

[RushMan]

First, let me be clear...

Fortunately, most of the advertising industry finally got tired of, "It will change your life."
Quite a few things have changed my life: parents passed away, oldest brother passed away, a close friend was diagnosed with cancer. These things all changed their life and mine, and not for the better. But advertisng agencies and the clients they serve are pretty darned stupid.
My message to these advertisers, as Edgar Bergan would say to Mortimer Snerd, "Mortimer, how can you be so stupid!"

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[sajohnson]

It beats everything being "exponential,"
or YouTubers' "I'm not gonna' lie," while overly using "as well" for every feature of the car they describe. The latter is especially annoying in YouTube car reviews.

One exceptional reviewer avoided using "As well" and instead abused "and most importantly," which he said at least 50 times in a 15 minute car review.

I've also noted TV talking heads on news programs using "as well" way too frequently. Didn't these people have writing and speech classes in high school and learn to avoid redundancy? [rhetorical question - no need to answer].

Agreed.

"Literally" -- which is often misused -- is another.

 

[sajohnson]

Makes sense to me. Might be difficult for the plaintiff to prove the issue takes tens of thousands of hours from people in those cases, although I completely agree anyone that has replaced a failing battery should get comped for the charges because the battery they use obviously has issues. I don't think I've ever heard of a product recall that ever covered lost time.
While I don't object to throwing mine on the charger (it's convenient for me, I park in a garage and have a power outlet by the hood) I have never had to do that for any other vehicle. In my estimation, a car battery should not fail for 6+ years with typical use. Even with a 36 month Ford warranty, does a separate battery warranty apply to factory batteries? Might be another avenue for people that had to replace early.

I agree that (on average) batteries should last longer than 3 years. Of course, each situation is different, which is why I said on average. As Dude has mentioned, in his experience the Arizona heat kills batteries in about 1-1/2 years (IIRC). We live where the temps are moderate, and our garage is built into the mountain so it never gets above about 70-75 degrees. I use Battery Tenders as well, so in the past (going back decades) our batteries have generally lasted 6 years or more.

Due to the recall, I won't be able to determine the lifespan of the OE battery in the Badlands, but it's going on 3 years now and doing fine. Never any messages related to low SOC. Starts quickly. Voltage never lower than ~12.53V when I have intentionally left the BT disconnected to see how much it would be discharged over a few days. Of course according to the recall, it could fail at any time without warning...

Regarding the general idea that businesses (not just car mfrs, but including them) should pay something to reimburse customers for their time, I'd say that many things were not heard of -- until they were: the 5 day work week; 8 hour days; OT; vacation; weekends off; child labor laws; anti-trust laws; worker's comp insurance (that actually helps employers also, in that they cannot be sued); health insurance; sick days, etc.

A good case can be made that when a business demands/requires that a customer take their time, and put miles on their vehicle, through no fault of their own -- that customer should be reimbursed.

One way took look at it is, if on top of an employee's normal 40 hour work week, the company asked him/her to use their personal vehicle to go pick up some supplies. The employee would be paid OT, plus (in many cases) be reimbursed for the miles on their car. As it should be.

In this *particular* case (the battery recall) in cases where the dealer will send a tech to the owner's home or place of work to replace the battery, then obviously the above would not apply. The owner has not been put out.

That said, there are plenty of cases (involving a wide range or mfrs and vendors) where mistakes are made -- or products are poorly designed and/or mfrd, and there is little or no QC -- where the customer is often out both time and money though no fault of their own. If mfrs had to reimburse customers, perhaps they would pay more attention to quality -- plus, it is the right thing to do.

 

[NMhunter]

I'm thrilled that my Badlands will get a new battery, hopefully an AGM. For free. I haven't gotten a new battery since I was 19 and traveling through Texas, and my uncle bought me one to ge me home. Thanks, Uncle Ford.

My experience with class action lawsuits is that each plaintiff gets $10 bucks, and the lawyers get $100 million.

 

[cprcubed]

My experience with class action lawsuits is that each plaintiff gets $10 bucks, and the lawyers get $100 million.

Ain't that the truth! And it will be years from now before anyone (besides lawyers) will get paid if successful. Cheers!

 

[sajohnson]

I'm thrilled that my Badlands will get a new battery, hopefully an AGM. For free. I haven't gotten a new battery since I was 19 and traveling through Texas, and my uncle bought me one to ge me home. Thanks, Uncle Ford.

My experience with class action lawsuits is that each plaintiff gets $10 bucks, and the lawyers get $100 million.

Exactly -- the rules for class action (and contingency) cases need to change. The difference between what plaintiffs receive vs what their lawyers are paid is usually outrageous.

Class action cases seem to be handled like a typical contingency case -- in which the attorney(s) get 33-40% of the settlement. That can be an obscene amount of money for the actual number of hours invested. Say a settlement is $1B. The attorneys might receive up to $400M and the plaintiffs split the remaining $600M. Even if there were only 600 plaintiffs, they'd each only get $1M ('only' when compared to $400M). That $400M might work out to $100,000 per hour or more.

To be fair (not that I'm inclined to be) lawyers accept many lawsuits that they spend a lot of time on only to see them dropped, thrown out, or the settlement is very low. That said, the amount they can earn per hour needs to be capped. IOW, even if the 33-40% fee remains, it should be (say) 33%, UP TO $X per hour. For example, if they worked for a total of 2,000 hours on the case and their pay is capped at $1,000/hour, that's $2,000,000 to them. The plaintiffs split the rest.

I imagine I will not be invited to the Maryland Bar Association dinner anytime soon...

As I wrote in post #4, I agree that this particular case is weak -- assuming:

* Ford does not take months to replace the batteries
* The replacement batteries are high quality
* There are no (or very few) issues with the new AGM batteries
* There are no serious accidents/losses while owners are waiting for the replacement batteries.

If Ford were refusing to replace the batteries for free, the case would be much stronger.

 

[oharajoynr]

Normally, I replace my batteries in our vehicles every 3 years. I recently replaced our ‘21 BS BB at 3 years and 3 months, easy to do, and requires you to reset the BMS system (very easy). The only difficulty was availability for the exact Motorcraft Battery, took 6 days to order one, apparently because those same batteries were going out the door faster than dealerships can get them in. Now I know why there was a delay.

 

[DUKE]

It’ll be fun to watch the progress of this class action lawsuit… my guess it will be rejected by the courts

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2025/ford-12v-battery-recall-lawsuit-maverick-bronco-sport.shtml

Is there a way to get reimbursed if I had to change the battery before the recall ...?

 

[Dude]

Is there a way to get reimbursed if I had to change the battery before the recall ...?

That’s the expectation but no details on that yet from Ford

 

[oharajoynr]

I'm planning to do that this week. I've already brought back the battery core to parts department at my dealership and got receipt for that, plus I purchased the new battery from same dealership. Hopefully they will reimburse me.

 

[Bucko]

Is there a way to get reimbursed if I had to change the battery before the recall ...?

Start/file a class action lawsuit

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