Ford announced yesterday that it will settle a class action lawsuit filed against the company covering plaintiffs in four states — California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas. The lawsuit claimed Ford’s Explorer — model years 1991 through 2001 — was prone to rollover accidents.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the settlement applies to about 1 million people in those four states.
The settlement allows vehicle owners to claim a $500 voucher towards the purchase of a new Explorer or a $300 voucher towards the purchase of any Ford, Lincoln or Mercury product.



11/29, 12:20 PM
posted by:
Gary
This lawsuit is stupid, There SUV’s. I guess what ever it takes to make a free buck anymore.
11/29, 12:41 PM
posted by:
Jazz
lol – $500 voucher is a joke. They give that in rebates and new graduate discounts. Is Ford paying $500 to get people to stick with Explorer?
11/29, 12:55 PM
posted by:
cookie4me
The only winners are members of the American Trial Bar Association. Everything would cost significantly less, if we would adopt the European system where if you bring a lawsuit against a party and fail to win you are on the hook for their defense costs. That would be tort reform!
11/29, 1:13 PM
posted by:
moto-racer13
What a worthless deal those victims of Ford are getting! Ford is the only carmaker that I actually hate. Bunch of evil greedy idiots running that company. Its so easy to understand why people don’t buy fords anymore, only stupid ford loyalists who for some bizarre reason feel a personal connection with this heartless corporation. Most automakers are giving bigger discounts than $500 voucher. Whats just beyond belief is that Ford wants these people to buy another explorer! Not only does ford build bad cars, they further cheat people who have already been cheated by them! Good one Ford!
11/29, 1:20 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
If this lawsuit had taken place in Canada the plaintiffs would have ended up giving Ford $500 dollar vouchers and been forced to pay the original msrp on their choice of any used Explorer on the lot.
11/29, 1:35 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Gary: Yes, this lawsuit is stupid.
cookie4me: The only problem with the (civil) legal system is that it too long to laugh out of court the few frivolous lawsuits that actually exist. “Tort reform” is a sham idea designed to help insurance companies tighten their grip on America.
11/29, 1:48 PM
posted by:
R1GHT30U5
This is so sad its almost funny. They really stuck it to Ford on that one! LOL
11/29, 1:48 PM
posted by:
F3INT))AP3X
I have to agree with what Gary said up top; It is ridiculous that people can try to blame an automaker for an SUV being prone to rollovers. The SUV is extremely top-heavy by nature as I’m sure most of you know; if you dont want to rollover then dont buy a HUGE f*ckin car! It’s amazing how many noobs there are these days who cannot understand that some things are based upon human error. Meanwhile the car companies who deal with this crap like Ford in this case, have to to tip-toe through the tulips with these retards. Why did they give em only $500? Because it’s a jerkoff complaint to begin with end of story. Maybe I should head down to the Acura dealership and tell them I want money too cuz my car is prone to getting hit by other cars.
11/29, 2:24 PM
posted by:
Mach
Obviously explorers aren’t exactly designed to be stable but it didn’t help that the recommended tire pressure on the door sticker was 26psi!
11/29, 2:33 PM
posted by:
RicardoHead
Hell that’s funny. Now really, if I were a competitor, I would inform those holders of those certificates that I will also honor the $500 certificates toward the purchase of any new SUV or truck, and $300 toward any other vehicles (cars, CUVs).
That way if they are feeling scammed I get their new business.
11/29, 2:36 PM
posted by:
RicardoHead
BTW, when it says “$300 toward the purchase of any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury product” can I take the certificate and go to the parts dept at Ford and get $300 worth of wear and tear parts?
11/29, 2:51 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
R-Head: That’s a good idea. Probably can’t buy parts, though.
11/29, 2:54 PM
posted by:
autonut
Ricardo, why bother with part? Sue the bastards for mental anguish and invest proceeds into Accord which is not prone to roll overs
11/29, 3:54 PM
posted by:
Z06ified
Why don’t they disclose how much in fees the lawyers got from this stupid lawsuit? It would make people’s hearts stop. That’s the real crime in class action suits.
11/29, 4:20 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
autonut: talk about throwing good money after bad!
11/29, 4:26 PM
posted by:
jonmiles
Holy LOL! I wonder what crack-team of lawyers negotiated that sweet deal for the plaintiffs! hhahahahahahaha
11/29, 4:27 PM
posted by:
jonmiles
and Z06- since it’s a voucher, and there is no real money involved, I doubt they got anything
11/29, 5:34 PM
posted by:
CA36GTP
Hahaha, whoever handled that case is laughing all the way to the bank!
11/29, 6:21 PM
posted by:
LamborghiniZ
hahah what a good way to reimburse everyone. save a couple bucks towards ANOTHER ford!! sweeeet!
11/29, 6:49 PM
posted by:
LP640
you could buy a whole dealership of Fords with a $100 dollar voucher imagine what you’d get with $500
11/29, 6:54 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
Here we go with this stupid lawsuit issue again. I remember this idiotic thread nearly 18 months ago, when I first joined LLN – Some kid got killed in an Explorer rollover and for the longest time some guy was getting on and telling us he was a friend and at the court proceedings the whole time.
….I remember my first time on this site….there was a story about Brabus tuning a CLS550 for some police force in Germany, and some ****ing morons were insisting that Brabus had ****ed up by putting a blocky lightbar on the roof, thinking it would get ripped off at 200 mph. I remember thinking, “What ****ing idiots, bunch of kids jerking off to LLN thinking they know better than the kraut engineers at Brabus..”
Those were the days!
11/29, 7:34 PM
posted by:
C6Racer
Why is it that only the Explorer gets blamed for rolling over too easily?
If only I had a nickel for every time I heard of somebody rolling their pre-2002 4Runner. I’d be in the market for a Scuderia.
11/29, 7:44 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
deantj: Wednesday, I wangled a ride in a $500K Mclaren Roadster. Thing has a casette player in it!
C6racer. 4-Runner, Tahoe or Geländewagen, somthing with that high of a gravity center can tip over, IF THE DRIVER DRIVES IT AS IF IT IS A SEDAN.
People who don’t know how to drive the damn things should stay out of them. same with sports cars.
11/29, 7:44 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
If i had a nickel for every time I wished I had a Ferrari, I’d have a Scuderia and a maranello
11/30, 12:05 AM
posted by:
sharpie
Such is the nature of class action suit. Bet the lawyers make all the cash!
11/30, 10:06 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Right, and in the end nobody won. Ford lost money, people lost lives, while lawyers everywhere made a ton of money. The world can be so cruel sometimes…
11/30, 1:16 PM
posted by:
jonnycat
That was a nice Fah-Q from Ford. rofl.
11/30, 6:10 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
JJT, McLaren?! HOly! How was it? Everything it’s cracked up to be?
11/30, 7:59 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
From the passenger side, yeah. Didn’t drive it(of course)but would’ve loved too. It’s like an executive jet that doesn’t fly.
12/01, 1:30 AM
posted by:
jdasch1
SUV + bald tires + speed = $500 . What other SUV’s roll over easy??? All of them, stupid lawyers.
12/01, 10:56 AM
posted by:
jayjc08
This is a really, really stupid lawsuit. All you loons on here saying Ford is stupid and worthless, then you need to consider this wasn’t Ford’s fault in the first place. It had nothing to do with Ford, it was bad tires on a vehicle that’s top heavy, end of story! Once they changed the tires, the reports stopped coming in, everything was fine.
With that said, it’s too bad to see Ford paying out $500 to it’s consumers, when it wasn’t their problem in the first place. At the same time, they might be keeping a few customers. I hope they understand this wasn’t Fords problem also.
12/02, 7:37 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
jayjc08: unfortunately that’s why the Big 3 never get a break…it seems all they can do is wrong (according to some people) and no one realizes that Firestone is the one to blame here. Oh, and Firestone’s parent company is Bridgestone, which is a jap company…hmm…quite a coincidence they never get any flak, ain’t it?
12/21, 9:03 PM
posted by:
dodgezilla
Flip Over Ride Design Factory Ordered Recalls Daily..