Recently, a New Jersey man, Galo Coba, filed a lawsuit seeking class action status against Ford Motor Company.  Coba and his company, Cob Landscaping and Construction Inc., filed suit in New Jersey.  He alleges that Ford knowingly sold F-series and E-series trucks with bad fuel tank linings.  The F-series pickup is the bestselling truck in the U.S.  This lawsuit wants to represent anyone who purchased any of the models of these trucks made between 1999 and 2008.

Allegedly, the defective vehicles’ fuel tank lining may degrade and flake off inside the fuel tank.  This would clog the fuel system which results in sudden losses of engine power.  This would then cause trucks to become hard to control and potentially stall, both of which significantly increase the risk of an automobile accident.

Not only does the lawsuit assert this malfunction but also that Ford knew about the problems and failed to alert consumers or issue a recall. This would be clear negligence on the part of Ford.  In 2007, Ford dealers were advised of the potential defect in a secret technical service bulletin.  However, Ford and its dealers never offered to make free repairs for the fuel tanks.  The lawsuit accuses Ford of breach of warranty, fraud and more.  The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.  If the suit can be certified as a class action, it could include up to hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs.