Skip to footer

First lawsuit over gas mileage claims of 2013 Ford hybrids

Lawsuit says fuel economy claims for C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid are 'false and misleading.' Ford says cars can deliver 47 m.p.g. with right driving style.

|
Ford/AP/File
This undated image provided by Ford shows the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid. A Roseville, Calif., Ford owner is suing the automaker for 'false and misleading' claims about the fuel economy of the Fusion and C-Max hybrids.
  • By Antony Ingram Guest blogger

It isn't just Hyundai and Kia in deep water over misleading MPG claims--now Ford is the subject of a lawsuit over the MPG of its hybrid models.

The federal lawsuit concerns the fuel economy of its most recent hybrid models, the C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid. Filed on December 7, the lawsuit says Ford's marketing campaign highlighting the vehicles' economy is "false and misleading".

According to Consumer Reports, plaintiff Richard Pitkin of Roseville, California, wants Ford to reimburse him and other owners the purchase price, and rescind sales of vehicles purchased in California.

It also seeks to stop what the lawsuit calls "false advertisements", and wants Ford to carry out an informational campaign to correct what it calls "misrepresentations and omissions".

Ford's issues aren't dissimilar to those faced by Korean duo Hyundai and Kia, both of which were found to be mis-stating EPA fuel consumption figures on a wide range of models.

The EPA ordered both makes to correct their advertised figures, and both companies have set up a system to reimburse owners misled by the inaccurate figures. Both companies are involved in similar lawsuits from disgruntled owners.

Ford has maintained that each car's official 47 mpg is still possible with the right driving style. Despite escalating coverage of the issues with real-world fuel economy, sales for both models have remained high,

We noted back in November that the new hybrids didn't appear to be meeting their official fuel consumption figures, of 47 mpg combined.

Consumer Reports then confirmed this in early December, recording figures a full 20 percent lower than EPA during their own tests.

Ford has confirmed it is aware of the lawsuit, "but cannot discuss pending litigation."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to First lawsuit over gas mileage claims of 2013 Ford hybrids
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2013/0101/First-lawsuit-over-gas-mileage-claims-of-2013-Ford-hybrids
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe