Shelby GT350 Mustang Owners File New Class Action Lawsuit Against Ford for Fraud

Zitrosounds said:

Probably triple digit speeds I would think. The RPM ranges that some a saying the limp mode kicked in would suggest either lugging the engine in a higher gear or hauling ass in a lower gear. Because last time a checked 5k in second or third gear you are moving.

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With all due respect, my transmission temps spiked the highest when I was driving on the highway, doing the speed limit in OD, traffic came to an abrupt stop and then proceeded at stop and go speeds for a while. My shifting during stop and go was within the parameters of the Supplemental Manual. This was late last season. I plan to be more methodical with my data collection this year.

How much on Ford's shit list would a person be for joining the suit..?

EDIT: I do think some mention of "Ford removed transmission temp data from dash display to hide dangerous temps during all use" would be a useful addition to the suit. That's some super shady stuff.

Class action = Lawyers getting rich and the class sharing a settlement.

Class action was not the way to go.

Honus said:

How much on Ford's shit list would a person be for joining the suit..?

EDIT: I do think some mention of "Ford removed transmission temp data from dash display to hide dangerous temps during all use" would be a useful addition to the suit. That's some super shady stuff.

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I used that in my personal arbitration with Ford. Explained how I had to unlock it and showed emails directly from Ford stating that the car wasn't equipped to display such information.

I love the speculation from everyone who hasn't gone through anything like this. The internet is a beautiful - and sad - place.

Sure this thing could take years, but fuck, at least a few people are standing up and are trying to do something about it rather than bitching for upwards of a year on the internet.

I applaud the initiative and wish both parties the best of luck. It should be an informative read.

I'm not sure what the alternative was to class action. Everyone calling Ford? Or just dumping all of our cars. There's been so much noise about this without any action that I'm not surprised this came up one way or another. This was going to happen at some point.

When people called ford performance, best we got was a cobbled together cooler kit without a pump...

Did anyone really see this going any other way?

It's a fishing expedition. Lawyers have absolutely no case and they know it. Just throwing a hook in the water. But that doesn't mean they can't settle for good money. The judge will order both parties to mediation. Both sides and mediator will all bull$h!t each other. If Ford has internal documents stating limp mode might become a safety problem. Ford lawyers will settle at mediation to avoid discovery at trial (they won't admit anything, just put an offer on the table). Discovery would force Ford to release all documents and take depositions from engineers & others. Of course, personal information from plaintiffs will be exposed. They will dig-up dirt on each plaintiff. At trial the single deciding factor will be any negative documents at Ford. If documents it will settle before trial. If no documents Ford can easily bury that lawfirm in thousands of hours of paperwork. 2,000 hours at $500. They'll drop the case soon after mediation fails.

Hope the system works.

I wonder if this will poopoo the GT500 or any future performance projects....

Muligan said:

Lots of hyperbole in that filing.

I don't have a tech, so unfamiliar with the parameters of limp mode, but doesn't it merely reduce the max available rpm to around 4,500 or so? I would think that depending on the gear that the driver selects when the car experiences limp mode, it would still be possible to operate the vehicle at all legal speed limits. As for available power within that reduced rpm range, it likely exceeds the full power of many common vehicles.

I guess this will all come out as the suit is litigated.

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Yes, limp mode is meant as a safety measure, allowing the vehicle to move under its own power even though there is some kind of malfunction. If these guys hang their hat on limp mode causing a safety issue, they are going to lose, IMO. Like you said, in limp mode, the car performs better than many cars on the road.

JN66 said:

I used that in my personal arbitration with Ford. Explained how I had to unlock it and showed emails directly from Ford stating that the car wasn't equipped to display such information.

I love the speculation from everyone who hasn't gone through anything like this. The internet is a beautiful - and sad - place.

Sure this thing could take years, but fuck, at least a few people are standing up and are trying to do something about it rather than bitching for upwards of a year on the internet.

I applaud the initiative and wish both parties the best of luck. It should be an informative read.

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Some of the "speculation" here is from those who are quite familiar with litigation, its duration, and outcomes.

JN66 said:

I used that in my personal arbitration with Ford. Explained how I had to unlock it and showed emails directly from Ford stating that the car wasn't equipped to display such information.

I love the speculation from everyone who hasn't gone through anything like this. The internet is a beautiful - and sad - place.

Sure this thing could take years, but fuck, at least a few people are standing up and are trying to do something about it rather than bitching for upwards of a year on the internet.

I applaud the initiative and wish both parties the best of luck. It should be an informative read.

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Yep. My observation is that many of the members here sleep at a Holiday Inn, every night.

Having been a part of a class action suit that lasted 10 years to resolve, I can say that they are complicated and not necessarily sensical. The law isn't always logical and it doesn't always protect or provide remedy for the aggrieved.

I'm encouraged that someone is attempting to hold Ford accountable for what seems to be shady practices.

montreal ponies said:

Worthless filling in the form for us up here. We need a separate lawsuit to make this happen.

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I filled it in and put a note that I was from Canada. Interesting to follow anyways.

The manager at the dealership told me that most people will never exploit 8/10's of this car's potential (pointing to the '16 Tech pack I was looking at) on a race track. Wish I had that on record.

Tank said:

With all due respect, my transmission temps spiked the highest when I was driving on the highway, doing the speed limit in OD, traffic came to an abrupt stop and then proceeded at stop and go speeds for a while. My shifting during stop and go was within the parameters of the Supplemental Manual. This was late last season. I plan to be more methodical with my data collection this year.

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See that's where it sucks, I completely understand that I didn't buy a car that was ready out of the box for the track but I did buy one where I can be in this situation a lot and find it unacceptable to not at least be able to handle that.

krt22 said:

If they do I will be expecting a refund for the one's I had to pay for.

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I normally don't agree with this type of argument but for the amount of money involved, I'm kinda onboard with you here.

Tank said:

With all due respect, my transmission temps spiked the highest when I was driving on the highway, doing the speed limit in OD, traffic came to an abrupt stop and then proceeded at stop and go speeds for a while. My shifting during stop and go was within the parameters of the Supplemental Manual. This was late last season. I plan to be more methodical with my data collection this year.

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I a not saying that the limp mode does not happen. However, If the argument lays solely on a "safety" concern it will go no where. Why? Because the car can operate just fine at the limited RPM once limp mode has engaged. I understand the discontent with Ford as I have had my own issues with them when my engine failed. However! those with the concern of safety should have documented and captured all the data required and filed for a Lemon Law claim. Lemon law claim most certainly would produced more favorable results as opposed to a class action law suit.

Interesting. I came over from many years driving the last 3 generations of M3. I liked the look of the Mustang and after reading everything ordered the 350 in spring 2015 and took delivery Apr 2016. I got tech pack because I wanted all the features, and I planned to only track occasionally like I did my M cars. The M cars had no track issues and all I did was run different brake pads and brake fluid.
Maybe I have some responsibility, but it was never made clear to me that I should not track the car, or that the thing might overheat on the street by Ford or the dealer. I saw the disclaimer in the owners manual after I took delivery. Its clear Ford did not try very hard to make this point when marketing the thing as a track machine. Obvious since 2017 cars include the damn coolers they made a huge mistake. I love the car, but they should have made all of them with coolers in the first place if they want to be an M4 or 911.

A different PCM with different wiring harness is annoying as well. Implies they were intentionally gimped vs track packs.

By the time Ford altered the info to say "add coolers," they had already made it very very not-plug-and-play.