A jury in Georgia returned a verdict on Friday in a case involving a 2014 rollover of a Ford F-250 pickup truck that killed two people.
According to James Butler, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case, the Gwinnett County jury decided that punitive damages should be imposed on Ford for selling 5.2 million Super Duty trucks with what the plaintiffs' attorneys said were dangerously weak roofs that could crush passengers in a rollover accident.
Mr. Butler said the case was brought by the family of Melvin and Voncile Hill of Georgia, who were driving a 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck from their farm when the right front tire blew out and the truck rolled over. He went on to say that the Hills were crushed inside the truck.
"While we extend our condolences to the Hill family, we do not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we intend to appeal," Ford said on Sunday. "In the meantime, we will not pursue this matter through the news media."
The $1.7 billion verdict is thought to be one of the largest in Georgia history, and it is unusually large for an accident-related lawsuit involving an automobile manufacturer. Damages in these types of cases typically run into the millions of dollars, and many are settled out of court. High-dollar verdicts are frequently reduced by judges or appeals courts.
"The Hill family is relieved that this part of the case is finally over," said Mr. Butler. "They intend to persevere and hold Ford accountable."
Plaintiffs' attorneys contended that the roofs on the 1999-2016 Super Duty trucks were defectively designed and dangerously weak, and that Ford was aware of the dangers posed by the roofs.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs' attorneys presented evidence that the roof on these trucks failed in the company's own internal testing and that Ford engineers developed a stronger roof for its Super Duty pickups in 2004 but that roof was not used in trucks sold to customers until the 2017 model year.
According to the pretrial order, Ford has identified 162 lawsuits and 83 similar incidents of roof crush involving 1999-2016 Super Duty trucks.
According to court records, Ford responded to the allegations by claiming that the tire installed on the truck had the incorrect load-carrying capacity, which caused the tire to fail catastrophically.
Furthermore, Ford claimed that after the tire ruptured, Mr. Hill missteered his truck, causing it to leave the road at a "dangerous angle." According to Ford's lawsuit, the Hills also misused their seat belts.
The trial was three weeks long. The lawsuit was initially tried in 2018 and ended in a mistrial. In Georgia, the state receives three-quarters of the proceeds from punitive damages cases. The remaining 25% is split evenly between plaintiffs and attorneys.
Mr. Butler said that on Thursday, a Georgia jury awarded plaintiffs Kim and Adam Hill, the children of the couple who died in the crash, $24 million in compensatory damages. According to Mr. Butler, the jury assigned Ford 70% of the blame in the case.
The remaining 30% of the damages were awarded to Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack, a tire distributor who, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, installed the incorrect tire size on the Hills' truck.
"We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Hill family on their loss," Pep Boys said. "In keeping with our unwavering commitment to our customers, Pep Boys and the Hill family's legal counsel collaborated over five years ago to resolve our part of the matter."
According to a Pep Boys spokesperson, a separate case involving the tire distributor and the Hill family was settled in early 2018.
Ford executives have worked for years to address costly quality and warranty issues with their vehicles, including making this a priority under the current CEO, Jim Farley. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, the company has issued 49 recalls this year, the most of any automaker.
On a July earnings call, Mr. Farley said, "We continue to be hampered by recalls and customer-satisfaction actions." "This has an impact on our costs, but more importantly, it falls short of our most basic commitment to our customers."
It was unclear whether the quality issues that the company is attempting to address are related to the Georgia accident.
Ford set aside more than $4 billion for warranty costs last year, a 76% increase from the previous year. From 2016 to 2021, the car company's total warranty expenses increased by about 17%.
Mr. Farley hired a new executive director of quality, Josh Halliburton, earlier this year. Mr. Halliburton spent 17 years at J.D. Power, an independent research firm that specializes in assessing and studying vehicle quality, before joining Ford.
"We're spending more time and effort upfront to ensure everything is done correctly to avoid quality issues later in the development process," Mr. Halliburton said.
He added that he expects Ford's warranty issues to improve next year, but that it may take two to three years to see the most significant results.