$2 billion lawsuit against Ford Re: Explorer

[srcoptdc]

"In a case that puts more than $2 billion in Ford Motor Co. profits at stake, plaintiffs' lawyers told a Sacramento judge Tuesday that the automaker deceived consumers by marketing its rollover-prone 1990s-era Explorers as safe replacements for family station wagons."

see: http://www.sacbee.com/291/story/207578.html

this is a class action so anyone who owned a '90-01 in Calif is a plaintiff unless you opt out. even if they do win, the attorneys will pocket most of it; the owners may get a coupon for an oil change if they're lucky. damn lawyers.

 

[Rick]

Absolute bullshit. I wish Penn and Teller would do an episode of Bullshit about the Explorer rollover fallacy.

I was driving directly behind a lifted Explorer at highway speed when his left rear tire suddenly blew out. The driver didn't panic, he kept it straight as an arrow and brought it to a safe stop.

We were on our way back from a 4x4 run and he had forgot to air up his tires. That generated excessive heat and BOOM!

Another friend blew a 37" front right tire on the freeway. Again, no problems.

 

[rizzjc]

I know a woman who blew a tire in her Explorer, and it *still* didn't roll.

 

[Rick]

Hey FOMOCO... if you're still watching this site and you need some videos of Explorers performing off highway in extreme conditions contact me...

 

[TinwoodyII]

Look at it this way. What a wonderful opportunity to buy first and second gen X's cheap from panic-stricken owners. We know that they are safe. There's almost always a silver lining
Bill W

 

[JDraper]

Pathetic... Someone needs to string those lawyers up by the kahuna's....I noticed in the article that all of the 7 original individual plaintiffs in the suit were not injured in any accident pertaining to the lawsuit....Bunch of money grubbing scumbags...

 

[Gator Jeff]

Yeah, and it pisses me off that Ford threw Firestone under the bus as well. It was Ford and not Firestone that spec'd low tire pressures that were borderline dangerous. Not to mention that I'll bet that most of the tires that blew were probably 5-10 psi below that.

And to echo Rick and rizzjc, I saw one of those Dateline/2020/60 Minutes shows where they had a professional driver in I believe a Gen 2 Explorer. They rigged the L Rear to deflate instantly and did just that while he was driving. They repeated the test over and over starting relatively slow, but at highway speeds at the end. The Explorer was so stable, the driver let them blow the tire with his hands off the wheel for the final test. There was a little shimmy, but he took hold of the wheel, slowly braked and that was that.

I don't know if Ford just didn't have the balls to say that some of the people who drive their cars are stupid, but they deserve ever bit of a lawsuit for not saying it like it is. It's just too bad that we'll wind up paying for the lawsuit in the end.

 

[project92]

we needed the honda slogan "stupid hurts".... I'll take my first gen explorer anyday it feels more stable than my 2000.... ps I had firestones on my first explorer 4 of them went bad didn't matter under inflated or just right mine would start with a small vibration and about 40 miles dow the road it was so bad you could stand it or the tire would blow... my wife had our first explorer (93) in a set of double S curves with a 45 degree slope with a low tire and she spun it around sideways and ditched it backwards facing the other direction never got tippy!!!!

 

[FROADER]

Lame...

As I said in a another thread, "****ty drivers roll vehicles, not flat tires..."

Also for what it's worth, I've seen a lot more 4Runners upside down on the highway than I have Explorers.
4Runners - 5
Explorers - 0

 

[rizzjc]

I always laugh at people who say "but the manufacturer says to inflate the tires to this". Ummm, like they design all of the tires? I've never even looked at what Ford recommended. First time I ever heard of it was when the whole class-action started, and that was right after I had put 50k on those Firestones and wore them down to the steal belts, inflated to the TIRE'S rated pressure. I hated those Firestones, but they didn't blow up on me.

 

[Gator Jeff]

Point taken on the Firestones...

One other thought though... I seem to recall that most of the deaths and serious injuries in those roll overs were from ejections. Care to guess how many of those idiots were actually wearing their seatbelts. Not too many I'd imagine.

 

[Glen4X4]

Bullcrap

Thats a bunch of bull people just dont know how to control it and for their stupidity they just lookin to get some money for being stupid if they'd know how to control it, it wouldnt have f*kin happened hell in november i got a nice patch of black ice and slid all over and then hit dry asphault and front tire blew out and I didn't roll my 94 that I had.

 

[Rustang©]

Thats interesting...., people need to stop seeing $$$$$ and suing for it!!!


As for the stability of an X, i own a 91' lifted 3inches, and I have never flipped it or even come close.

For example, I take a turn on a regular basis at 55-65 MPH, the turn has a caution sign that says 25, and I have no problem.

Go FORD

 

[justin146]

Shoot, I got sideswiped at 55mph in a lifted Explorer on 32's with a 100lb safari rack plus spare tire on top and didnt roll mine.

 

[Tilt168]

this is complete crap! rick u should contact ford and offer the up this site as proof to how safe and explorer is. i've seen explorers roll but i've also seen little ricers roll. if anything is unsafe its those big 15 passanger vans...i loved whenever we had to cut those open to rescue the 16+ ppl plus luggage piled in....ppl are just stupid...

 

[Rick]

I just saw an ad on TV for Progressive Insurance. The vehicle which their adjuster drives is an Explorer Sport. That reminded me of all of the Progressive Explorers I have personally seen on the road.

Why would an insurance company who is all about limiting liabilty choose a Ford Explorer for their fleet if it had a high tendency to roll over? They wouldn't!!!

 

[Dopler174]

As I said in a another thread, "****ty drivers roll vehicles, not flat tires..."

I flipped my old civic BUT it was because my 17 rim grabbed the pavement at 87 mph and tipped the car. My tires were slick (unknown tire pressure) and it made me slide into a curve and my sidewall let go. I wouldn't say I was a ****ty driver, I did the best I could, my seatbelt was broken and I all but got thrown through the sunroof.

:roll: So someone with high speed roll experience, the explorer is WAY safer than people think. Those people should be slapped.

 

[BrooklynBay]

How did you survive being thrown out of a car's sunroof rolling over at 87 MPH?

 

[SoBeLover]

Why would an insurance company who is all about limiting liabilty choose a Ford Explorer for their fleet if it had a high tendency to roll over? They wouldn't!!!

Precisely, Rick. Police forces here in CT use Expeditions and Explorers in their fleets. Would they if there was a problem? No!!

I lost a back wheel going 65 MPH due to my brother not tightening the lug nuts well on my old 92 Sport and my Explorer didn't flip, When it happened my only thought was getting it safely off the highway before something bigger came down the road and hit me

These sue happy a$$holes don't know what we do about Explorers, huh?

 

[Anime]

The first gens can be pushed on a turn pretty hard before the tires howl and the g's let you know you're about to go up on two wheels, which makes it rather predictable. I've had it up on two wheels before taking a turn a bit sharply, but a quick turn of the wheel back the other way and they were down instantly. The rollovers from turns were probably from people hitting the brakes and keeping the rollover momentum going. With the warning labels on the visor and in the manual about the handling characteristics of multi-use passenger vehicles, it's impressive how much Ford has been beat up on this.