August 18, 2004
Ford Motor Company faces another lawsuit over door latches, this time in Canada. An Ontario law firm has initiated a class action, charging defective door latches on as many as 400,000 pickups and sport-utility vehicles have caused the doors to open in side-impact crashes and rollover accidents, resulting in death or serious injury for occupants.
The suit was filed on behalf of Maurice Poulin, of Northern Ontario, and seeks class action status for the owners of 300,000 to 400,000 Ford vehicles in Canada may have defective door latches.
The specific vehicles to be included in the class action are 1997-2000 Ford F150 pick-up trucks; 1997-2000 Ford F250 trucks; 1997-2000 Ford Expedition; 1997-2000 Lincoln Navigator; and 1997-2000 Lincoln Blackwood pick-up trucks.
If you have one of these vehicles, should you be concerned? Ford has faced this complaint in the past, and insists there is no safety problem. The carmaker says the outside door handles and latch assemblies on the vehicles are safe and comply fully with all applicable government and industry standards.
