Ford faces $1.7 billion judgment in fatal F-250 pickup coup

The case was brought by the family of Georgia couple Melvin and Foncel Hill, who were driving a 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck from their farm when the right front tire blew and the truck overturned, Mr. Butler said. He added that the hills crashed inside the truck.

“While we sympathize with the Hill family, we do not believe the verdict is supported by evidence, and we plan to appeal,” a Ford spokesperson said Saturday.

The $1.7 billion ruling is believed to be one of the largest in Georgia’s history and unusually large for an accident-related lawsuit involving a car manufacturer. The damages in these types of cases typically run into the millions of dollars, and many are settled out of court. Oftentimes, judgments amounting to high dollars are subsequently reduced by judges or appellate courts.

“The Hill family is happy that this part of the case is finally over,” Butler said. “They intend to persevere and make Ford pay.”

On Thursday, the Georgia jury awarded prosecutors Kim and Adam Hale, sons of the couple who died in the accident, $24 million in damages, Butler said. Butler said the jury assigned 70% of the error in the case to Ford.

Ford executives have worked for years to address costly quality and warranty issues with their vehicles, including making this effort a priority under current CEO, Jim Farley. The company issued 49 recalls this year, the most of any automaker, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“We continue to run into hurdles due to paybacks and customer satisfaction measures,” Farley said on a July earnings call. “This affects the cost but more importantly, it falls short of our core commitment to our customers.”

Can not determine whether Quality issues the company is trying to address Nothing to do with the Georgia incident.

Last year, Ford set aside more than $4 billion for warranty costs, up 76% from five years earlier. The car company’s overall warranty expenses rose about 17% from 2016 to 2021.

Earlier this year, Mr. Farley appointed a new Executive Director of Quality, Josh Halliburton. Before coming to Ford, Mr. Halliburton spent 17 years at JD Power, an independent research firm specializing in vehicle quality assessment and study.

“We are putting more time and focus on ensuring that everything is done up front to prevent quality issues from arising later in the development process,” said Mr. Halliburton.

He added that he expects to see Ford’s warranty problems improve next year, but it may take two to three years to see results with the most impact.

write to Nora Eckert at [email protected]