Ford Is To Pay $19.2 Million Over Falsely Advertising Fuel Economy Ratings

Ford Motor Company agreed to pay $19.2 million to settle allegations of falsely advertising fuel economy ratings and payload capacity for certain pickup trucks and hybrid cars, though the company will not admit wrongdoing.

The settlement with 40 states and the District of Columbia comes following allegations that 2013-2014 C-Max hybrids and 2011-2014 Super Duty trucks were falsely advertised. The agreement prohibits Ford from making false or misleading claims in advertisements regarding estimated fuel economy or payload capacity in the future.

According to Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, Ford did not provide accurate information regarding the distance consumers could travel on a single tank of fuel in the C-Max hybrid and claimed superior actual fuel economy numbers compared to other hybrid models.

They said Ford also deliberately left out of its payload calculations for Super Duty pickup trucks standard items that included the spare wheel, tire, jack and car radio, thus artificially raising the claimed payload capacity.

Ford said in a statement that it was pleased the investigation was settled with no judicial finding of improper conduct and that the company denied violating any federal or state laws.

“We worked with the states to resolve their concerns and in the process limited additional investigative costs and legal expenses for all parties,” the company said.

As a reminder, last year, Ford recalled about 12,000 F-350 trucks from the 2020 model year because they were sold with incorrect payload figures. Ford then said these trucks may have been overstated by 78 to 900 pounds. Just recently, the company announced a massive 600,000-vehicle recall for certain F-Series, Expedition, and Lincoln Navigator models over faulty windshield wipers.

• Read More: Ford Announces Recall Of 650,000 Trucks And SUVs