Ford dealt class-action lawsuit over C-max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid mileage claims

Release Date: October 2012 - Now Available!
MSRP: $32,950
Battery Pack Size: 7.6 kWh
Electric Range: 21 miles (EPA rated)
MPGe: 100 MPGe
Visit the Ford C-max Energi Forum

Ford is talking with the EPA about hybrid mileage tests, but not over any particular models. The openness about communication between the agency hasn’t kept people from filing a class-action lawsuit against Ford over mileage claims for the C-max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid mileage claims.

Way back in August, Ford announced that the Fusion and C-max hybrids got 47 MPG in city, highway, and combined. At the start of December, McCuneWright law firm filed a lawsuit claiming the marketing campaign Ford is using to promote fuel economy for the C-max and Fusion hybrid models is false and misleading, and uses ‘misrepresentations and omissions’ to promote the vehicles.

Although the EPA has approved the 47 MPG claims for both vehicles, the tests were done by Ford itself. In fact, the EPA only actually tests about 10% of all vehicles. The rest are done by the manufacturers themselves following strict guidelines.

Ford, of course, cannot discuss pending litigation, but we wonder if this will affect the MPGe ratings of the C-max Energi and the upcoming Fusion Energi?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

7 Comments on "Ford dealt class-action lawsuit over C-max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid mileage claims"

  1. garry lipinski | January 8, 2013 at 2:28 am |

    If the EPA is not actually testing most vehicles milage themselves then what the hell good is a EPA rating? You mean to tell me the car manufactures just have to tell the EPA that a certain vehicle gets a certain MPG and the EPA will give it their certification! What a #%&@n JOKE!!! An EPA milage certification then means absolutly nothing!!! There should be a law suite filed aginst the EPA also!!! This is pure neglegence by the EPA!

    • I agree – an EPA rating means nothing if the EPA doesn’t even do the rating. There’s plenty of people outraged by this and the Hyundai/Kia debacle. It will be interesting to see if something changes.

    • I bought my C-max hybrid end of January this year. Have had to take my car repeatedly to the dealership for one problem or another. It has never given me the mpg rating that was shown on the sticker that prompted me to get the car. Odometer reading now stands at 9,500 miles and I still am getting only 39 miles to the gallon.

      Have tried to talk with Ford; have sent an email to the President and CEO of Ford. Only response I get is a run around.

  2. Ronald Kramer | January 11, 2013 at 11:13 am |

    I also lease a 2010 Prius and Insight both of which have far superior MPG
    Performance (40-51mpg). I thought this would be a Prius Killer? As a
    cross over buyer I feel deceived. I want to support US companies and US
    jobs. What was Ford thinking when they published 47 / 47 estimates? I
    would have been ok with low 40’s but low 28-33 is not even in the ball
    park. Mark my words there will be no fix for this. Ford should offer
    to take the cars back or offer cash compensation to offset the
    mileage claims. The EPA estimates will have to be adjusted to the mid
    30’s and sell the cars as is. Which is ok as long as the consumer knows
    what they are buying.

    My dealer’s sales and service department were ok at the beginning of the complaint process, but now have turned hostile and un-professional.

    Ronald Kramer
    Yankee Ford Customer
    South Portland, Maine`

  3. Purchasing a new 2014 ALL ELECTRIC car I have found that FORD continues this deceptive practice !!! In California there is no longer a Cool Down Period of three days to return this car and I am stuck with it. My leash is not the 105 miles advertised BUT 76 MILES. BUT ONLY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AIR, LIGHTS, PASSENGERS AND DRIVE WELL UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT!!!

  4. Steve Thornton | August 29, 2014 at 10:23 pm |

    We would not have even looked at the Fusion Energi if the current 88mpg claim was on the sticker, as we upgrade when we can double our mileage, and our 2010 Prius regulary gets 47-50mpg…which takes the Energi out of consideration…that, plus the method of calculating the (“customer satisfaction program 14B03)check amount is chock full of low numbers…$3.54/g gas…12K miles driven per year…got us to an $850 check…we haven’t seen $3.54 gas in years here in CA, and our annual miles are over 16K…
    Ford says it will make no more adjustments…I wonder if the courts will agree…the whole thing seems fraudulent to me…and Ford sending a check without being sued or prompted indicates to me that they likely feel the same…the car they sold us doesn’t actually exist…isn’t that fraud?…
    On top of all this, I can’t shake the memory of a claim of 108mpg for the Fusion Energi at some time before we purchased. Does anybody else recall, or have any record of such data?
    A couple of verifications is about all I need to talk to an attorney about the class-action lawsuit that seems inevitable now. I don’t like being ‘fooled’…not one bit. And I especially don’t like it when the ‘fooler’ gets to unilaterally decide what the atonement will be.

Comments are closed.