Ford Motors Settles Lawsuit With Tennessee Over Misleading Advertising

Image Credit: Rutger van der Maar/ CC

By Anita Wadhwani [The Tennessee Lookout CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –

The Ford Motor Company, whose forthcoming electric truck plant in west Tennessee was landed by state leaders with $900 million in taxpayer incentives, has just settled a lawsuit brought by the state over claims the auto company engaged in misleading advertising that falsely inflated mileage claims for some of its vehicles over the past decade.

Ford agreed to pay Tennessee $317,000 in a settlement filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on May 31. The settlement is part of a $19.2 million deal struck with 40 states and the District of Columbia, who conducted a multi-state investigation into Ford’s advertising practices. The investigation was led by Oregon, Texas, Illinois, Maryland, Vermont and Arizona.

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The distribution of the settlement funds is at Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s discretion. The settlement says the funds may be used for consumer protection enforcement, consumer education or any other purpose permitted by state law.

A spokesperson for Slatery did not respond to a request for information on how the funds will be distributed.

In Tennessee, the claim filed against Ford noted the automaker made misleading advertising claims its 2013 and 2014 C-Max Hybrid could achieve a fuel economy of 47 miles per gallon in city and highway driving, but in 2013 restated the mileage at 45 miles per hour in the city and 40 on highways.

By 2014, Ford had restated the mileage again, lowering estimate to 42 miles per gallon in the city and 37 miles per gallon in the highway. Consumers ultimately received compensation for the higher fuel costs, according to the petition, and Ford stopped making the vehicles in 2018.

For similarly used misleading advertising about the payload capacity on its Super Duper trucks between 2011 and 2015, the lawsuit said.

Ford, in its agreement, specifically denied it violated any federal or state laws. As part of its settlement, Ford agreed to not make false or misleading advertising claims about the fuel economy or the payload capacity of any new vehicle

Gov. Bill Lee last year announced the state had landed a new $5.6 billion Ford electric truck plant that will be located in rural west Tennessee at the long dormant Memphis Megasite. A special session of lawmakers meeting last October approved the $900 million in incentives paving the way for the company’s new plant. The new plant, known as Blue Oval City, is one of the largest manufacturing investments in state history and is expected to bring 26,000 new jobs.

Anita Wadhwani is a senior reporter for the Tennessee Lookout. The Tennessee AP Broadcasters and Media (TAPME) named her Journalist of the Year in 2019 as well as giving her the Malcolm Law Award for Investigative Journalism. Wadhwani is formerly an investigative reporter with The Tennessean who focused on the impact of public policies on the people and places across Tennessee. She is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and the University of California at Berkeley School of Journalism. You can contact Wadhwai at awadhwani@tennesseelookout.com.