They may look nice, but two-piece lug nuts on the wheels of millions of Ford vehicles can become swollen and near impossible to remove with a standard lug wrench, according to a complaint filed recently by law firm Hagens Berman. If that firm’s name rings a bell, it’s because it specializes in automotive litigation. Some of its recent lawsuits have involved allegations of Ford Shelby GT350s overheating in track use and General Motors using defeat devices in its diesels, Volkswagen style.
As to the Ford lug nuts, the firm said millions of vehicles from a variety of makes and model years could be affected, but the complaint so far names Ford’s Fusion, Escape, Flex, Focus, F-150, and F-350 vehicles from the early to mid-2010s.
The problem is alleged to be that, rather than being fabricated completely out of steel, the lug nuts were instead made with a steel core and a chrome, aluminum, or stainless steel cap to match the vehicle’s wheels, according to the complaint. It claims that the lug nuts can swell and delaminate after changes in temperature and exposure to moisture. Vehicle owners then have to try (and apparently fail) to remove the swollen lug nuts with a lug wrench supplied with the Ford vehicles. Then they have to replace them.
The complaint tells of plaintiffs being stranded with flat tires and then taking the vehicles in to be fixed, only to have Ford refuse to pay for the replaced lug nuts even if the vehicles were under warranty. The 200-page document includes dozens of similar, anonymous comments from Ford owner forums and in the form of complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In at least two instances cited in the complaint, Ford service technicians advised plaintiffs against buying Ford lug nuts as replacements and suggested purchasing one-piece lug nuts on Amazon.com. Hagens Berman said replacing the defective lug nuts can cost consumers as much as $120 to $160, not including labor.
“We’re not talking about breakthrough technology, or computerized aspects of the auto world. We’re talking about possibly the simplest part of the car—the lug nuts,” Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, said in a release. “Ford chose to make its lug nuts with an inferior design that puts cosmetics ahead of safety and directly led to harm to consumers.”
Ford said in an email that it can’t comment on pending litigation.
Plaintiffs are seeking individual damages that would be determined in court and claim that these Ford vehicles have lost value. So far, the suit, which seeks national class-action status, spans plaintiffs in seven states: Arizona, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan because Ford is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.
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