Ford settles rest of rollover lawsuits

Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday ended an era of litigation over its rollover-plagued Explorers when it agreed to settle class-action lawsuits covering plaintiffs in four states.

The settlement applies to about 1 million people in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas who claimed their Explorers were prone to flip, said Kevin P. Roddy, a New Jersey attorney and co-counsel for the sport utility vehicle owners who brought the lawsuit.

Ford, based in Dearborn, Mich., has faced wrongful-death and personal injury lawsuits across the country stemming from a series of rollover accidents that involved earlier models of its popular Explorer.

The settlement announced Wednesday ends all the outstanding rollover-related lawsuits, Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said.

She would not say how much Ford has paid to settle earlier claims. Customers affected by the four-state settlement reached in California will be notified in late December and early January, she said.

“Ford’s position on this is we feel this is fair and reasonable and in the best interest of our customers,” Kinley said.

The settlement applies to Explorers in model years 1991 to 2001 and was expected to be filed late Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.

The settlement will allow vehicle owners to apply for $500 vouchers to help buy new Explorers or $300 vouchers to buy other Ford or Lincoln Mercury products.

The settlement also requires Ford to distribute information about the rollover dangers of SUVs and to limit safety claims in its advertising.

In 2000, the federal government began investigating the Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tires that had been standard equipment on Explorers after receiving numerous complaints.

More than 250 people were killed and hundreds more injured in accidents involving tread separation on the tires, most of which were on Explorers at the time they failed. Each company blamed the other for the rollovers.