CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office has announced the state will received more than $230,000 from a multistate settlement with Ford Motor Company regarding claims the company falsely advertised the payload capacity of model year 2011–2014 Super Duty pickup trucks.
West Virginia will receive $231,562.73 from the settlement. The total settlement, divided among 42 states, was $19.2 million.
“West Virginians should be able to rely on the truthfulness of the claims that car manufacturers make in advertising,” Morrisey said. “When people bought one of these Ford cars or trucks, they put their faith in what Ford represented. But Ford falsely advertised the pickups were capable of hauling more.”
Morrisey
The multistate investigation looked into Ford’s “Best-in-Class” payload claims on its 2011–2014 Super Duty pickups, which includes the F-250, F-350 and F-450 models, a line that caters to consumers hauling and towing heavy loads.
Ford’s methodology to calculate maximum payload capacity for advertising purposes allegedly was based on a hypothetical truck configuration that omitted standard items such as the spare wheel, tire and jack, center flow console (replacing it with a mini console) and radio. Although advertised as available to all customers, only fleet customers could order the special configuration.
The settlement also resolved claims that Ford falsely advertised the real-world fuel economy of model year 2013-2014 C-Max hybrids.