The Ford Motor Company will pay $19.2 million to a consortium of 40 states and Washington, D.C., over false advertising about the fuel economy of its 2013-2014 C-Max hybrids and the payload capacity of its Super Duty pickup trucks.
“Consumers place a premium on fuel efficiency when shopping for new vehicles. For years, Ford advertised impressive fuel economy and payload capacity for its cars and trucks,” said Tom Miller, Iowa’s attorney general. “Unfortunately, these figures were not based in reality, leaving customers with vehicles that did not meet their standards.”
In these two cases, Ford exaggerated numbers for an advantage in competitive segments. And it was caught.
“We are pleased that the matter is closed without any judicial finding of improper conduct,” said Ford in a statement, adding, “We worked with the states to resolve their concerns.”
Ford ran a series of ads that claimed the C-Max provided better fuel economy than the Toyota Prius. The 2013 C-Max was originally rated at 47 mpg in city and highway driving, and 47 mpg overall. The claim was that it delivered 47 mpg in every situation.
Back on Dec. 6, 2012, Consumer Reports wrote: “Ford has been making some eye-opening claims about the fuel economy of the redesigned 2013 Fusion Hybrid sedan and new C-Max Hybrid wagon: ‘47 city/47 highway/47 combined mpg.’ After running both vehicles through our real-world tests, we have gotten very good results. But they are far below Ford’s ambitious triple-47 figures.”
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