Ford C-Max & Fusion Hybrid Gas Mileage Lawsuits Combined

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Ford C-Max & Fusion Hybrid Gas Mileage Lawsuits Combined

Antony Ingram

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2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, Catskill Mountains, NY, Oct 2012

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When journalists and buyers alike found they were struggling to hit Ford's gas mileage claims for the Fusion and C-Max hybrids, we knew it wouldn't take long for the situation to escalate.

Ford now finds itself on the receiving end of a consolidated lawsuit from two Californian law firms, filing on behalf of "hundreds" of owners unhappy over potentially overinflated efficiency figures.

As The Detroit News reports, Redlands, CA-based McCuneWright and San Diego-based Robbins, Geller, Rudman and Dowd have consolidated their similar lawsuits, which allege Ford's marketing campagin for the two models has been "false and misleading".

Things all started back in November, when we noticed Ford's hybrid pairing was struggling to live up to its 47 mpg billing.

Consumer Reports subsequently backed this up with their own testing. Mileage figures have been up to 20 percent off, in some cases. Since then, the EPA has said it will dig into the two Ford hybrids' mileage, to determine whether the 47 mpg figures really are unrealistic.

Ford has consistently maintained the 47 mpg figure is achievable, with the right driving techniques. That also means not using all of the cars' performance, as both Fusion and C-Max are quicker than their competitors.

The law firms' filing will have between five and ten class-action representatives from all over the country, all Ford hybrid owners and all saying the cars don't live up to the claimed figures.

"We've received hundreds of calls from the few newspaper stories that have been around," said Rich McCune, partner at McCuneWright. "There's a lot of really unhappy people."

On Tuesday, Hyundai announced it would settle in its own lawsuit, following claims both it and Korean partner Kia had overstated gas mileage figures on a wide range of vehicles.

Do Ford, Hyundai and Kia's troubles put you off the brands? Or are the mileage issues representative of how difficult it is to develop a fuel-efficient vehicle these days? Leave your thoughts below.

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Comments (14)

Bruce Carlson Posted: 2/28/2013 9:36am PST

I would argue that most people do not know howo to drive a Hybrid. We have had 2 Prius hybrids and I currently drive a Camry Hybrid. I have always gotten ABOVE the advertised milage and my wife gets way BELOW the advertised mileage.

If you drive like my wife -- FORGET IT -- you won't get good mileage in anything!!!!

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Keith Crimen Posted: 2/28/2013 12:16pm PST

I agree. I have a 2012 Insight and while I regularly get almost 45 mpg's,when my wife gets a hold of it she gets around 37. Mileage may vary definitely applies.

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Micheal Toberman Posted: 3/1/2013 11:46am PST

I also agree, I get 40 miles electric range on my Volt no problem, my wife gets around 32. What would help manufactures if the cars had an Eco button (the Civic has one that suggests things to improve efficiency) that reduced power and maximimized efficiency. That way manufacturers could respond saying that the person probably didn't have the ECO button pressed, or if it was the Tesla, they would just show them the data plots.

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Gregory Dennis Posted: 2/28/2013 9:39am PST

I just got a C-Max and the mileage is very good, and also all over the place. In a one-hour drive of two-lane highway and small towns yesterday I got 35 mpg. This morning driving 8 miles into and around town and back, I got 54 mpg. go figure. Either way, it's a really sweet car.

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Jim Brown Posted: 2/28/2013 9:54am PST

I think some of it may be the timing that the cars were released. I know my prius mileage drops 10 mpg in the winter, because of the heater and defroster use

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James Davison Posted: 2/28/2013 10:45am PST

Come on, lets be realistic Ford, Kia, Hyundai, et'al. This is your wake-up call! Consumers will not idly stand by while you attempt to boost vehicle sales by inflating MPG. Also, foggy EPA MPG testing criteria and sporatic vehicle MPG validation has to stop in these days of $4/g plus gas prices.

EPA should either hire more people and test each and every vehicle MPG or contract Consumer Reports (or the like) to perform critical MPG testing. Start by developing standardized MPG validation protocols.

Lets be honest, manufacturer-inflated MPG is simply a marketing tool used to entice consumers to spend their hard earned cash. Its EPA's duty to protect the consumer by assuring manufacturers post realistic MPG figures.

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Philip Fischer Posted: 2/28/2013 3:40pm PST

A few points. First Kia and Hyundai failed to follow the EPA testing procedure. So far there is no evidence that Ford did not follow the procedure. Do you really want your tax dollars going to test MPGs for every car? If so I think you have some crazy ideas for proper use of my tax money. 10 to 15% testing has been enough to keep almost all companies honest. I see no reason to change the EPA verification program. It is not manufacture-inflated MPG, it is EPA-inflated MPG. Car companies report the EPA figures in part because it is a real pain not to. I think everybody knows that the EPA testing procedures need updating, but until that happens, we are stuck with the EPA MPG estimates.

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Mike Iimura Posted: 2/28/2013 11:18am PST

I am inclined to believe that the Ford EPA numbers are accurate. Even the EPA highway test has a significant period where the car can "glide". It makes sense to me that the EPA highway number could be higher than the real world steady 60-65mph. The car simply takes maximum advantage of all low power, coasting, and regen situations. Most people don't let their car coast - whenever possible they are up against the car in front or the speed limit, then they are on the brakes. So, they will never get the Ford EPA numbers on the road.

This is very different from the Hyundai/Kia situation where they used the wrong coast-down numbers which skewed the dyno results in their favor in such a way that it was not easy for the EPA to detect.

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Charles Paolino Posted: 3/1/2013 12:37am PST

SORRY ALL BUT.....EVERY FORD PRODUCT I used to purchase was always under the rated MPG that Ford posted...i WAS an avid FORD purchaser until my neighbor who owned a Toyota Camry told me to just buy one Toyota product ...well after many conversations I purchased a Hybrid Synergy Drive earlier model Highlander...to my surprise the numbers for the first time on the window sticker were lower than what I achieved in the real world driving habits...I do the speed limit usually and on the highway usually i push it a bit..so if you ask me Ford wants to beat the Prius figures they made a HUGE MISTAKE with this one...do you not notice that all the TV adds are saying that Ford beats all the Toyota vehicles in its epa figures..NOT TRUE...

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Xiaolong Li Posted: 2/28/2013 11:54am PST

This just means that EPA test sucks... Perfect for automakers to "game" it without having any correlation to real world driving.

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Micheal Toberman Posted: 3/1/2013 12:26pm PST

If they find that Ford followed the EPA test guidelines, then they should sue the EPA.

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Xiaolong Li Posted: 3/1/2013 6:28pm PST

Well, that would be hard since EPA has never said their testing "reflect" real world driving...

My guess is that Ford figured out a way to make EPA results looking great when it is well within the rules and do so legally.

It is time to update the EPA test again. At least make it longer than 11 miles.

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Stephen J Miller Posted: 2/28/2013 11:56am PST

The Fusion is a great car...my next car...if it can realistically get close to 40 mpg, I will be happy..getting 16 local, and 28 highway on my 2012 Lacrosse (which I still Love)...GO FORD !

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mark lally Posted: 3/16/2013 9:03am PDT

I own a 2012 Ford focus SFE. My average mileage over about 16k miles has been over 37mpg (EPA combined rating is 33), no one would ever accuse me of being a slow driver, I cruise at about 8 mph over the posted limit and I accelerate faster then most people do. The reason I get such great mileage is that I know how to manage the inertia. Inertia management is the key to great mileage in any car (especially a hybrid). I have driven many a mile in a 2010 fusion hybrid also; I almost always averaged 4 or 5 mpg over the EPA numbers in that car also.
I looked this morning at the EPA web site and I saw that two owners are reporting an average of 10 mpg on their 2012 Focus SFE’s then do I, why is this? They don’t know how to manage inertia...

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