KEY POINTS:
SACRAMENTO - Ford Motor Co has agreed to settle class-action lawsuits covering plaintiffs in four US states who claimed its Explorer sport utility vehicles were prone to rollovers, the company and an attorney for the plaintiffs said.
The settlement applies to about 1 million people in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, said Kevin P Roddy, a New Jersey attorney and co-counsel for the SUV owners who brought the lawsuit.
He said the settlement will be filed later Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
It will allow vehicle owners to apply for US$500 ($653) vouchers to buy new Explorers or US$300 vouchers to buy other Ford or Lincoln Mercury products, Roddy told The Associated Press.
The settlements apply to Explorers from model years 1991 through 2001, he said.
Consumers will be able to apply for the vouchers through a website starting on Monday if a Sacramento judge gives preliminary approval to the settlement.
The parties plan to ask Superior Court Judge David De Alba to give final approval during a hearing in April, after those covered by the settlement have had time to apply for the vouchers, Roddy said.
Ford 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.
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, with the Nashville-based tire manufacturer saying the Explorers' earlier design was faulty.
The agreement announced today in California ends all the outstanding lawsuits against Ford stemming from the Explorer rollovers, Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said.
"This does settle them all," she said.
Kinley would not say how much Ford has paid to settle earlier claims. Customers affected by the four-state settlement 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 in a telephone interview.
- AP
