Fifth Defective Door Latch Class Action Filed Against Ford Motor Company and Vendors

Claims Door Specifications Never Met Federal Regulation Requirements

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. and BOSTON, Feb. 18 -- Two of the nation's largest plaintiffs' law firms, Motley Rice LLC of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and Boston-based Thornton & Naumes LLP, today announced the filing of a class action in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts against Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd., Magna Donnelly Corporation, Intier Automotive Seating of America Inc. and Intier Automotive Closures of America (d/b/a Dortec Industries) for designing, manufacturing, installing, supplying, selling and distributing outside door handles systems that do not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 206, Canadian Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standard (CMVSS) 206 or even Ford's internal standards. The defect in the doors is alleged to cause unintended door openings and passenger ejectment in accidents. Passenger ejectments are the leading cause of serious injuries and death in motor vehicle accidents.

The claim alleges that outside door handles and their component parts are defective in the following vehicles:

   * 1997 - 2000   Ford F-150
   * 1997 - 2000   Ford F-250 -Super Light Duty
   * 1997 - 2000   Ford Expedition
   * 2000          Ford F150 Super Crew

The claim alleges that Ford violated numerous Mass. Gen. Laws such as: unfair methods of competition and unfair/ deceptive acts and practices, conspiracy and concert of action to violate the law, breach of express and implied warranty and unjust enrichment. It is alleged that by October of 1995, Ford had knowledge of the defect. During crash testing, it was observed that, upon impact, the impacted side door would open and subsequent testing revealed both impacted and non-impacted doors can open. In August 1997, Transport Canada conducted testing on the Ford F150. A Transport Canada video, provided to Ford, shows the non-impacted side door opening on impact.

In March 2000, internal corporate documents that tested sub-components, specifically the outside door handles, showed outside handle operating forces were below values specified in the federal regulations designed to keep doors closed in accidents. Federal regulations require door handles be able to withstand 30 G's of inertial force on impact. In mid-March 2000, Ford engineers recommended that a safety-related campaign be instituted to correct the spring torque for the affected latches. However, seven days later, the safety campaign was cancelled. The action claims that Ford, Ford Canada and the manufacturing defendants manipulated data, internal specifications, federal rules and violated commonly accepted practices in order to avoid the purchaser notification and recall requirements that FMVSS non-compliance triggers. To date, consumers have not been notified and a recall has not been issued. It is estimated that there may be as many as 4,400,000 vehicles with alleged defective door latches in the U.S. and Canada. Deaths and serious personal injuries have been reported and are the subjects of numerous lawsuits in the United States including a trial scheduled to begin next week in US District Court in Florence, South Carolina. Motley Rice LLC and Ed Bell Law Firm are trying that action. Other class action lawsuits against Ford for similar door latch failures have already been filed in Alabama, Canada, Florida and North Carolina.

For more information about defective door latch litigation, contact David Strouss or Kristen Fritz of Thornton & Naumes at 1-800-431-4600 or Fritz Jekel of Motley Rice at 1-800-768-4026 or visit http://www.defectivedoor.com/ .

About Motley Rice LLC

Motley Rice LLC is one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' litigation firms. Motley Rice attorneys gained global recognition for their pioneering work on behalf of asbestos victims, the State Attorneys General in their landmark litigation against Big Tobacco, and the 9/11 families in their groundbreaking lawsuit against terrorist financiers. Motley Rice attorneys continue to seek justice in the areas of: catastrophic injury; complex case resolution; consumer and commercial fraud; environmental hazards and contamination; medical negligence and defects; occupational disease and toxic torts; and transportation defects. For more information on Motley Rice LLC call 1-800-768-4026 or visit http://www.motleyrice.com/ .

About Thornton & Naumes LLP

Founded in 1978, Thornton & Naumes is one of the largest plaintiffs' law firms in New England. Their attorneys represent individuals injured by toxic and defective products. They are also involved in cases of nationwide significance, such as representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts against the tobacco industry and other states and municipalities against the lead paint industry.