Only a few days ago, Ford and their loyal truck customers were partying hard. After what seemed like decades of waiting, Ford announced that their all-time best-selling full-size F-150 was finally going to get its own Power Stroke diesel engine. The party did not last long.
About 36 hours ago, it was announced that Ford was being sued by truck owners in the wake of allegations that the Blue Oval has fitted diesel emission cheat devices on half a million of their Power Stroke Diesel equipped Super Duty pickup trucks built and sold since 2011.
Just when VW thought that their scandal was behind them and they were free to party as the #1 new car maker by volume in the world, they’ve now been dragged right back into the spotlight.
Ford has marketed their Power Stroke diesel powertrains as “the cleanest super diesel ever” (sounds familiar, don’t it?) but it would seem as though this claim is highly exaggerated. In a statement, Ford denies the claims and allegations pertaining to cheat devices and stands firmly by the fact that their diesel trucks “comply with all U.S. EPA and CARB emissions regulations.”
Something else that is familiar in this suit is the implication, and involvement, of the German automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH. They state that “Bosch takes the allegations of manipulation of the diesel software very seriously.” “Bosch is cooperating with the continuing investigations in various jurisdictions, and is defending its interests in the litigation.” They’re already involved in numerous others similar situations around the world.
In the course of on-road testing, these diesel trucks were found to pollute at levels far exceeding legal limits, in some instances, up to 50 times higher. VW Clean Diesel cars polluted up to 40 times more than the legal limits.
This is another sad situation for lovers of diesel technology. Time will tell what the outcome will be for both Ford, and the fuel-burners. As a reminder, Volkswagen’s tab for their faux-pas ended up being $24.5 billion.
As the situation stands, there are many parallels to be drawn between the American and German giants… Stay tuned for more!
