Lawsuit: Texas Man Dead After Dealer Failed to Fix Defective Ford Truck

Lawsuit: Texas Man Dead After Dealer Failed to Fix Defective Ford Truck

When we get into our vehicle, we’re putting our lives, and our passengers’ lives, into the hands of the company making it and those we pay to maintain it. Sometimes, that trust is misplaced. 

A Texas man’s family is suing Ford, claiming an F-250 pickup malfunctioned and killed him. Last year, more than half a million Ford pickups were recalled due to transmission defects that could cause drivers to lose control. The family is also suing a dealer who was supposed to fix transmission problems but failed to do so.

Driver Dies After Trying to Regain Control of Truck

Last June, 79-year-old Roy “Mack” Irwin pulled his 2023 Ford F-250 pickup truck into a friend’s driveway, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. He put the transmission into park, left the engine running, and a passenger was in the front seat.

The truck slowly rolled back and forth three times, according to the lawsuit. Irwin saw what was happening and tried to get in the truck. He fell, and a front tire ran over his upper torso, trapping him until first responders arrived and freed him. Irwin was taken to an area hospital, where he died.

The plaintiffs’ attorney claims this transmission problem has been reported before. Drivers would put the vehicle in park, and it would shift gears on its own. The defendants are Ford and a dealer that serviced the truck before the accident.

Along with Ford Motor Company, Bluebonnet Ford is a defendant. The lawsuit says the dealer serviced the truck before the fatal incident. Irwin told them the truck’s transmission wouldn’t stay in park. According to the lawsuit, the dealer failed to fix the problem and didn’t warn Irwin that it was still a problem.

Why Ford Might be Held Liable

Under product liability law, a company like Ford must provide customers who use it as intended with a reasonably safe product. A plaintiff need not show Ford was negligent by failing to do so unless that’s another legal claim that’s part of a lawsuit.

The defect could be due to the following:

• The design or engineering was defective
• Poor manufacturing quality caused the defect
• It was advertised or marketed to be used in an unsafe way, or warnings about possible dangers were missing or insufficient

In these lawsuits, any party responsible for the defect or putting the truck on the market could be a defendant. If a part is defective, the manufacturer supplying it to Ford, along with Ford and the dealer who sold the truck to the consumer, could be a defendant.

Depending on the facts of the case, Ford could be sued for negligence. Negligence is a legal theory that most personal injury cases use. It’s a failure to use reasonable care to avoid causing harm or damage to others or their property. They don’t act with the caution or attention a typical person would under similar circumstances.

The elements of a negligence case include the following:

• Duty of care: Ford owed the plaintiff a legal duty because of their relationship (the deceased drove a truck they manufactured and sold)
• Breach of duty: Ford failed to meet that duty of care (the truck had a defect that made it dangerous)
• Causation: Ford’s actions, or failures to act, directly caused the plaintiff’s injury factually and legally
• Damages: The plaintiff must show they suffered harm or loss (the deceased’s next of kin suffered emotionally and financially)

A significant part of litigation in a case like this is seeking information and documents that support a negligence claim.

Why Bluebonnet Ford Might be Held Liable

There’s nothing to stop multiple defendants from being held accountable for an injury or death. A jury may break up a damage verdict based on what members think is a defendant’s share of the fault or just have one defendant pay it all (they may later sue other defendants to help pay the damages).

If the allegations are true that the deceased brought his truck to Bluebonnet Ford to have the problem that cost him his life to be repaired, but they failed to do so, they may be found liable with a negligence claim. This would depend on the evidence in the case.

Given the elements of a negligence case, this defendant may be found liable if:

• Duty of care: Irwin was a customer of their service department. They accepted the truck and told him they would work on it, so they owed him a duty of care
• Breach of duty: They failed to find or fix the defect. The mechanic may not have been told of the problem. He may not have been adequately trained to work on transmissions or kept updated on potential transmission problems, causes, and how to fix them. The mechanic may not have used sufficient care to find or fix the problem. He may have thought he repaired the issue but didn’t do enough testing to ensure he did. The mechanic may not have been sufficiently supervised, and there may not have been sufficient quality control by the service department to make sure the repair was made
• Causation: They failed to repair the problem and either falsely told Irwin it was fixed or failed to tell him it was not fixed and the truck could be dangerous to drive. The dealer may claim Ford caused the accident, and Ford may blame the dealer

If this type of case doesn’t settle early in the process, it can become a battle of experts. The plaintiff and the defendants will hire experts to determine the accident’s cause and who is responsible for it.

Contact Us Today

The Fleck Firm is here to help you, whether you’re a surviving family member or a personal representative of an estate. If you’re a family member or you represent the estate of someone fatally injured by an intentional act or in an accident, contact The Fleck Firm today at (270) 446-7000. Remember, Insurance companies have lawyers. You should have one, too.