1963 Ford Galaxie 500 2 Dr W/ 289 V8 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #324 LIVE!

We're set to record Autoblog Podcast #324 tonight, and our friend Peter Leung (a.k.a. BaronVonClutch), who writes about racing for Richland F1 is going to teach us how to love the vroom-vroom. Drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #324
Geneva Motor Show highlights from Zach

Ford faces class-action lawsuit for selling vehicles without brake override systems

A total of 20 Ford customers are suing the automaker in a class-action lawsuit for selling vehicles "vulnerable to unintended acceleration." According to Reuters, the suit names 30 models built between 2002 and 2010 with electronic throttle control systems but without a brake override system. Those include the 2004-2012 F-Series pickups and the 2005-2009 Lincoln Town Car. Adam Levitt, a partner with the law firm of Grant & Eisenhofer says the plaintiffs in the case want "to be compensated for their economic losses by having overpaid for cars that contained defects." Levitt contends that the plaintiffs would not have bought their vehicles or paid less for them had they known there was no brake override system in place.
Ford began installing brake override systems in its vehicles beginning in 2010. In response to the lawsuit, Ford has pointed to research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that indicated that unintended acceleration is mostly caused by driver error, saying in a statement that, "NHTSA's work is far more scientific and trustworthy than work done by personal injury lawyers and their paid experts."
Belville et al v. Ford Motor Co. will be heard in US District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia.

Mulally to stay at Ford through end of 2014 at least

Alan Mulally isn't going anywhere... at least not just yet. The CEO who helped turn around Ford Motor Company has been linked to the top job at tech behemoth Microsoft, leading to a flurry of rumors about potential successors. Those rumors, though, may have just been put to rest - at least for a little while.
Speaking to Edsel Ford II (great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford) at the unveiling of the new Mustang, Automotive News Europe confirmed that Mulally would stick around until the end of next year. "Alan is staying through the end of 2014 and that's all I know," said Ford. "Frankly, he has told us that his plan is to stay with Ford through the end of 2014."
Presuming that Edsel Ford is correct and that Microsoft isn't so hot on Mulally that it saves the position for him, it seems increasingly likely that the 68-year-old exec is more interested in continuing to work in Dearborn rather than in Redmond.