Last
Spring Cynthia Rios went to a dealership in Norwalk and leased
a new 1998 Ford Expedition. She thought she had made a good choice.
Unfortunately for her, the vehicle turned out to be a lemon, with
obvious defects, including serious transmission, alignment and
brake problems. Ms. Rios obtained the services of the Law Offices
of Robert F. Brennan in Glendale, a firm specializing in assisting
consumers in "Lemon Law" and consumer fraud cases.
It
turned out that one of the problems Ms. Rios suspected with her
Expedition wasn't quite as obvious as the others, namely, it seemed
like it was guzzling an awful lot of gas. According to the vehicle's
window sticker, it should have gotten between 11 and 15 (average
13) miles per gallon in the city and between 15 and 21 (average
18) miles per gallon on the highway. She performed her own test
and found, to her chagrin, that she wasn't getting anywhere near
these figures.
Ms.
Rios learned that her Expedition had a 35-gallon tank. She topped
off the tank and drove a combination of highway and city miles
until it was empty; she was able to drive 300 miles on a full
tank of fuel. As explained in the Complaint which Brennan's firm
filed on her behalf against Ford Motor Company and the dealership
on May 6, 1999, in the downtown L.A. Superior Court, "After
a simple mathematical calculation she [Ms. Rios] found she was
only getting approximately eight and a half (8.5) miles per gallon."
Included
in Ms. Rios' Complaint are allegations of fraud and a request
for injunctive relief against all defendants. After outlining
the vehicle's deceptive mileage advertisement, the Complaint continued,
"Plaintiff is informed and believes and on that basis alleges
that the unlawful practices alleged above are continuing in nature
and are widespread practices engaged in by Defendants."
Initially,
Defendants Ford Motor Co., et al., filed a demurrer to Ms. Rios
Complaint. However, shortly thereafter they offered to settle
the case for a confidential sum. Ms. Rios has accepted the offer.
Tim
Saurwein, expert auto mechanic at Apperson Automotive in Tujunga,
believes that many vehicles on the road today are getting a lot
less mileage than advertised on the sticker, especially with the
larger, all-purpose type vehicles. Saurwein sees this as a definite
problem which needs to be addressed by the manufacturers. He said
he would very much like to see how the manufacturers are actually
doing their testing.
