Police agencies drop out of class action against Ford.

Hundreds of police departments that were part of a class action against Ford Motor Co. are dropping out because the company refuses to sell them police cruisers if they don't.

The lawsuit alleges that the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a cruiser widely favored among police departments, is unsafe because its gas tank can rupture and ignite too easily in rear-end collisions. At least 15 officers have been killed in such crashes since 1983, according to an Associated Press report.

When the class was certified, Ford imposed a no-sale policy on police departments that were plaintiffs in the suit. The agencies are caught between a rock and a hard place, because they want their cars to be safe, but many of them depend on the Crown Victoria. "The Crown Victoria has been the only game in town for a long time," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

"I thought Ford's actions were very heavy-handed and not helpful to them in trying to promote their product among a customer base that has been very loyal to them," said Richard Flood, a Crystal Lake, Illinois, lawyer who represents 11 police departments in that state that dropped out of the class action in April. "They're not too happy with Ford," he added.

The order granting 22 municipalities' motions to withdraw reads that "the request for leave of court to opt out as a class member is solely due to Ford's no-sale policy."

Ford maintains that the Crown Victoria cruiser is safe and reliable, citing a 2002 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation that found the car meets federal safety standards for fuel system integrity. "No design can eliminate all risk in 70 mph or 80 mph collisions into parked police vehicles," Ford attorney Doug Lampe said in a company statement.

Converting a police department's fleet to a different type of vehicle would be expensive because special equipment--including lights, consoles, and the cages that separate the front of the car from the back--would have to be modified to fit another car, Flood said. Those modifications could cost law enforcement agencies as much as several thousand dollars per vehicle.

The litigation has put enough pressure on Ford to prompt it to install shields around the car's gas tank, said David Perry, a Corpus Christi, Texas, lawyer representing some of the class action plaintiffs. "There has been only one fatal fire in a shielded police vehicle over a two-and-a-haft-year period, compared to two to four per year in the years leading up to the shields," he said.

In October, in the first class action to go to trial, a jury found the Crown Victoria safe. (St. Clair Co. & Centerville v. Ford, No. 03-L-115 (Ill., St. Clair County Cir. Ct. Oct. 15, 2004).) At press time, the judge had not yet considered alleged state consumer fraud violations by Ford.

That case came to trial after Ford began installing shields and "was an effort for a more fully effective fix," Perry said. The jury ruled in Ford's favor "in part due to the extremely hostile tort 'reform' attitude created by the political campaign that was going on in that area at that time and due to the fact that Ford could brag about the shields, which they had already installed and which we agreed were a major improvement."

But modifications Ford has made so far are not enough, said Pasco: "Ford has been extraordinarily remiss as a corporation in responding to our concerns." The FOP has met with company representatives about the cars' safety, and Ford suggested some modifications, but they were far less than the FOP had hoped for, he said.

In April, a lawyer for an Illinois Ford dealership resolved contempt charges against him for sending a letter to Illinois sheriffs and police chiefs urging them to opt out of the class action. The dealership must send another letter telling recipients to disregard the first letter.

Some plaintiffs are sticking with the class action even with the difficulties they face. "There are some very unhappy municipalities, some of which are dropping out. But others aren't; they will just stop buying Crown Victorias and absorb the expense," Flood said. Among those is the City of Northlake, Illinois, which has announced it will buy Chevrolet Impalas instead.

If the class action fails to sufficiently remedy the problem, the FOP may pursue other options, Pasco said. "Our goal is to protect police officers. We will not limit ourselves to litigation" if measures such as leading a nationwide boycott or putting pressure on Congress are needed.

"We have not discarded any option in bringing Ford to its senses," he said.