USA Today (3/28, O’Donnell, 1.71M) reports, “A multistate lawsuit filed Thursday says 2002-10 Ford Motor vehicles contain a ‘design defect’ in the electronic control of the gas pedals, making them susceptible to sudden, unintended acceleration.” According to the article, “The lawsuit filed on behalf of Ford owners in 14 states is seeking class-action status and goes into great detail about the alleged defect in the models named in the lawsuit that don’t have brake override technology.” Later, the report mentions that “a review of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s data shows complaints regarding sudden acceleration in Ford vehicles (including Lincolns and Mercurys) soared from 2005 to 2007, with injuries due to sudden acceleration at their highest rates from 2004 to 2006.”
Meanwhile, Reuters (3/28, Seetharaman) reports that Ford pointed to studies by the NHTSA, which found that driver error to be the main cause of unintended acceleration events.