In Re: Takata Airbag Products Liability Litigation (Economic Loss Track Cases) Frequently Asked Questions

A Court authorized the Notice because you have a right to know about a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit and your options and associated deadlines before the Court decides whether to give final approval to the settlement. The name of the lawsuit is In Re: Takata Airbag Product Liability Litigation, No. 1:15-MD-2599-FAM. Takata and several automotive companies, including Ford, have been named as defendants in the litigation. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the proposed settlement, and your legal rights. You are NOT being sued.  Please do not contact Ford Dealers regarding the details of this settlement while it is pending before the Court. 

The lawsuit alleges that certain automotive companies, including Ford, manufactured, distributed, or sold certain vehicles containing allegedly defective Takata airbag inflators manufactured by Defendants Takata Corporation and TK Holdings, Inc. The inflators allegedly could, upon deployment, rupture and expel debris or shrapnel into the occupant compartment and/or otherwise affect the airbag’s deployment. Plaintiffs allege they overpaid for certain Subject Vehicles as a result of the defect.

The lawsuit claims violations of various state consumer protection statutes, among other claims. You can read the Second Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint filed by certain recyclers on the Documents section of this website. Ford denies that it has violated any law, denies liability, and denies that it engaged in any wrongdoing with respect to the manufacture, distribution, or sale of the Subject Vehicles.

On January 13, 2017, the Takata Corporation signed a criminal plea agreement in which it admitted, among other things, that it “knowingly devised and participated in a scheme to obtain money and enrich Takata by, among other things, inducing the victim OEMs to purchase airbag systems from Takata that contained faulty, inferior, nonperforming, non-conforming, or dangerous PSAN inflators by deceiving the OEMs through the submission of false and fraudulent reports and other information that concealed the true and accurate test results for the inflators which the OEMs would not have otherwise purchased as they were.” On the same day, an indictment of three Takata employees on related charges was unsealed. Takata entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The Recycler Plaintiffs filed their Fourth Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint against Ford on April 30, 2018 in Sinclair v. Ford Motor Company. Ford moved to dismiss on June 25, 2018, and adopted the arguments made in the other Automotive Defendants motions to dismiss in the related case, Butler Auto Recycling, Inc. et al. v. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. et al. (collectively, the “Motions to Dismiss”). The Court granted in part and denied in part the Motions to Dismiss on March 9, 2021. The Court dismissed the following claims against Ford: RICO claim for the nationwide class; Lanham Act for all Recycler Plaintiffs; Fraudulent Concealment and Fraudulent Misrepresentation claims for Tennessee and North Carolina; Violation of the Georgia Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act; and Violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. The claims remaining against Ford are: Violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; Violation of the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act; and Fraudulent Concealment and Fraudulent Misrepresentation claims under Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and Texas, law. Ford answered the Fourth Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint on April 9, 2021, as to all remaining allegations against Ford by the Recycler Plaintiffs.

A detailed description of the legal proceedings, including motions to dismiss, is set forth in the Settlement Agreement, which is on the Documents section of this website.

The following Ford vehicles (called the “Subject Vehicles”) distributed for sale or lease in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or any other United States territories or possessions are included:

In a class action, “class representatives” sue on behalf of other people or entities who have similar claims. All of these people together are the “Class” or “Class Members” if the Court approves this procedure. Once approved, the Court resolves the issues for all Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves from the Class.

Both sides in the lawsuit agreed to a settlement in order to avoid the cost and risk of further litigation, with the goal of enhanced customer satisfaction. As a result of the settlement, the Class Members can get the benefits of the settlement; in exchange, Ford receives a release from liability. The settlement does not mean that Ford broke any laws or did anything wrong. The Court did not decide which side was right. This settlement has been preliminarily approved by the Court, which authorized the issuance of the Notice. The Class Representatives/Named Plaintiffs and the lawyers representing them (called “Settlement Class Counsel”) believe that the settlement is in the best interests of all Class Members.

The essential terms of the settlement are summarized in the Notice. The Settlement Agreement along with all exhibits sets forth in greater detail the rights and obligations of the parties. If there is any conflict between the Notice and the Settlement Agreement, the Settlement Agreement governs.

You are part of the settlement if you are a person or entity that purchased a Subject Vehicle containing a Takata inflator, and you currently engage, or at the time of purchase were engaged, in the business of automotive salvage and/or recycling, and/or that recycled, refurbished, and/or removed for sale and/or re-sale Takata Inflators and/or Takata Inflator-related component parts in the United States and the territories and possessions of the United States prior to April 3, 2023.

This is called the “Class.” Excluded from this Class are: (a) Ford, their officers, directors, and employees; their affiliates and affiliates’ officers, directors and employees; their distributors and distributors’ officers, directors and employees; and Ford’s Dealers and their officers and directors; (b) Settlement Class Counsel and their employees; (c) judicial officers and their immediate family members and associated court staff assigned to this case; and (d) persons who or entities which timely and properly exclude themselves from (opt out of) the Class.

The settlement does not relate to claims for personal injury or property damage to any property other than the Subject Vehicles.

If you are not sure whether you are included in the Class, you may call 1-833-630-4683. Please do not contact Ford Dealers regarding the settlement while it is pending before the Court as the Court has ordered that all questions be directed to the Settlement Notice Administrator.

If you are a Class Member, what you are eligible to receive depends on several factors. The settlement benefits are outlined generally below.  T

The proposed settlement benefits consist of an Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program. Class Members will submit claims to the Settlement Claims Administrator, which will purchase intact, missing, and deployed Inflators in recalled (as of December 8, 2022) Subject Vehicles of Class Members. The Inflators that are purchased through the Program will be recovered and destroyed where possible. If you have previously been compensated by Ford for an Inflator, you cannot be compensated under this Program for the same Inflator.

Deadline to Submit Claim: To receive reimbursement for a Claim, eligible Class Members must submit the Claim during the Claim Period. Class Members will have two years from the date of implementation of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program to submit a Claim.

Obtaining, Completing and Submitting a Claim: You can complete and submit a Claim either online at www.coresupply.com or via smartphone app, RAS CorePro Mobile. You can also obtain a Claim Form from the settlement website here, which includes the instructions to submit a Claim for Intact Inflators and/or Missing/Deployed Inflators either online or via the smartphone app.

Ford initiated the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program on April 1, 2023.

Please note that you have to take action within certain deadlines to receive certain benefits, such as completing and submitting a Claim. If you do nothing, you may not receive benefits from the settlement, and, as a Class Member, you will not be able to sue the Released Parties about the issues in the lawsuit.

Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program: Pursuant to the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program and at Ford’s direction, the Settlement Claims Administrator shall locate, identify, purchase, recover, and destroy Inflators in or from Class Members’ Subject Vehicles that have been recalled as of the date of this Agreement. This Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program does not apply to Inflators that were previously recovered and purchased by Ford under a separate program administered by the Settlement Claims Administrator.

If the Inflators in Class Members’ Subject Vehicles that have been recalled as of the date of this Agreement have deployed or are missing, the Settlement Claims Administrator shall, to the extent reasonably practicable, locate and identify such Inflators and request the Class Member submit pictures or documentation for verification of such deployed or missing Inflators for which the Class Members were not previously compensated by Ford under a separate program administered by the Settlement Claims Administrator.

To the extent reasonably practicable, a website for the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program shall be created (“Settlement Website”) and overseen by the Settlement Claims Administrator which will (i) make available to Class Members information applicable to Subject Vehicles; (ii) allow Class Members to upload batches of VINs for batch processing and comparison to a list of VINs maintained by the Settlement Claims Administrator to determine which, if any, Inflators are subject to purchase under the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program; (iii) direct Class Members to submit claims under the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program for the purchase of Inflators in Subject Vehicles that have been recalled as of December 8, 2022 or payment for deployed or missing Inflators in Subject Vehicles that have been recalled as of December 8, 2022; and (iv) allow Class Members to submit claims under the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program at/after the Effective Date.

For implementation of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program for recovered Inflators, Ford, through the Settlement Claims Administrator, shall pay eligible Class Members a total of $69.00 for a passenger side Inflator and $63.25 for a driver side Inflator, both of which are 15% more per recovered Inflator than it previously paid.  Ford, at its sole discretion, may implement the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program prior to the occurrence of the Effective Date, and it did so beginning on April 1, 2023.

For implementation of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program for deployed or missing Inflators, Ford, through the Settlement Claims Administrator, shall pay eligible Class Members a total of $17.25 per Inflator, which is 15% more per deployed or missing Inflator than Ford currently ( as of the date the Settlement Agreement was executed) pays for deployed or missing Inflators under Ford’s existing, separate program to recover Takata inflators that is administered by the Settlement Claims Administrator.

The Settlement Claims Administrator shall coordinate with, notify, and provide monthly updates to Ford regarding the results of the implementation of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program.

Ford shall enter into a written, legally enforceable agreement with RAS (the “RAS Inflator Recovery Program Agreement”) that memorializes the terms of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program as described above. Under the terms of this Settlement Agreement, Ford shall have a continuing obligation until the termination of the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program to periodically monitor RAS’s compliance with the terms of the RAS Inflator Recovery Program Agreement. If Ford determines that RAS has breached the agreement, Ford shall take necessary and reasonable steps to enforce the terms of the RAS Inflator Recovery Program Agreement. Ford will provide Settlement Class Counsel with a copy of the agreement within 30 days of its execution and Settlement Class Counsel shall keep this agreement confidential.

The Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program shall run for a total of two years, measured from the date of implementation. Ford, at its sole discretion, may implement the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program prior to the occurrence of the Effective Date.

To the extent practicable, the duties of the Settlement Claims Administrator are to receive, review, and process the claims submitted to the Enhanced Inflator Recovery Program by Class Members (“Claims”) to determine whether Claims satisfy the criteria for payment specified in the Settlement Agreement. For validated Claims, the Settlement Claims Administrator shall request funding from Ford for payment to eligible Class Members for the validated Claims for the Subject Vehicles. For deficient Claims, the Settlement Claims Administrator shall provide a notice of deficiency to the Class Members describing the deficiency and providing the Class Member with 45 days measured from the date of the notice of deficiency, to cure the defect. If the Claims are not cured within the time period, the Claims shall be denied. The Settlement Claims Administrator shall have the authority to determine whether the Claims are complete, timely, and valid/deficient/invalid, and its decision shall be final and not appealable. The Settlement Claims Administrator shall provide periodic reports to counsel for Ford and Settlement Class Counsel, but not more often than quarterly.

Class Members who did not exclude themselves from the Class released Ford and the Released Parties from liability and are not be able to sue the Released Parties about the issues in the lawsuit. The Settlement Agreement at Section VII describes the released claims in necessary legal terminology, so read it carefully. For ease of reference, the full release section and the definition of Released Parties appears in Appendix A to the Notice. The Settlement Agreement is available on the document section of this website. You can talk to one of the lawyers listed in Question 13 below for free or you can talk to your own lawyer at your own expense if you have questions about the released claims or what they mean.

Yes. The Court has appointed lawyers to represent you and other Class Members. These lawyers are called “Settlement Class Counsel”: Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck, P.A., is Chair Lead Counsel, and David Boies of Boies Schiller & Flexner, L.L.P. and Todd A. Smith of Smith LaCien L.L.P. are Co-Lead Counsel. Roland Tellis of Baron & Budd P.C., James Cecchi of Carella Byrne Cecchi Olstein P.C., and Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP are the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee members. Their contact information is as follows:

The Notice summarizes the proposed settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement and other information about the settlement and the Claim Form on the documents section of this website. You can also call the toll-free number, 1-833-630-4683, or write the Settlement Notice Administrator at