In October 2021, Lieff Cabraser partner Mark P. Chalos was named Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel in the federal litigation over widespread consumer complaints of engine overheating allegedly caused by an internal engine coolant leak in 1.5L and 2.0L Ford Ecoboost engines in the following vehicles:

2013-2019 Ford Escape
2013-2019 Ford Fusion
2015-2018 Ford Edge
2017-2019 Lincoln MKC
2017-2019 Lincoln MKZ

Consumers claim the engines in their Ford vehicles overheat due to an internal coolant / antifreeze leak that allows coolant to enter into the cylinders of the engine. In many cases, the defect is alleged to have caused total engine failure and to require replacement of the engine block.

While some consumers report the check engine light comes on to alert them to the issue, others state they got no warning. Similarly, some consumers note they saw blue or white smoke coming from their vehicles to alert them to the issue. Several observed that their vehicle misfired when coolant leaked into the cylinders. The most common vehicle PCM codes reported as associated with misfire related to the internal coolant leak are P0316 and P0302.

Consumers additional report that the prevalence of the problem has caused replacement parts to be on backorder, causing significant increased wait times for vehicle repair.

Ford previously recalled certain 2013 and 2014 Ford vehicles equipped with the 1.6L engine for a similar issue under recall campaigns 12V551 and 17V209. No such recall has been made, however, for vehicles with the 1.5L and 2.0L Ford Ecoboost engines presenting similar problems.