Top plaintiffs’ firm represents Pueblo, Colorado family in wrongful death suit over defect affecting 5.2 million F-series trucks
Automaker Ford is in the crosshairs of a new lawsuit following the fatal crash of a Colorado father who attorneys say experienced a cabin roof crush defect present in millions of 1999–2016 Ford trucks and leading to fatal rollovers, according to personal injury attorneys at Hagens Berman and Brooks Law Firm.
The lawsuit was filed June 12, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on behalf of Jamie Horn, the surviving widow of Steven Horn, and accuses the automaker of negligence and wrongful death regarding a roof crush defect in Ford Super Duty pickup trucks. Attorneys at Hagens Berman and Brooks Law Firm say Ford knew about this defect which was allegedly responsible for the tragic death of Mr. Horn, a husband and father of two, in a rollover accident in March 2025 on an Oklahoma highway.
“But when the Horns bought their Super Duty, Ford already knew that Super Duty roofs were collapsing in rollover accidents,” the lawsuit states. “Ford knew, and it had been hiding this defect from consumers for years.’”
“As stated in our lawsuit, Mr. Horn is dead because Ford wanted to save a few dollars per truck,” said Jacob Berman, the attorney leading the case. “We intend to hold Ford accountable under the full extent of the law for what we believe is blatant negligence that led to his wrongful death and robbed this family of a father and husband.”
Design Defect Makes Frightening Rollover Fatal
On March 4, 2025, Horn, whose family and estate are represented by personal injury attorneys at Hagens Berman, was traveling with his family from their home in Pueblo, Colorado to visit his father in Seminole on rural Oklahoma highway US-412. The Horns’ 2012 Super Duty F-350 and the trailer it was pulling were hit by a gust of wind. Mr. Horn slowed down because of the wind, but the gust caused both the trailer and the truck to roll at least one and a half times, coming to rest on the roof. The F-350’s roof collapsed on the driver’s side, and Oklahoma Highway Patrol who responded pronounced Mr. Horn dead at the scene.
“In a properly designed truck, this would have been frightening, but not deadly,” the lawsuit states. “But the driver’s-side roof of the Horns’ F-350 collapsed during the rollover, crushing Mr. Horn and killing him.”
Horn’s wife and daughter who were seated on the passenger side of the F-350 were able to crawl out of the vehicle, according to the lawsuit, “evidence that when the roof doesn’t crush, people can survive rollovers without catastrophic injuries.”
The Smoking Gun – Ford’s Internal Testing & Safety Evaluations
According to the lawsuit, Ford’s Super Duty roofs were routinely crushed in rollovers, but Ford chose not to warn consumers. “Mr. Horn’s fatal injuries are the direct result of a roof design that Ford knew was extraordinarily weak,” the lawsuit states.
Ford’s internal testing and safety evaluations show that prior to the development of the 1999–2016 Ford Super Duty, Ford knew rollovers were far more dangerous to vehicle occupants than other types of crashes, the lawsuit states. These documents also show that Ford knew strong vehicle roofs were fundamental to minimizing serious injury in a rollover, according to the lawsuit.
“Despite this knowledge, Ford repeatedly weakened the roof structure on Super Duty trucks to save money on labor and tooling costs. In the years of development leading to the release of the Super Duty, Ford weakened almost every component of the roof structure to save money,” the lawsuit states. “It never performed any physical testing of the Super Duties’ roof strength, and it conveniently lost records of the computerized testing it claims it did perform.”
“Ford knew Super Duty roofs were weak before the first truck rolled off the assembly line,” Berman said. “Instead of doing what was right and making changes to its patently unsafe designs, Ford doubled down, continuing to sell the same defective design until 2016, all the while entering into secret settlements with victims and their families to try to hide the deadly nature of its cabin roof design.”
According to the lawsuit, Ford still hasn’t taken any steps to warn the public about the risk posed by roof collapse in 1999–2016 Super Duty trucks. Hagens Berman represents the families of two other individuals who lost their lives due to the roof crush defect present in millions of Super Duty pickup trucks.
In September 2022, Hagens Berman also filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners of Ford Super Duty pickups nationwide, accusing the automaker of selling more than 5 million pickup trucks it was well aware were equipped with a dangerously weak and defective roof. The firm’s subsequent lawsuit illuminated an even starker timeline of Ford’s alleged negligence, demonstrating that the automaker had over the course of nearly a decade continually downgraded or entirely removed key structural features of the roof design to cut costs.
Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs’ rights complex litigation law firm with a tenacious drive for achieving actual results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. Since its founding in 1993, the firm’s determination has earned it numerous national accolades, awards and titles of “Most Feared Plaintiff’s Firm,” MVPs and Trailblazers of class-action law. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250613887903/en/
"In the years of development leading to the release of the Super Duty, Ford weakened almost every component of the roof structure to save money,” the lawsuit states.
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