(COLORADO) — The surviving family of a man who was killed in a rollover is suing Ford due to defects in the car that the company allegedly knew about.
According to the lawsuit, Steven Horn and his wife, both from Pueblo, bought a 2012 Ford Super Duty F-350 to tow their camper. Based on Ford’s marketing, they believed their F-350 would protect them and their passengers in the event of a crash. In March 2025, the Horns’ Super Duty and the trailer they were pulling rolled over after a gust of wind hit it on a rural Oklahoma highway.
While his wife and their daughter were able to crawl out of the vehicle, the truck’s roof collapsed and killed Horn; he was pronounced dead on the scene.
“Mr. Horn’s fatal injuries are the direct result of a roof design that Ford knew was extraordinarily weak,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit further says that Ford weakened “almost every component of the roof structure” in the years of development of the 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty. The lawsuit says Ford did not warn Super Duty owners about the risk of roof crush when it began receiving reports of drivers being paralyzed or killed in rollovers and instead continued selling the design until 2016.
“And when confronted with cases claiming a defect existed, Ford asserted the false claim that roof strength does not prevent injuries in rollover crashes,” the lawsuit said. “Often, when a case alleged injury of wrongful death, Ford entered into secret settlements with victims and their families to hide the deadly nature of its roof design.”
Now, Horn’s wife is suing for wrongful death, product liability, and negligence as Ford markets its Super Duties as safe, reliable vehicles. With the Horn’s 2012 vehicle model being promoted as “Built Ford Tough.” The Horns purchased the vehicle because they believed it was a safe truck that would protect them, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Ford allegedly sold 2008-2016 model-year vehicles with flawed roofs and did not strengthen the roof of the Super Duty line until 2017, when new regulations forced it to do so.
The lawsuit asks for a trial by jury on all issues “triable.”
FOX21 News reached out to Ford, which said they do not comment on pending litigation.
