Ford's CP4 Fuel Pump Class Action Was Certified on September 30, 2026, for Five States and Only for Owners Who Already Paid for a Repair. There Is No Settlement, No Claim Form and No Payout Date, and the Judge Cut Indiana and New Jersey

On September 30, 2026, Judge Laurie J. Michelson granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs' motion for class certification in the seven-year-old lawsuit over the Bosch CP4 high-pressure fuel pump in Ford's 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel trucks. Five state classes now exist. That is a procedural step, not money: there is no settlement, no claim form, no fund and no payout date. The order's closing instructions tell the lawyers to “meet and confer and present to the Court within thirty (30) days … a proposal for notice to class members.” Class counsel, Hagens Berman, says the court also “largely denied Ford’s motion for summary judgment, establishing trial as the next step,” and Law360 reported on October 1 that the judge denied Ford judgment on the core causation issue while trimming some claims; the certification order itself only says the summary judgment ruling was coming “shortly,” and we have not read that second opinion.

Searches for “Ford fuel pump class action” jumped this week, and most of them landed on our report about General Motors' CP4 settlement, which did pay, in March and August 2026. Ford's case is at a different stage, under a different judge, with no deal on the table.

From the order's conclusion:

• California Class. “All persons or entities who purchased one or more of the Class Vehicles in California for personal, family, or household purposes, did not sign an arbitration agreement with a dealership, and have paid out of pocket for a CP4 repair.”
• Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina Classes. The same wording for each state, without the personal-use limit: purchased in the state, “did not sign an arbitration agreement with a dealership, and have paid out of pocket for a CP4 repair.”

“Model Year 2011-present Ford Power Stroke 6.7L diesel trucks are DESIGNATED as Class Vehicles.” Three conditions therefore decide whether an owner is in: the state where the truck was bought, not where the owner lives; whether the dealership paperwork contained an arbitration agreement; and whether the owner has actually paid for a CP4 repair. The judge added two exclusions along the way. Because the plaintiffs' own expert “estimates that the majority of Class Vehicles will never suffer a pump failure,” she ruled that “potential class members with no pump failure are excluded from the class definition.” And responding to Ford's argument about its recall, she wrote that “Class members already reimbursed by Ford for out of pocket repair expenses are excluded from the class.”

The arbitration carve-out came from Ford, which produced six arbitration agreements signed by named plaintiffs. The court said it “is faced with the very real possibility that the individual arbitration questions in the class could overwhelm the common questions,” and so “will modify the class definition to include only purchasers who did not sign an arbitration agreement with a dealership.” It declined to create a separate class for those who did.

The plaintiffs asked for seven state classes. Two failed for reasons that have nothing to do with the pump. The proposed New Jersey representative, Jay Eriv, did not buy the truck himself; “his separately incorporated company purchased the class vehicle,” so he is not a member of a class defined by purchasers, and “the Court’s finding of inadequacy precludes class certification for the proposed New Jersey class, for which no other named Plaintiff seeks appointment.” The Indiana representative, Sonja Bauers, “did not file her claim within the applicable statute of limitations,” a conclusion the court says it reached in its summary judgment opinion; with no other Indiana plaintiff, that class fell too. California survived a similar problem because a second plaintiff, Curtis McNeal Mertz, remained after Joseph Sawicki was found not to be a purchaser (his wife bought the truck).

The order describes the case as involving “2011–2023 Ford diesel trucks equipped with 6.7L Power Stroke diesel engines,” and designates model year 2011 to present as Class Vehicles. The order names no body styles; the recall records below show the engine across the F-250 to F-750 range. The parties agree the trucks carry four versions of the Bosch CP4 pump, each a different anti-wear “Robustness Package”: RPx, RP6, RP7 and RP8. Ford argued the design changes defeat a common answer; the court disagreed: “the design changes are not material to the question of whether the CP4 pump is defective. As Plaintiffs argue, the four versions share the same basic allegedly fragile design.”

The theory of defect is lubrication. U.S. diesel is “cleaner” but “dry” compared with European fuel; the plaintiffs say the pump's cam-roller-tappet mechanism grinds instead of gliding when the fuel is too dry or contaminated, sheds metal, and sends it through the fuel system and engine. The order repeatedly uses a $9,000 repair figure from the plaintiffs' briefing; Hagens Berman's press release speaks of $8,000 to $20,000. On causation the judge accepted the plaintiffs' framing that water contamination might justify a $400 bill for pumping out bad fuel but, on their theory, “should not result in a $9,000 repair bill,” and found that the common defect question “qualitatively predominates” over individual disputes about owner abuse.

There is a Ford recall for one of the four pump versions, and it affects who is in the class. NHTSA recall 24V-957 (Ford number 24S78), filed December 20, 2024, covers certain 2020–2022 F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550 and F-600 Super Duty trucks and 2021–2022 F-650 and F-750s: “Biodiesel deposits may form on the pump drivetrain roller components, which could lead to failure of the high pressure fuel pump.” The remedy on NHTSA's record is a software update to the powertrain and transmission control modules; owner letters were mailed January 23, 2026. A follow-up recall, 26V-158 (26S17), filed March 17, 2026, covers trucks “previously repaired incorrectly under recall number 24V957,” with letters mailed April 7, 2026.

In the class action, Ford told the court that in January 2026 it recalled all RP7-pump trucks and promised reimbursement for “repair costs associated with failures of one variant of the CP4 diesel fuel pump that had a distinct susceptibility to biodiesel deposit accumulation,” and argued that the named plaintiffs, none of whom has that pump, cannot adequately represent owners who are “already entitled to all the relief that the Named Plaintiffs seek.” The plaintiffs answered that the reimbursement is “limited to those who can prove their vehicle contains specific diagnostic trouble codes” and “those who had the repair done at a Ford dealership.” The judge sided with the plaintiffs but drew the line clearly: anyone Ford has already reimbursed is out of the class. If your truck is in the 2020–2022 group and the pump failed, the recall reimbursement route through Ford exists now; the class action does not pay anything yet.

For comparison, the GM CP4 case in the same courthouse, Chapman v. General Motors, certified seven state classes in March 2023, settled for $50 million, and mailed its checks on March 23 and August 31, 2026. Nothing in the September 30 order says Ford will follow that path; the order's next step is a trial.

• Keep every repair invoice for a CP4 or fuel-system failure, and the purchase contract. The class turns on having paid out of pocket, on the state of purchase and on whether that contract had an arbitration clause.
• Expect a court-approved notice later, not now. The notice plan is due within thirty days of September 30; nothing has been sent, and there is no deadline to meet.
• Do not pay anyone to “register” your claim. There is no claim form. Hagens Berman's web form and its address cp4@hbsslaw.com are a law firm's intake, which the firm's own page labels attorney advertising, not a court filing.
• Check the recall. If the truck is a 2020–2022 model, look up the VIN at nhtsa.gov for 24V-957 and 26V-158, and if the pump failed, ask Ford about reimbursement; being reimbursed by Ford takes you out of the class, which is the point of being reimbursed.
• Outside the five states, or signed an arbitration clause? You are not in a certified class. Your individual claims are not decided by this order, but this case will not pay them.