The Ford Motor Company agreed Wednesday to settle class-action lawsuits covering plaintiffs in four states who claimed its Explorer sport utility vehicles were prone to rollovers, the company and a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.
The settlement applies to about a million people in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, said Kevin P. Roddy, a New Jersey lawyer and co-counsel for the S.U.V. owners who brought the lawsuit.
The settlement, which applies to Explorers in model years 1991 through 2001, will allow vehicle owners to apply for $500 vouchers to buy Explorers or $300 vouchers to buy other Ford or Lincoln Mercury products, Mr. Roddy said.
Consumers will be able to apply for the vouchers through a Web site starting Monday if a Sacramento judge gives preliminary approval to the settlement. The parties plan to ask Judge David De Alba of Superior Court to give final approval during a hearing in April, after those covered by the settlement have had time to apply for the vouchers, he said.
The settlement also requires Ford to distribute information about the rollover dangers of sport utility vehicles and to limit safety claims in its advertising.
Ford has faced wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits across the country stemming from rollover accidents that involved its popular Explorer.
The agreement announced Wednesday in California ends all the outstanding lawsuits against Ford stemming from the Explorer rollovers, a Ford spokeswoman, Kristen Kinley, said.
The vouchers can be used by plaintiffs’ family members or can be transferred to anyone in the vehicle owner’s state, Mr. Roddy said.
