– Fiat Chrysler claims the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid battery recall has resolved any issues and a massive class action lawsuit should be dismissed out of court.
Even Judge David M. Lawson calls the battery lawsuit an “enormous plea – 1,450 paragraphs spanning more than 430 pages.”
According to the class action, defects in the high-voltage lithium-ion batteries in 2017-2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids can cause spontaneous fires when the battery enters a “thermal runaway,” meaning it generates heat faster than it can dissipate.
At least eleven Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid battery class action lawsuits have been filed against 2017-2018 minivans, including Huntington v FCA, Olsen v FCAAnd Gomez v FCA.
All of the lawsuits made identical or similar claims, leading the judge to consolidate the lawsuits into one class action titled: Chrysler Pacifica Fire Recall Products Liability Litigation.
A recall of the vehicles led to the class actions, all of which claim the recall repairs were not good enough. And even with the repairs, the hybrid minivans would be worth less money because of the battery recalls, which you can read about here and here.
Motion to Dismiss Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Lawsuit
FCA told the judge that most claimants do not have any evidence to support their claims, some of which were previously rejected.
Chrysler further told the judge that the plaintiffs could act as if all hybrid batteries were defective when the evidence and data showed otherwise.
“Proving that plaintiffs themselves were actually injured by a defective battery (or statements or omissions about it) necessarily requires proof that their batteries were actually defective. Here, only twenty-seven vehicles out of 16,741 in the subject population, that is, 0.16%, experienced a fire.” — FCA
The automaker determined that the cause of the fires was cracked or folded anode tabs in the batteries, but FCA estimates that about 5% of minivans have problems.
“On November 30, 2023, the software identified some type of anomaly in 750 batteries, all of which were replaced, and an actual defect was found in 34 of those batteries.” — Chrysler
The first recall repairs (Z11 software) were supposed to identify problems in the batteries, but seven more battery fires were reported. That’s why Chrysler created new software that became available in December 2024. And if a problem is detected, a dealer will replace the battery for free.
FCA told the judge that there have been no known battery fires since the repairs to the 73B.
In its motion, FCA argues that the plaintiffs must prove that their Pacifica Hybrids have defective batteries, something most plaintiffs cannot do.
“It is not until the plaintiff’s own product is defective that he is injured. Until then, he has necessarily received the benefit of his bargain and not overpaid.” — Chrysler
The automaker also says the lawsuit should be dismissed because even four of the plaintiffs who did have battery problems had their batteries replaced for free.
As for FCA allegedly knowing about the Pacifica Hybrid’s battery problems before the minivans were sold, Chrysler claims there is no evidence to support the allegations.
FCA says all the evidence shows that the automaker “had no reason to even suspect the existence of the production defect that gave rise to a fire hazard until late 2019, long after FCA US sold their 2017 and 2018 vehicle and the plaintiffs purchased it.”
Chrysler reportedly had no concrete evidence of a possible defect, as it only knew that the fires that had occurred up to that point were in “the battery area,” and engineers reportedly knew no clear cause.
And FCA told the judge that any claim must show that a plaintiff was injured, but with the exception of three plaintiffs who experienced battery fires, all claims fail “because no plaintiff can present any evidence that he was injured by a defect in his vehicles.”
The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid battery lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division): IN RE: Chrysler Pacifica Fire Recall Products Liability Litigation.
The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, The Miller Law Firm, PC, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, and Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP.
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