— Fiat Chrysler’s seat height adjustment is the target of a class action lawsuit alleging that both front seat height adjustments are defective in approximately 2 million of these vehicles.
2011-2023 Dodge Charger
2011-2023 Chrysler300
Dodge Challenger 2011-2023
Chrysler 200 from 2011-2017
Dodge Dart 2013-2016
According to the FCA class action, the seat height adjustment includes a motor, gearbox, a threaded axle, a mating nut that moves along the axle as it rotates, and a bracket welded to the nut.
The electric height adjustment of the front seats, supplied by Lear Corporation, also named as a defendant, would collapse in low-speed rear-end collisions. Both FCA and Lear allegedly committed mail and wire fraud and hid the seat height adjustment problems from everyone.
The alleged conspiracy was played not only against consumers, but also against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the lawsuit, FCA has never notified NHTSA of the defective seat height adjustment since 2011.
The government conducts official crash tests on vehicles that must pass these tests or they cannot be sold. Additionally, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts vehicle crash tests that many consider even more demanding than the NHTSA’s requirements.
Chrysler’s class action does not reference official government crash tests or seat height adjustment errors. But prosecutors say their own lawyers conducted tests.
“Plaintiffs’ counsel engaged engineers and testing facilities to document the performance of the defective seat height adjustment in rear-end collisions. Their testing at 25 mph documented the failure of the defective seat height adjustment.”
It cost $405 to file the FCA class action for more than $5 million, but Texas plaintiffs Richard and Evelyn Alexander do not allege in the lawsuit that their 2014 Chrysler 300 had problems with seat height adjustment.
However, the plaintiffs complain that the Chrysler’s height adjustment “poses an unreasonable risk of injury or death, and the higher the seat is raised, the greater the risk of injury or death.”
The plaintiffs further allege that Chrysler hid the defects from federal safety regulators because doing so would require a major, expensive recall. Furthermore, a recall would require a complete redesign of the seat height adjustment.
According to the lawsuit, at least 2 million FCA vehicles have lost their value because of the dangerous seat height adjustment.
The Chrysler seat height adjustment class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas Division): Richard and Evelyn Alexander v. FCA US LLC, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Steckler Wayne & Love, PLLC, Malouf & Nockels LLP, and Michael Cole, attorney.
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