– A lawsuit over Kia Carnival’s sliding doors claims that problems with the doors were not repaired through a Carnival recall.
The class action claims that even though the Kia Carnivals were recalled through the sliding doors, every minivan in the country is supposedly worth less because they were recalled.
But Kia claims the plaintiffs have no case over the 2022-2023 Kia Carnival minivans and that the entire lawsuit should be dismissed.
Plaintiffs Rachel and Andrew Langerhans purchased a new 2022 Kia Carnival SX in November 2021, but within a few months noticed that the sliding doors did not respond to obstacles or people when closing.
The Kia Carnival sliding door class action was filed only after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation, Kia recalled the minivans, and NHTSA closed its investigation based on the recall repairs.
The plaintiffs say they took their Carnival to a dealer because of the sliding door recall and told the technicians they were concerned about the sliding door pinch sensors. The dealer checked the sensors and found no problems.
Motion to dismiss Kia Carnival sliding door lawsuit
The Carnival sliding door class action alleges that the plaintiffs believe the recall did not provide an adequate or lasting repair because it did not affect the amount of force required to activate the squeeze sensor. But Kia maintains that the plaintiffs are not alleging that they or their children suffered personal injuries from the Carnival sliding doors.
‘On the contrary, they ‘worry’ about the possibility of the doors closing on them or their children.” Come on
The plaintiffs have also never experienced a problem with the sliding doors since Carnival’s recall, but still paid $405 to file the class action lawsuit for more than $5 million. Kia states that the plaintiffs want the judge to deal with ‘hypothetical matters’.
Kia says the court may not rule on claims if there is no evidence that the recall repairs were ineffective.
Although the plaintiffs complain that the sliding door recall repairs failed to fix their minivan, Kia points out that the plaintiffs never claim that they returned to a dealer after the recall repairs were made.
According to Kia, any dispute over the recall is speculative unless and until the defect persists in the plaintiff’s vehicle after the recall, or at least until the plaintiff can plausibly allege facts showing why the recall is ineffective.
“Plaintiffs do not allege that they are currently experiencing any problems with their vehicles, so it is unclear what damages they currently have that this lawsuit is intended to remedy.” — Kia’s motion to dismiss
According to the owners who filed the lawsuit, Kia knew the Carnival sliding doors were defective and dangerous before Kia sold the minivans. This means Kia would have sold the vehicles to family members, employees and consumers even though the automaker knew the sliding doors were defective and could injure people, including children.
And although federal safety authorities have closed their investigation into Carnival’s sliding doors based on Kia’s recall, the lawsuit still claims the minivans are defective.
In addition to the motion to dismiss the Sliding Door lawsuit, Kia claims the class action should not proceed in court because the plaintiffs signed a binding arbitration agreement when they purchased their Carnival minivan.
The Kia Carnival sliding door class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland: Langerhans v. Kia Corporation, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Migliaccio & Rathod LLP, and Levin Sedran & Berman.
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