– Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4x dead 12v batteries spawned two class action lawsuits that were merged into one, but Subaru and Toyota claim the plaintiffs have no claim to stand on.
Included in the 12V dead battery class action lawsuit are the 2023-2025 Subaru Solterra and 2023-2025 Toyota bZ4x electric vehicles.
The Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra are electric SUVs equipped with rechargeable high-voltage batteries that power the vehicles.
But standard 12V batteries operate switches between the high-voltage EV batteries and the drive motors, and those individual 12V batteries also power the windshield wipers, lights, power windows and seats, and air conditioning.
According to the lawsuit, the problems with Subaru Solterra’s dead 12V batteries are just as bad as Toyota bZ4X’s dead 12V batteries because the vehicles are built with the same powertrains and platforms.
The customers who filed a lawsuit claim their 12-volt batteries died and died because “the 12-volt charging and battery systems in [their vehicles] are defective.”
Motion to dismiss the lawsuit against Subaru/Toyota Dead 12v Battery
The plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit representing vehicles across the country, but Toyota and Subaru claim the plaintiffs cannot represent customers in states “with which they have no connection,” meaning the “claims are fundamentally flawed.”
In the motion to dismiss, both automakers argue that the identical claims are merely “conclusive allegations” from customers who purchased different vehicles at different times, in different states and from different dealers.
The class action lawsuit simply could not plausibly allege a defect in Subaru and Toyota’s 12-volt batteries. Furthermore, the automakers claim that “speculative allegations of symptoms and effects are insufficient.”
While the lawsuit claims the dead 12V battery problems make the vehicles “unsellable,” Toyota told the judge that the 12V battery problems were fixed by dealers.
A 2023 Toyota bZ4X owner complained about a dead 12V battery, in fact he says he was dealing with three dead and dead batteries. One battery started without any problems and two were replaced free of charge under warranty.
Another plaintiff complains that his 2024 Toyota bZ4X 12v battery died several times and each time he was able to start his vehicle or receive a free replacement battery. A Toyota dealer told him that to avoid battery drain, he needed to delete his profile from the Toyota app servers and delete the Toyota app connected to the vehicle.
Toyota notes that he “claims no problem since.”
Other plaintiffs describe similar problems with the 12V battery, including problems with the Toyota app and dead batteries. But Toyota says prosecutors are not providing facts about the Toyota app theory or explaining how it involves a battery defect.
According to Toyota, the plaintiffs never allege that they conducted tests on their vehicles or that anyone told them that their 12-volt batteries were defective.
“Beyond the listing effects, Plaintiffs do not explain how that is so, nor what component constitutes the alleged defect or how it causes the inadequate charge or discharge. Plaintiffs must ‘identify specific components or systems that contain the alleged defect’ and allege[] facts that are plausibly and causally connected[] the allegedly defective components or systems to specific observed problems or symptoms.’” — Toyota
Toyota also argues in part of the class action entitled ‘The Battery Defect’ that the plaintiffs only mention ‘effects’, but not a specific alleged defect.
And Toyota told the judge that all fraud claims should be dismissed because the allegations are not specific enough to support those claims.
“Plaintiffs do not indicate what is allegedly defective about the design of the 12-volt battery, including which specific parts of the 12-volt battery failed to function, why they failed to function properly (or whether they failed to function properly due to an alleged defect), or how they failed to communicate with the electrical system to drain the batteries.”
According to the 12V battery dead lawsuit, Toyota was aware of the alleged battery problems because technical service bulletins were issued to dealers. But Toyota claims it’s all nonsense because the TSBs say nothing about 12V battery defects.
“One TSB covers pre-delivery services that dealers must perform before selling a vehicle to a consumer. The other TSB addresses best practices that dealers must follow when storing 2024 vehicles off-site because ‘[l]long-term or off-site storage requires special care to keep factory vehicles fresh and ready for delivery.’” — Toyota’s motion to dismiss
The Subaru and Toyota 12v dead battery lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Sacramento Division): John Wade v. Toyota Motor North America Inc., et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Keller Rohrback LLP, Shub Johns & Holbrook LLP and Wittels McInturff Palikovic.
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