Lawsuits?

[MeyerMach]

Has anyone sued over their car and gotten anywhere?

I have a first generation made in Feb 21. It’s been in the shop almost as much as I’ve had it. It’s been there going on 3 weeks right now and no word on when I’ll get it back. Driving a Honda Accord loaner. It’s had the batteries replaced more than once. I’ve had “stop safely” problems, even stuck on the side of the road, keys not working and all the range issues with it. This time the in vehicle tech system reset back to factory and couldn’t be programmed. Couldn’t use my phone, couldn’t log into profiles. Nothing. The shop had to call Ford tech because the updates made it worse. Now it’s throwing codes for other issues and I have no idea when I will get it back.
Ford gave us a crap buyback offer that wouldn’t even cover the cost of a new one or my losses in payments and paying for gas in loaner cars. With inflation I would be out 10+k in extra costs to replace the car if I could even get one. That shouldn’t be on me because their car isn’t working.
What all have you done if you’ve been in this situation? I’m looking for some advice, I need to do something. I feel like I am making payments on a car I don’t have, paying insurance, registration, I got solar on our house for the car and now im paying for gas in a loaner in California at $7 a gallon.

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[Maquis]

You state’s lemon laws should provide you with a better alternative than a lawsuit. You may need an attorney in either case.

 

[ARK]

Reach out to a lawyer who handles these kind of car cases. In California, for this type of case, most will talk to you initially without charge to let you know if you have a case.

They can also often get their attorneys' fees from the company, so you don't end up having to pay the lawyer at all in a sense, whether up front or at the end from your portion of the settlement.

 

[RWG]

As a former corporate executive, in charge of warranty, recalls, law suites etc. It works like this:

Lawsuits get a lot of internal attention, especially if you are a publicly held company. All lawsuits are evaluated as a "contingent liability" and end up on the balance sheet and in the public record. Nobody internal executive likes to see this but it is part of doing business. The company corporate lawyers usually can only practice law in their home state and maybe a few others, so when somebody files a suit in another state, the corporate law team has to find/hire lawyers to represent the company in that state. The company may already have legal resources on retainer in every state already but every complaint, carries a cost. If the company "makes" a deal with an individual plaintiff, unless it is confidential, private, it sets legal precedent for other claims, and that can get expensive. That is why there are usually NDAs, non-disclosure agreements with many "deals".

I suspect there are lots of complex complications regarding automobile warranties, lemon laws, etc. because many states have individual consumer protection laws on the books. This just means, if your serious, get a lawyer that specializes in this area because things can get complicated.

Every lawsuit filed, comes at a cost to the company, even if there is no settlement. All legal claims must be addressed.

Regarding potential company motive for their actions regarding the current battery contactors problem. I would suggest the "software" upgrade is being done to satisfy the NTSB so a "do not drive order" was avoided, as such the software is intended to mitigate short term failures and is not the long term final solution. However, based on the the information, and speculation, I have read so far, I don't think the resolution is 100% clear. I know, if I was an exec making recall decisions, the engineering and product management teams have a lot of work to do to convince me they know what they are doing before I would sanction a major recall that involved a lot of labor and parts cost. After all, it was their design that seems to have a problem and I would want to make sure the company didn't get hit with multiple fixes on each vehicle.

Why the concerns? Simple, if 50,000 vehicles are recalled software installed, contactors replaced, the cost could be $2000 per vehicle, or $100m. But if the repair is inadequate, and has to be done again later, it could cost a lot more.

 

[DevSecOps]

@MeyerMach - can you send me a DM with your VIN? I would like to take a look to see what they are doing and possibly get you some assistance.

 

[moparguy]

Here are the information you need from the state of California, don't hesitate to file a complain and start from there.

https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/genera...aw (Civ,a manufacturer's new-vehicle warranty.

 

[MeyerMach]

You state’s lemon laws should provide you with a better alternative than a lawsuit. You may need an attorney in either case.

My states lemon law

As a former corporate executive, in charge of warranty, recalls, law suites etc. It works like this:

Lawsuits get a lot of internal attention, especially if you are a publicly held company. All lawsuits are evaluated as a "contingent liability" and end up on the balance sheet and in the public record. Nobody internal executive likes to see this but it is part of doing business. The company corporate lawyers usually can only practice law in their home state and maybe a few others, so when somebody files a suit in another state, the corporate law team has to find/hire lawyers to represent the company in that state. The company may already have legal resources on retainer in every state already but every complaint, carries a cost. If the company "makes" a deal with an individual plaintiff, unless it is confidential, private, it sets legal precedent for other claims, and that can get expensive. That is why there are usually NDAs, non-disclosure agreements with many "deals".

I suspect there are lots of complex complications regarding automobile warranties, lemon laws, etc. because many states have individual consumer protection laws on the books. This just means, if your serious, get a lawyer that specializes in this area because things can get complicated.

Every lawsuit filed, comes at a cost to the company, even if there is no settlement. All legal claims must be addressed.

Regarding potential company motive for their actions regarding the current battery contactors problem. I would suggest the "software" upgrade is being done to satisfy the NTSB so a "do not drive order" was avoided, as such the software is intended to mitigate short term failures and is not the long term final solution. However, based on the the information, and speculation, I have read so far, I don't think the resolution is 100% clear. I know, if I was an exec making recall decisions, the engineering and product management teams have a lot of work to do to convince me they know what they are doing before I would sanction a major recall that involved a lot of labor and parts cost. After all, it was their design that seems to have a problem and I would want to make sure the company didn't get hit with multiple fixes on each vehicle.

Why the concerns? Simple, if 50,000 vehicles are recalled software installed, contactors replaced, the cost could be $2000 per vehicle, or $100m. But if the repair is inadequate, and has to be done again later, it could cost a lot more.

I didn’t follow most of this.

 

[MeyerMach]

You state’s lemon laws should provide you with a better alternative than a lawsuit. You may need an attorney in either case.

Not in California!

 

[dmitry]

Not in California!

Wrong. No need lawsuits or even a lawyer. Just file a case with BBB auto line and follow California Lemon Law terms. Know your rights, be patient and ask what they own to you conform law. I earlier received good advice to read the book Lemon law bible, you can find it on Amazon. My case was successfully closed last week. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on it, for me it took nearly 4 month, even by law they have only 30 days after arbitration decision. Good luck!

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