VW Reaches Settlement With Drivers After Allegedly Selling Defective Audis

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Volkswagen Group of America Inc. has reached a settlement with drivers who allege that the company sold them Audis with defective gearshifts and left them to pick up the tab for transmission repairs.

Lead Plaintiff John Chess asked the California federal court to grant preliminary approval for settlement, which would end a 2017 class action lawsuit against VW. The settlement includes a warranty extension and replacements of the alleged faulty transmission.

According to the Audi defect class action lawsuit, VW manufactured and sold 2010-2014 model year Audi S4, S5, S6, S7 and RS5 vehicles with defective direct-shift gearbox transmissions that caused “sudden, rough, unexpected shaking and violent jerking” when drivers attempted to accelerate and shift the cars into second, third or fourth gear and attempted to decelerate. A later amended claim added 2015 models to the lawsuit.

In the Audi defect settlement request, Chess says that the settlement is “clearly fair, reasonable and adequate, providing significant, concrete and valuable benefits” to the drivers.

“The proposed Settlement provides for a percentage reimbursement to all Settlement Class Members that have paid out-of-pocket expenses for one Covered Repair (of a diagnosed condition of transmission shuddering, juddering, rough shifting or improperly entering into “limp mode”),” the document says.

The value of the VW Audi defect settlement has not been made public, but the documents state that VW will pay up to $1.05 million in attorney fees and up to $5,000 as an incentive award to the class representative.

VW will also pay back vehicle owners a portion of their transmission repair or replacement costs based on the mileage and age of the vehicle when the repair happened. Reimbursement ranges from 100 percent for vehicles that were up to four years old and under 50,000 miles, to 20 percent for vehicles that were between eight and nine years and between 80,001 and 90,000 miles.

For those who had their repairs done at a non-authorized Audi dealer, reimbursement for replacement of the mechatronic unit is capped at $5,000 and replacement of the transmission is capped at $12,000.

According to the Audi defect settlement document, VW denies all the allegations and maintains that the vehicles’ transmissions “are not defective, were properly designed, manufactured, marketed and sold, that no warranties were breached, that no applicable statutes or laws were violated, and no wrongdoing occurred with respect to the subject vehicles and their transmissions.”

Have you ever driven one of the affected Audis? Let us know if you noticed any issues with the transmission in the comments section!

Chess is represented by Daniel K. Bryson, Gregory F. Coleman, and Mitchell M. Breit of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC; and Deborah R. Rosenthal of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC.

VW is represented by Michael B. Gallub, Homer B. Ramsey, Brian T. Carr and Craig L. Winterman of Herzfeld & Rubin PC.

The Audi Faulty Transmission Class Action Lawsuit is Chess v. Volkswagen Group of America Inc., Case No. 4:17-cv-07287, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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