Kia, Honda, Toyota Class Action Alleges Airbag Defect In 12M Vehicles

A group of car owners have hit seven automakers and one auto parts supplier with a class action lawsuit alleging that they knew for “years” that there was a defect in their airbags and concealed it from the public.

Ryan Baldwin, along with five other plaintiffs have sued Kia Motors America, Hyundai Motor America, FCA US, Mitsubishi Motors America, American Honda Motor Co., Acura, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., and ZF-TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., stating that the companies should have recalled the cars with the defective airbags.

“At issue is the vehicles’ airbag control unit (‘ACU’) manufactured by supplier ZF-TRW that becomes over-stressed by excess electrical energy generated during a crash. The ‘electrical over-stress’ forces the ACU to seize-up at the moment of impact, causing the airbags to not deploy and the seatbelt locks to fail,” the Kia class action lawsuit alleges.

The airbags in the Baldwin’s 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution allegedly have the airbag defect. Consequently, the value of his car has diminished. The plaintiff says that if he had known of the defect prior to buying the vehicle, he wouldn’t have done so or would have paid a lesser price for it.

“Because the Acura, FCA, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota Defendants are refusing to acknowledge any revocation of acceptance and return immediately any payments made, Plaintiffs and the other Class members have not reaccepted their Defective Vehicles by retaining them,” the plaintiffs allege.

The Honda class action lawsuit points to a 2018 National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) investigation into the defects, in which they found out that the airbag company had been having talks with the vehicle makers since 2011.

“Under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, manufacturers are required to issue a full vehicle recall within five days of learning of a defect,” the Hyundai class action lawsuit claims.

The NHSTA continued the investigation in April 2019 and expanded the range to other vehicle manufacturers who had installed the airbag control unit in their cars.

“At its early investigation stages, NHTSA has confirmed that the defective ACU has been linked to at least four deaths; however, NHTSA complaint logs confirm that many more fatalities have been reported to NHTSA that are still under investigation,” the Toyota class action lawsuit alleges.

The Mitsubishi class action lawsuit states that the defendants did not notify the car buyers of the airbag defect and “at the same time Defendants marketed and represented that the Class Vehicles were safe and reliable.”

The plaintiffs allege that the defendants violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act and Breach of the Implied Warranty of Merchantability, California Unfair Competition Law, California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, fraudulent concealment, and unjust enrichment.

Class Members include all U.S. residents who own one of numerous Class vehicles including: Acura, Dodge Ram, Fiat, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Patriot, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Kia Sedona, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ram 1500, Ram 2500, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Sequoia, among others. 

The proposed Class is represented by Jonathan A. Michaels, Kyle Gurwell and Ryan Jones of MLG APLC and Robert N. Kaplan and Laurence D. King of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP.

The Airbag Defect Class Action is Baldwin, et al. v. Kia Motors America Inc., et al., Case No. 8:19-cv-01376, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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