Audi drivers will have a chance to amend their complaint after a class action lawsuit alleging a direct-shift gearbox transmission defect was dismissed by a federal judge.
A group of Audi owners lodged a class action lawsuit against the luxury car maker alleging that certain models are prone to shuddering when accelerated due to a defect in the direct-shift gearbox transmission.
The affected vehicles include 2010 through 2014 Audi S4, S5, S6, S7 and RS5 models.
U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. trimmed most of the Audi class action claims in response to a motion from Audi to dismiss. However, Judge Gilliam did grant the plaintiffs about a month to amend their complaint.
The Audi class action lawsuit alleged that the defective gearbox caused “juddering” or jerking in the affected vehicles when shifting into second, third, or fourth gear.
The plaintiffs said that the defect also caused a dangerous pause before acceleration that could result in a hard downshift when decelerating.
The four plaintiffs alleged nine allegations against Audi, including claims for breach of warranty, violations of federal law, violations of state law, unjust enrichment, and for damages.
Only one of the plaintiffs alleged that the defect caused issues for his vehicle during the warranty period. Judge Gilliam noted that the other plaintiffs’ allegations were based on marketing claims that the Audi’s were safe and reliable.
“As many cases have found before, general ‘safety’ claims are nonactionable puffery,” noted the judge when he nixed all but one plaintiff’s allegations.
The Audi class action lawsuit made claims under California, New York, and Texas warranty laws. The judge dumped these claims.
Judge Gilliam also ruled that the class action lawsuit had lodged warranty claims against Audi, when another entity was responsible for issuing the express warranty.
“Whatever corporate structure defendants might have, only one entity is alleged to have issued the express warranties at issue here: [Volkswagen Group of America],” wrote the judge in his order. “And nothing in the operative complaint alleges a relationship between the other entities and issuance of the written warranties. Plaintiffs thus fail to state a breach of express warranty claim against [Volkswagen Group] and Audi.”
Similarly, Judge Gilliam slashed Audi class action lawsuit claims under California state law, noting that some of the plaintiffs had purchased their cars outside of California.
Additionally, some of the plaintiffs had an adequate remedy outside of the state law claims, determined the judge.
Though Audi argued that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim, one of the plaintiff’s allegations survived the motion to dismiss.
Further, the plaintiffs will have 28 days to rectify and resubmit their claims.
The Audi drivers are represented by Gregory F. Coleman of Greg Coleman Law PC, Daniel K. Bryson of Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP and Deborah R. Rosenthal of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, among others.
The Audi Defective Transmission Class Action Lawsuit is Mike Mandani, et al. v. Volkswagen Group of America Inc., et al., Case No. 4:17-cv-07287, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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9 thoughts onAudi Transmission Defect Class Action Dismissed With Leave To Amend
My 2011 S4, mechatronics, and a transmission. replaced the mechatronic unit under warranty @ 15000 miles, then a new transmission @ 38000, Now need both again
I’m going through the same thing with my 2013 Audi RS5. I had my car serviced at an Audi dealer in 01/2021 and was told my brand new tie rod was leaking. I found out it was my transmission leaking. Come to find out the jumping at stops, the smell I got when starting the car up eventually led up to transmission overheating and malfunction warnings. I think this case should be reopened.
I think this lawsuit needs to be expanded to VW models as well. I have a 2012 EOS that has a transmission that failed at about 73k miles (maintenance done at 39k miles). While attempting to get it repaired, the transmission shop went through 3 used transmissions that turned out to be bad before giving up. Other shop would not touch it due to past experience with VW DSG transmissions. I then took it to the dealership. The dealer ship recommended getting a new transmission ($5600) because they had another 2012 EOS in the shop at that moment that they had gone through 2 bad used transmissions before finding a good one.
There used to be 3 EOSes in my neighborhood. Found that at least one of the other ones had been retried due to “mechanical issues”. I do not know what happen to the 3th.
I didn’t know about this and I have already hired a separate law firm from LA. My car did this from the day I bought it and I took it in under warranty 9 times. No one fixed it although they kept resetting the transmission to learning mode. Finally time ran on my warranty and the dealership wants $24,000 to replace the transmission and replace the mechatronic computer. I have a 2012 A6 Prestige.
2013 Audi S4, same shit, mechatronics problems diagnosed, pretty disappointing if I do say so myself…
Yap same situation 2014 RS with only 31K miles in Oregon. Dealer just diagnosed the problem as a Mechatronic module issue. Was told 5K just for the parts.
From South-Africa. Have an A6 2.4 multitronic (2008 model) – also transmission problems – jerking and shuddering – cost of new gearbox is ridiculous…. what responsibility will audi take for this? Obviously huge issues looking at what is said and reported on the Net….
I have a 2013 B8.5 Audi S4 and have to change my mechatronic for the second time! The first time around the dealer gave me a break when it was time to change it after warranty had expired. The issue occurred at around 65k miles. I know have to change the mechatronic yet again after the repair warranty has expired 2 years after it was done. I know have 90k miles. I contacted Audi to get some help on the part and my claim was denied. I know have to spend over $4k to replace it. Is there any way to escalade that? I have had 4 Audis already and it is the first time I have significant issues. It is poorly handled on Audi’s side that seems to not care about client retention. I love Audis but not with those conditions. I may have to change brand.
Same situation with my 2011 S4. Audi knows they have a problem with this, but won’t take care of loyal customers.