VW Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Leaky Sunroofs

A VW class action lawsuit claims that some vehicles made by the company are equipped with defective sunroofs that leak in rainy weather conditions.

According to a VW owner, the defective sunroofs are present in certain Audi, Arteon, Atlas/Teramont, Golf, Jetta, Passat, Polo, Tiguan, and Touran vehicles, in model years 2016 to the present.

The VW class action lawsuit was filed by Krzysztof Ziarno who says he purchased a 2016 VW Golf equipped with a movable, panoramic sunroof in August 2016.

Ziarno claims that he expected his vehicle to be free of defects, as any reasonable consumer would. However, the plaintiff says that he has experienced several sunroof leaks that damaged his vehicle and that he was not informed of the sunroof defect.

The plaintiff states that he experienced the first sunroof leak in mid-October 2019 while it was raining. Allegedly, the doors, windows, and sunroof had been closed, but he found a significant amount of water on the floor of his car.

He claims that the problem occurred multiple times and, in a few instances, water seeped into the car while he was driving in the rain.

The VW class action lawsuit says that, in December 2019, Ziarno made an appointment with the VW dealer from whom he purchased the vehicle. He allegedly wished to have the vehicle’s leaky sunroof repaired, but could not get an appointment for multiple weeks.

In the interim, Ziarno says that so much water had accumulated on the right side of the vehicle that a passenger was unable to ride in the car.

After he was able to get in for repairs, the dealer reportedly told Ziarno that the leaking and flooding was caused by a clogged drain in the sunroof. Allegedly, his vehicle was kept by the dealer for several days but the dealer refused to provide a rented vehicle to Ziarno to use while his car was unavailable.

According to the VW lawsuit, the dealer unclogged the clogged drain and replaced the sunroof’s headliner, but this did not fix the problem.

Ziarno states that his sunroof continued to leak, causing mold to accumulate in the vehicle and discoloring the upholstery.

The plaintiff says he took the vehicle back to the dealer, and the dealer once again kept the vehicle for several day, but did not give Ziarno a rental car to use.

The dealer reportedly replaced the upholstery and claimed that the problem was fixed. However, Ziarno says that this was not the case, as the dealer did not replace the headliner the second time and water continues to enter the vehicle.

Ziarno claims that the leaky sunroof is a problem that plagues many Volkswagen vehicles and is the result of flaws in “design, manufacturing, and/or workmanship.” He stresses that the problem is a serious one, because it can can cause damage to the vehicle’s interior, electrical systems, roof headliners, and more.

The plaintiff notes that the problem is distracting and annoying to drivers and can cause mold to build up. If the water effects the electrical elements in a car, it can allegedly cause the vehicle to malfunction in a range of ways that can possibly endanger the driver, passengers, and other people on the road.

The VW class action lawsuit says that Ziarno and other customers were financially injured by the defect because, had they known that the defect was present, they would not have purchased the vehicle or would not have paid as much as they did for it.

Ziarno argues that Volkswagen is aware of the problem but falsely advertised the Class vehicles as free of defects. To support his claim that the company was aware of the problem, he points to numerous customer complaints about the problem as well as to instructions for dealers on how to deal with the problem.

Allegedly, Volkswagen told dealers not to notify customers of the defect. To make matters worse, the company has reportedly provided insufficient remedies to the problem.

Ziarno notes that eventually, the company did offer to provide inspection and cleaning of the valves on the Class vehicle sunroofs, but Ziarno states that this is an insufficient remedy.

According to the VW class action, the company expanded its warranty in an attempt to re-establish trust with customers. These changes reportedly came after the company’s reputation took a hit after the “Dieselgate” scandal, in which VW was accused of defrauding emissions regulators to make their diesel vehicles appear more fuel efficient than they were.

The VW class action suit argues the revamped warranty covered “any repair to correct a defect in the manufacturer’s material or workmanship” for six years or 72,000 miles. He says that this warranty is longer than any other warranty offered by another car maker.

However, despite the warranty’s generous terms, Ziarno asserts that the company does not fully honor the coverage and fails to cover issues associated with a sunroof deject. This allegedly requires customers to incur the costs of the sunroof leak defect repairs, which can be expensive.

Have you purchased a Volkswagen vehicle? Share your experiences with the car company in the comments below.

Ziarno is represented by Russell D. Paul, Jeffrey L. Osterwise, Amey J. Park, and Abigail J. Gertner of Berger Montague PC; Mitchell M. Breit, Jason ‘Jay’ Barnes, and Brittany A. Boswell of Simmons Hanly Conroy; Gregory F. Coleman, Mark E. Silvey, and Arthur Stock of Greg Coleman Law PC; and Mark P. Bryand and Emily Ward Roark of Bryant Law Center PSC.

The Sunroof Leak VW Class Action Lawsuit is Ziarno v. Volkswagen Group of America Inc., et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-03833, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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