Garmin Class Action Says ‘Lifetime’ Marketing Claims Are Deceptive

A class action lawsuit alleges that Garmin USA misrepresents its navigation devices’ capacity to store traffic and map updates.

The Garmin class action lawsuit was filed by Francis McVetty and an unnamed plaintiff against Garmin USA, the maker of a number of navigation devices including Drivesmart, Nüvi, Drive, and DriveAssist.

Allegedly, Garmin advertises these products as having free “lifetime maps” or free “lifetime maps & traffic” which according to representations, means that the device will update and save new maps and traffic for the useful life of the Garmin device or as long as Garmin receives traffic data from its traffic supplier, which ever is shorter.

However, McVetty says the maps are not able to be updated for the entirety of the useful life of the Garmin or however long Garmin receives traffic data because the Garmin’s memory is not sufficient to receive and utilize the updates.

McVetty argues that this “is self-dealing and deceptive because whether or not the [Garmins] will retain the memory capacity to continue with updates is entirely dependent upon the prior updates distributed by Garmin to consumers.”

The Garmin class action lawsuit also argues that the devices are not as functional as advertised because they suffer hardware failure, which can only be remedied by communicating with third parties.

However, Garmin allegedly uses hardware failure and a need for “major repairs” as a reason to not provide updates to the device, but in reality, the customers paid for software, not just hardware, so customers are not able to take full advantage of the product they purchased.

The Garmin class action lawsuit claims that the company tells customers who experience difficulty updating their device that the problem is not with the Garmin but with the customers’ own computers, because of firewalls, faulty drivers, viruses, etc.

Allegedly, Garmin has a very slow customer service process that “frustrates and stymies the abilities of customers” to seek the updates that they were promised.

The Garmin updates class action lawsuit says that limitations to use the device were not communicated to consumers at the point of sale. Allegedly, customers believed simply that they would be able to have traffic updates through the life of the Garmin, but this is not truly the case.

McVetty says Garmin knowingly misleads customers into believing that they would be able to use the device longer than they could, in an effort to entice customers into purchasing the device.

Allegedly, as many technological updates are available, consumers want to invest in a technology that can be updated as new technology and software are available, which is why they chose Garmin.

However, McVetty says that had she known that there were more limitations on the user of the Garmin than advertised, she would not have purchased it or would not have paid as much for it as she did.

McVetty and the other Garmin customer are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Garmin Lifetime Updates Class Action Lawsuit is Francis McVetty, et al. v. Garmin USA Inc., Case No. 7:19-cv-04706, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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