Maserati Class Action Alleges Passive Entry System Is Defective

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Maserati North America Inc. faces a class action lawsuit alleging certain Ghibli vehicles have a defect that allows the key fob to be locked inside a vehicle with no way to unlock it, creating a potentially dangerous situation if a child or pet is locked inside the car.

Plaintiff Mohamed Elsayed filed the Maserati class action lawsuit in California federal court on behalf of himself and a Class of current and former owners and/or lessees of 2014-2016 model year Ghibli vehicles equipped with a Passive Entry System.

According to the Maserati class action lawsuit, the Passive Entry System is intended to be an enhancement to the Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) system, which allows users to lock and unlock doors with a key fob. The Passive Entry System allows drivers to lock and unlock the vehicle’s doors without having to press the RKE transmitter’s lock or unlock button. Model year 2014-2016 Ghibli vehicles are reportedly equipped with an automatic door unlock feature that functions when the ignition switch is in the “off” position, preventing the inadvertent locking of the key fob inside the vehicle.

The Ghibli owner’s manual also reportedly indicates that the vehicle will unlock the doors when the doors are manually locked by using the knob on the door panel and/or a key fob RKE transmitter inside the vehicle. The Maserati Ghibli class action lawsuit states that these precautions exist to prevent drivers from accidentally locking their car keys inside the vehicle.

“The Owner’s Manual thus makes it clear that in order to lock the vehicle the key fob must be located outside the vehicle,” Elsayed alleges in the Maserati Ghibli class action lawsuit. “If the vehicle is located inside the vehicle, the vehicle should not lock.”

However, Elsayed says there have been dangerous situations in which the key fob is locked inside the vehicle, including times in which a young child is trapped inside the locked vehicle as the parent looks on helplessly. “Thus, a life threatening defect exists with regard to the Maserati Ghibli’s Passive Entry System,” the Maserati class action lawsuit asserts.

Elsayed claims that his wife experienced such a situation while running errands with their young son shortly after the couple leased a new 2015 Maserati Ghibli. She allegedly placed her purse, which contained her cell phone and the key fob, on the front seat of the Ghibli and closed the door. She then placed her son in his car seat in the rear of the car and closed the door.

“It was then that the unthinkable happened,” the Maserati class action lawsuit states. “Plaintiff’s son, who at the time was three-years old, reached over and pressed the rear power door lock, locking the vehicle’s doors.”

Without her cell phone and key fob, Elsayed’s wife was helpless and could not unlock the vehicle’s doors, the Maserati class action lawsuit alleges. After 10 to 15 minutes, she was allegedly finally able to convince her young son to unlock the vehicle’s doors.

Elsayed says he would not have purchased the Maserati Ghibli, or he would have paid much less for the vehicle, had he known about this dangerous key fob defect. He seeks injunctive relief, restitution, attorneys’ fees and other costs deemed appropriate by the court. He has demanded a jury trial.

Elsayed is represented by Jonathan A. Michaels, Kathryn J. Harvey and Kristen R. Rodriguez of MLG Automotive Law APLC.

The Maserati Ghibli Passive Entry System Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Mohamed Elsayed v. Maserati North America Inc., Case No. 8:16-cv-00918, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division.

UPDATE: On Oct. 18, 2016, a federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging defects in Maserati keyless entry system allows the doors to be locked from the inside.