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A pair of plaintiffs have brought forth a lawsuit against the manufacturer of Dodge Dart vehicles, alleging the Fiat C635 manual transmission in model years 2013 to 2016 contain a design defect that violates consumer protection laws.
Plaintiffs Carlos Victorino and Adam Tavitian filed the proposed class action lawsuit in California federal court after both men say they experienced problems with the clutch and transmission in their respective vehicles.
The plaintiffs claim that the alleged defect in the manual transmissions of the vehicles contain “a design defect that causes, among other problems, the clutch pedal to lose pressure, stick to the floor, and failed to engage/disengage gears.”
The complaint continues, “As a result, the vehicles equipped with the Manual Transmission experience stalling, failure to accelerate, and premature failure of the transmission’s components, including but not limited to, the clutch master cylinder and reservoir hose, clutch slave cylinder and release bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate, and flywheel.”
According to the proposed class action lawsuit, car manufacturer FCA US LLC has issued Technical Service Bulletins, customer satisfaction campaigns and STAR cases to address owner complaints surrounding the transmission defect however “these efforts have been entirely inadequate in remedying the Transmission Defect,” the plaintiffs argue.
Instead of redesigning the defective components to adequately address the defects in the Dodge Dart vehicles, the plaintiffs claim that FCA has used the same “defective components” in its repairs.
The plaintiffs also state that FCA has refused to pay for the repairs linked to the “collateral damage” that results from the alleged transmission defect. These include “the recurring replacement of the clutch slave cylinder and release bearing, clutch disc and pressure plate, and flywheel.”
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that the transmission defect poses an unreasonable safety hazard to drivers by hindering their ability to shift gears or properly use the clutch, which causes the vehicle to be unable to accelerate or decelerate when the vehicle is in motion.
“As an example, these conditions make it difficult to maintain appropriate speeds, safely change lanes or merge into traffic because the Plaintiffs and Class Members’ vehicles have lost power and failed to accelerate when they attempted to change lanes and/or merge onto the highway,” Victorino and Tativian state.
In the proposed class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs also contend that FCA had exclusive knowledge of the transmission defect and actively concealed it.
The plaintiffs are seeking to represent a nationwide Class of owners and lessees of 2013 to 2016 Dodge Dart vehicles with manual transmissions. They are also seeking to represent a California subclass, an implied warranty subclass and a CLRA subclass.
Victorino and Tavitian have brought forth five counts against FCA including violations of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, violations of Unfair Competition Law, Breach of Implied Warranty pursuant to Song-Beverly, Breach of Implied Warranty pursuant to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and unjust enrichment.
On behalf of themselves and the proposed Class and subclasses, the plaintiffs are seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, compensatory, exemplatory and statutory damages, all remedies available under the Song-Beverly Act and Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, disgorgement of profits or full restitution, attorneys’ fees and costs, pre-and post-judgment interest, leave to amend the Complaint, and other relief as deemed appropriate.
The plaintiffs are represented by Jordan L. Lurie, Robert Friedl, Tarek H. Zohdy, Cody R. Padgett and Karen L. Wallace of Capstone Law APC.
The Dodge Manual Transmission Class Action Lawsuit is Carlos Victorino & Adam Tavitian v. FCA US LLC, Case No. 3:16-cv-01617, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
UPDATE: On June 14, 2017, in an order rejecting Fiat Chrysler’s motion to dismiss, a federal judge allowed the plaintiffs five days to amend their complaint to include more information about the alleged defect.
UPDATE 2: On Feb. 27, 2018, a federal judge determined that the plaintiffs sufficiently showed that there is reason to suspect the Dodge Dart’s clutch is defective. The case will move forward, with some revisions to the drivers’ claims about the nature of the alleged defect.
UPDATE 3: On June 1, 2018, a class action lawsuit alleging that Dodge Dart vehicles contain an unresolved manual transmission clutch defect may not be certified because the proposed Class is not specific enough and the plaintiffs have not properly analyzed the damages, according to a California federal judge.
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51 thoughts onDodge Dart Class Action Says Manual Transmissions are Defective
We have a 2013 and purchased it new. It has 50k miles and needed a new engine at 47k, new clutch we just paid 2k to repair and now the transmission is going out!!! This car is a “Lemon” edition and is the biggest mistake purchase ever!!!
I bought my 2013 Dart with manual 6speed in Nov. of 2015 with 38k miles and now she has 56k and I had the dealer I bought it from told me today that my clutch is shot and it’s gonna be $1433 +tax to repair. I have a class A CDL since 2000 and never once burned out a clutch. I would like info if possible also on this matter thank you. ramrebel01@yahoo.com
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I just spent a little over 1400.00 fixing these issues with my Dart. Is there a number or someone I can contact about this?
UPDATE: On June 14, 2017, in an order rejecting Fiat Chrysler’s motion to dismiss, a federal judge allowed the plaintiffs five days to amend their complaint to include more information about the alleged defect.
Has this ever been settled yet. My ’15 dart is having problems now
Did you ever get any info? My 15 Dart is acting up too.
I had the clutch master cylinder replaced in 2015 and now it giving me problems again. I’m pretty sure they replaced them with defective parts. Going to the dealership tomorrow to schedule repairs again. I won’t pay for for them this time just like I did last time. They are going to fix my baby. I bough it brand new in 2014.
Anybody know if a class action suit can be filed due to the enormous depreciation value of the Dodge Dart? Got my car in 2014 (it’s a 2013 model), it was valued at $18,000. Last year I found out its only valued at $7,000.
I owned a 2013 manual Dodge Dart that had constant clutch problems. It was always getting stuck in neutral while shifting at high speeds and the petal was constantly clicking and sticking. I took the car in numerous times and was told that they couldn’t “duplicate” the problem so there was nothing they could do and it was a common “dart issue” I ended up trading this car in because I no longer felt safe after almost causing 2 accidents on the freeway because I got stuck in neutral between 5th and 6th gear while merging onto the instate junctions. I may still have most of my service records, please contact me if a suit is pursued
Need info on this , I have just replaced 2nd clutch hydraulic system. Out-of-pocket cost close to $4000 !!!!
I had to replace my clutch out of pocket as well due to my clutch sticking and burning up to the extent of it not being able to drive. I paid for the clutch out of pocket and then it was still sticking. I took it back to the dealer where they replaced the flywheel because that was on their extended warranty. I fought with them saying it was the flywheel that caused the clutch to stick which in turn caused the clutch to burn up an I shouldn’t have had to pay for the replacement of the clutch. I am currently active with Capstone Law in California who has a class action lawsuit against Dodge. I just spoke with them today about this and you should give them a call. I spoke with Karen Wallace at 310.712.8159, main number is 310.556.4811 hopefully they can help you and anyone else that reads my message.
I owned a dodge dart with several transmission problems. I only owned this car for one year and the engine failed three times. Please contact me I would love to share my story with you.