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Update:
- Fiat Chrysler reached a settlement agreement with a class of drivers arguing the company sold model year 2013-2015 Dodge Dart vehicles with allegedly defective clutches.
- The parties reached the settlement agreement about one week before a trial was set to begin, Law360 reports.
- The class of drivers and Fiat Chrysler asked the court to grant them 90 days to work out the terms of the settlement agreement.
- Fiat Chrysler previously made several unsuccessful attempts to dismiss the complaint or slim down the class of drivers since the class action lawsuit was filed in June 2016.
(Oct. 21, 2019)
A Class of California drivers who bought or leased Dodge Darts on or before November 2014 were granted certification of their class action lawsuit by a federal judge.
Plaintiff Carlos Victorino alleged that Chrysler failed to properly address problems with the clutch in 2013 to 2016 Dodge Darts with Fiat C635 transmissions.
According to the complaint, the cars stall, fail to accelerate, and fail to get into gears properly as a result of the problem – presenting a safety hazard to those in the cars and on the road.
The Dodge manual transmission defect class action lawsuit faced an uphill battle when it came to certifying the proposed Class of both new and used car owners. In the summer of 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel found that the proposed Class was too broad and suffered from other problems.
Judge Curiel originally rejected the proposed Class, but allowed the plaintiff to rectify the problems. In his most recent ruling, the judge stated that the plaintiff had “presented evidence common to the proposed class that he intends to use to prove his claim.”
“At trial, plaintiff will have to prove that all class vehicles had a defect at the time of sale. If plaintiff fails to demonstrate a defect in all vehicles at the time of sale, all class claims will fail in one fell swoop,” the judge’s order continues.
According to the Dodge manual transmission defect class action lawsuit, Chrysler sold vehicles with a known problem; however, when presented with complaints about the clutch issues, the car company responded with extended warranty offers. The complaint contends that this weak response failed to appropriately mitigate the issues car owners were faced with after purchasing the Dart.
The defect, according to the class action lawsuit, is caused by degradation of the clutch reservoir hose. Ultimately, use of the clutch leads to contamination of hydraulic fluid by fibers and other substances, leading the clutch master and slave cylinder to ultimately fail. The results of the defect are dangerous, according to the complaint, causing the clutch pedal to stick to the floor, among other problems.
The extended warranty offered by Chrysler was not sufficient to resolve the issues, alleged the plaintiff. Chrysler’s fix was limited and did not address the cause of the defect in the first place – the contamination of the hydraulic fluid.
The class action lawsuit lodged allegations of breach of warranty under California state and federal laws. They also accused Chrysler of violating the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and unfair competition law.
After losing the original bid for certification, the Dodge manual transmission defect class action lawsuit was modified to include a proposed Class limited to those who purchased allegedly defective vehicles in California. Originally, the plaintiff had sought to represent a nationwide Class.
Do you own a Dodge Dart? Have you noticed a problem with the clutch?
The plaintiffs are represented by Tarek H. Zohdy, Cody R. Padgett and Trisha Monesi of Capstone Law APC.
The Dodge Manual Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Carlos Victorino, et al. v. FCA US LLC, Case No. 3:16-cv-01617, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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3 thoughts onFiat Chrysler class action over Dodge Dart clutch defect settled
I have a 2014 Dart Aero and having this issue. I have to hit 4k RPM and then left off and then it will auto shift to the next gear.
I owned a 2013 dodge Dart Limited a few years back. It was leased, and it had 30k miles when I took it home. Wasn’t 2 weeks later that it started having issues jerking, switching gears on its own. Had it looked at and they told me it needed a recall for the control module, so it was done. No major issues for maybe a month and then it started acting up again, taking off on its own at a stop light and I had to stomp my brakes with both feet so it didn’t cause an accident. Pulled over, shut it off and had it towed to the dealer. They said there were wire issues that needed to be fixed. At that point I started looking into the cars history, and noticed that the car had 3 recalls that were NOT performed before the sale of the car. Imagine that. Call them up, they supposedly get it up to date and I get the car back. It acted better for maybe 2 months, the worst thing that would happen is it would slightly shake over 65 on the highway. I was very busy with work so was hoping that it’d at least last a bit longer. Nope, car then starts losing power while driving, down shifts, jerks the car backwards and I had to pull over to the side of the road. All screens and power was lost. It wouldn’t turn on, nothing. Tried checking the battery, jumping it, nothing. Had to have it towed. After this point, it was a back and forth battle with it continuing to die, it getting towed, it getting “fixed” at the dealer and the cycle continued multiple times. I got stranded on the highway multiple times, at walmart, even going to a wedding with my niece and nephew. I was exhausted, frustrated, my job was 45 min away, it was a struggle getting to work. They wouldn’t help me, even though they knew they sold me a terrible car. All they tried doing was getting me into another large loan ontop of the one I already had. The car died for the last time, and I just have had enough at that point. I left the keys in it and walked away. I stopped paying the car note, I stopped caring. And this is the reason why I drive a 2005 hyundai today, because this car put me 20k in debt that i still refuse to ever pay. The control module was replaced multiple times! The wiring was redone multiple times. I could never figure out how this car was even legally allowed on the road.
I own a 2013 Dodge Dart Aero (Manual) and have had Transmission and Clutch problems twice resulting in 2 new transmissions and clutch and assembly being put in among other various issues.