Mini Cooper Fuel Economy Overstated, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

Last week, BMW of North America LLC was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it overstates the fuel economy of its 2014 Mini Cooper vehicles, leading consumers to pay a higher price for a purportedly fuel-efficient vehicle.

The Mini Cooper class action lawsuit, filed Friday in Florida federal court, alleges BMW misrepresented the fuel economy in miles per gallon for its 2014 Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S vehicles in its promotional materials and advertisements.

“In reality, the Mini Coopers get considerably less than the advertised MPG,” the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit alleges. “Thus, Plaintiffs and other Mini Cooper purchasers were hit with a costly double-whammy: a higher up-front purchase price due to the substantial price premium that more fuel-efficient vehicles command, followed by higher fuel costs over the life of the vehicles, since their actual fuel consumption is higher than what was promised.”

Plaintiffs Karen and Michael Jarvis filed the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit just two weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered BMW to reduce the fuel economy estimates for four of its 2014 Mini Coopers. The agency found that BMW conducted inadequate and inaccurate testing for the vehicles’ fuel economy. The testing reportedly produced artificially high fuel economy in MPG.

The plaintiffs claim they purchased a Mini Cooper after seeing the representations the vehicle would get 40 MPG Highway, 29 MPG City and 33 MPG Combined. However, their vehicle actually gets 39 MPG Highway, 28 MPG City and 32 MPG Combined. As a result of BMW’s fuel economy misrepresentations, they allege they paid a higher purchase price than they would have paid if the company accurately represented the MPG.

“BMW should have known, or consciously, or recklessly disregarded facts that indicated its fuel economy representations and advertising were erroneous and overstated,” the Mini Cooper fuel economy class action lawsuit alleges. “Standard internal testing, quality control checks, and investigation should have revealed the problem. BMW willfully and uniformly failed to identify its overstatements.”

According to the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit, BMW’s alleged misrepresentations constitute unfair, fraudulent and deceptive business practice in violation of Florida’s and New Jersey’s consumer protection laws. Further, the alleged misrepresentations also constitute a breach of express warranty, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and caused BMW’s unjust enrichment.

By filing the Mini Cooper class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking to represent a Class of people in the United States who purchased or leased the Mini Coopers. They also seek to certify a subclass of consumers who purchased or leased the Mini Coopers in Florida.

The plaintiffs are represented by Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Mini Cooper Fuel Economy Class Action Lawsuit is Jarvis, et al. v. BMW of North America LLC, Case No. 2:14-cv-00654, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.