— A Jeep clutch recall lawsuit alleges that Jeep Wranglers and Jeep Gladiators are equipped with defective clutches that can cause fires, even after three clutch recalls were issued.
The class action lawsuit alleges that the 2018-2021 Jeep Wrangler (two-door), 2018-2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (four-door), and 2020-2021 Jeep Gladiator SUVs are not the models owners thought they purchased.
The Jeep vehicles suspected of the defect are equipped with a 3.6L V6 engine and a manual transmission.
According to the Jeep Clutch lawsuit, the clutch friction plates can slip on the flywheel, generating high temperatures and even causing a fire.
The Jeep Clutch lawsuit also claims that the Jeep Clutch recall “effectively neuters” Jeep vehicles by “depriving members of the same model group of benefits that are available to members of the same model group, which is equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 3.6-liter V6 engine that produces 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque.”
The Jeep clutch recall lawsuit was filed by Dean Myslivecek, Michael Busovicki, Paul Caputo and Kevin Schaffner.
Motion to dismiss Jeep Clutch class action lawsuit
Fiat Chrysler cited three Jeep clutch recalls in its motion because the lawsuit is premised on the recalls’ alleged failure to fix the vehicles.
Jeep Clutch Recall 20V-124: Removing the clamp in certain vehicles may damage the reservoir hose.
Jeep Clutch Recall 21V-028: Provides a software update to help prevent the clutch from overheating due to driver misuse.
Jeep Clutch Recall 23V-116: Expanded recall 21V-028 to include not only software improvements and compensation for any previous repairs, but also free replacement of the entire clutch assembly.
Chrysler said the initial Jeep clutch recall does not apply to Jeeps owned by Myslivecek, Busovicki, Caputo and Schaffner because their Jeeps were not equipped with the clip.
The automaker told the judge that the plaintiffs had not provided any evidence that the third clutch recall was “somehow inadequate or failed to address the potential clutch overheating issue in the vehicles.”
FCA also argued that none of the plaintiffs claimed their second recall repair was performed by a dealer, “not to mention that they also experienced clutch overheating issues after that repair.”
“Plaintiffs also failed to point to any other instances where owners of vehicles that underwent the recall repairs found that the problem was not severe. Instead, Plaintiffs falsely claimed that FCA US had ‘admitted that the third recall did not fix the clutch defect.'” — Motion to dismiss Jeep clutch recall lawsuit
Chrysler further argued that the court had previously ruled that simply pointing to a recall overseen by NHTSA and presuming that the repairs were ineffective was not enough to proceed with the class action.
As for the alleged devaluation of Jeeps now, Chrysler argues that the recall repairs have eliminated that allegation.
The express warranty claim was also allegedly without merit because “this district court unanimously held that plaintiff lacked standing to assert any express warranty claim because he failed to take his vehicle to the dealership for repair.”
The Jeep clutch recall lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern District): Myslivecek et al. v. FCA US LLC.
The plaintiffs are represented by Bursor & Fisher.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.