— The Nissan automatic emergency braking lawsuit, once certified as a class-action lawsuit, has been decertified against customers in 10 states.
The class action lawsuit covers these Nissan vehicles equipped with Advanced Radar Sensor (ARS) 410.
2017–2020 Nissan Rogue
2017–2021 Nissan Rogue Sport
2019–2021 Nissan Altima
2020–2021 Nissan Kicks
In 2017, some Nissan drivers reported “phantom activation” of the automatic emergency braking (AEB) system on low overpasses, railroad crossings and parking lots. Engineers believe the radar hardware could misread the road ahead as drivers approach slopes or turns.
On a curve, the radar may view a car in an adjacent lane as an obstacle on the road. Driving uphill in a multi-storey car park may mean the radar reads a low-slung overpass as an incoming wall.
Due to hardware limitations, Nissan released a software update “S1” in 2018 and a software update “S2” in 2019 to improve target recognition.
By August 2022, approximately 63% of Rogue, Rogue Sport, Altima and Kicks owners equipped with ARS 410 radar have upgraded to the S2 software.
A class action lawsuit has been filed alleging that the automatic emergency braking system suddenly activated while driving. A district court judge approved the class action, but only in 10 states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
The plaintiffs say a problem with Nissan’s radar affects all vehicles, and Nissan admits the problem could pose a safety hazard.
But Nissan argued that the lawsuit covers dozens of separate and different versions of its products.
A Nissan expert confirmed that brake-related warranty claim rates vary widely based on Nissan models and software updates.
“Owners of newer vehicle models were significantly less likely to seek repairs on their vehicles, suggesting that different claimants experienced different defects based on different combinations of vehicle models and software versions. This is because some plaintiffs purchased newer vehicle models before they were released. vehicles and newer, Nissan’s knowledge of these defects will vary depending on when each claimant purchased the vehicle.”
Nissan appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which decertified the 10-state class action lawsuit.
The Court of Appeal said there was conflicting evidence that all owners had a “common” defect in their automatic emergency braking systems.
“Even if we assume for the sake of argument that one ‘defect’ links all these claims, software updates to the system’s radar and control units corrected the alleged defect in some of the cars. The district court must grapple with these updates to answer whether a one-time Determine if a defect exists.”
The appeals court noted that some Nissan drivers may not have experienced brake problems at all, and that not all customers attempted to repair their vehicles.
When Nissan releases different software updates for different problems, the court questioned how “common” the flaw was across all models and customers. Additionally, some owners say the updates appear to fix the automatic emergency braking system.
“If a software update fixed these defects in some cars, we cannot determine whether the common evidence proves that Nissan knew of the defects. We also cannot determine whether there is a common liability issue for all claims in each state class. Plaintiffs’ Arguments Simplified for the simple assertion that common evidence establishes each cause of action, but that could not be the case without a common defect.” — Sixth Circuit
The case has been remanded to the district court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Nissan owners filing the AEB class action lawsuit include:
Robert Garneau; Nancy Housel; Jeffrey Olkowski; Vaughn Kerkorian; David Turner; Courtney Johnson; Scott Reeves ;Lisa Hendrickson;Rhonda Perry;Jane Reeves;Morella Yo Watts; Kimberly Wright; Todd Burrows; Hosea Bartlett; Aurelia Fowler; John Hartwell; Keith Huddleston; Lakita Camp ; Michelle Bereda; Angeline Hofken; and Scott Neri.
The Nissan AEB lawsuit is: Re: Nissan North America, Inc. Litigation The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville).
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