Ferrari Brake Defect Leaves No Way to Stop Class Action

It’s hard to think of a more dangerous defect in a vehicle than defective brakes. This class action sues Ferrari North America, Inc., Ferrari NV, Ferrari SpA, Robert Bosch, LLC, and Robert Bosch GmbH, alleging that the brakes in certain models of Ferraris lose part or all of their braking capability. The complaint speculates that this may have to do with leaking brake fluid or the master cylinder/brake booster component in the vehicles.

The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons or entities in the US who bought or leased one of the class vehicles listed below. A Georgia Class has also been defined for those in the above class in Georgia.

• 2010-2015 458 Italia
• 2014-2015 458 Speciale
• 2015 458 Speciale A
• 2012-2015 458 Spider
• 2016-2019 488 GTB
• 2016-2019 488 Spider

The plaintiff in this case, Jeffrey Rose, was driving his 2020 Ferrari on June 4, 2021, when it displayed a message saying, “brake fluid low—drive to dealer slowly.” He claims he drove home at 10 miles per hour and pulled into his driveway but could not get the vehicle to stop. The vehicle continued moving into his yard.

The complaint claims, “Plaintiff Rose frantically released his seat belt, opened the driver’s side door, and jumped out of the moving vehicle just before it entered the 20-foot deep pond behind his residence and [sank] to the bottom.”

Rose bought a replacement, a 2018 Ferrari. On July 17, 2021, the complaint alleges, it again displayed the message “brake fluid low—drive to dealer slowly.” Rose again drove home, and by the time he arrived, the complaint alleges, the brakes were again not functioning. The complaint does not mention the pond this time, just that the eventual service record noted that the technician had “found brake fluid resv [sic] completely empty.” The report suggests that the fluid had leaked inside the brake booster.

In November, he received an email from Ferrari North America that advised him that if he received that kind of warning message, he should pull over as soon as possible and call Ferrari Roadside Assistance.

The complaint alleges that Ferrari has known about the brake defect since at least 2015, when an engineer with Ferrari SpA testified in Hong Kong about the braking systems “at a criminal trial on the matter of wrongful death following a crash of a 2012 Ferrari 458 Spider.” Still, the complaint alleges that Ferrari has continued selling and leasing the vehicles without warning consumers.

The complaint quotes postings at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other online sites and reproduces images of allegedly related accidents.

Ferrari issued a safety recall to the NHTSA on October 23, 2021 regarding the defective brakes, although no remedy was available at the time and Ferrari and Bosch appeared to be having difficulty pinpointing the cause of the brake failures.

The complaint alleges Ferrari committed a fraudulent omission in not informing consumers of the dangers posed by the brake defect.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Brakes, Defective Automobile