Nissan Defective Forward Emergency Braking System Class Action

Nissan puts an intelligent Forward Emergency Braking System (FEB) into certain of its vehicles that uses radar to help drivers avoid collision with vehicles in front of them. This class action names Nissan North America, Inc. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. as defendants, alleging that the FEB has defects that can cause it not to work or not to work as intended.

Three classes have been defined for this action:

• The California Class is all persons or entities in California that bought, lease, leased, own, or owned a class vehicle.
• The North Carolina Class is all persons or entities in North Carolina that bought, lease, leased, own, or owned a class vehicle.
• The Ohio Class is all persons or entities in Ohio that bought, lease, leased, own, or owned a class vehicle.

The class vehicles are the following:

• 2019-2021 Maxima
• 2020-2021 Sentra
• 2020-2021 Versa
• 2017-2021 Rogue Sport
• 2019-2021 Altima
• 2020-2021 Kicks
• 2017-2020 Rogue
• 2021 Armada
• 2018-2021 Leaf
• 2019-2021 Murano
• 2020-2021 Titan

The complaint quotes Nissan as saying that the FEB “uses radar technology to monitor a vehicle’s proximity to the vehicle ahead…” It will first give audible and visual display warnings, and then, if the driver fails to respond, it “can apply the brakes, helping the driver avoid the collision or reduce the speed of impact if it is unavoidable.”

According to the complaint, the vehicles are all light vehicles equipped with a Continental ARS410 radar sensor.

The complaint alleges that the defective system can cause the vehicle “to detect nonexistent obstacles, thereby automatically triggering the brakes and causing the [vehicle] to abruptly slow down or come to a complete stop with no actual need to do so” or it can cause “the FEB system to deactivate itself, thereby distracting the driver and rendering the FEB system disabled ad useless.” Either way, the complaint alleges, the FEB system is not a safety feature but “an unpredictable and unreasonable safety hazard.”

Drivers have noted, the complaint claims, “significant, unexpected phantom decelerations and stops due to the false engagement of the [vehicle’s] FEB system, even though no objects—vehicles, pedestrians, or otherwise—were nearby.” They have also claimed that the system “frequently deactivates itself, [distracting] their focus from the road and rendering the FEB safety feature useless.”

According to the complaint, Nissan has known about the defect for a while, from things like preproduction testing, warranty data, customer complaints, and dealership orders, yet it continues to market the vehicles as safe and reliable and does not warn drivers or prospective customers about the problem.

The complaint alleges that Nissan should repair or replace the defective FEB systems under its warranties, but that it requires the person who owns or leases the vehicle to bear the cost.

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