Toyota Venza Cracking Windshields Class Action

The plaintiff in this class action has had to replace the windshield of her vehicle four times in less than a year. The complaint for this class action alleges that 2021 Toyota Venza vehicles, sold by Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc., have windshields that can crack, chip, or fracture, either because of a defect in the windshields or a deficiency in the structure of the vehicles.

The complaint proposes a Nationwide Class, or, in the alternative, two state classes:

• The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons or entities in the US who are current or former owners or lessees of a 2021 Toyota Venza.
• The Arizona Class is all persons or entities in Arizona who bought or leased a 2021 Toyota Venza.
• The Texas Class is all persons or entities in Texas who bought or leased a 2021 Toyota Venza.

According to the complaint, owners of the vehicles “report that their windshields failed for no reason at all. Others have reported windshield failure as a result of circumstances that would not cause a non-defective windshield to fail, such as a very slight impact.”

However, even for vehicles still under warranty, the complaint alleges that Toyota will not repair or replace the windshields.

Unfortunately, the complaint alleges, the windshields are simply replaced with the same kinds of defective windshields, which means that some owners have had to replace them over and over again.

The complaint quotes various incident complaints from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

“Vehicle 2 weeks old; small pebble (pea size) hit windshield centered on passenger vision (approx. 80% from left to right); crack starts to form in windshield to left of driver vision … crack continued to arc and lengthen to 60% windshield width.”

“…5 days after purchasing the 2021 Venza XLE, I got a rock peck about 6 inches from the bottom on the driver side center of the windshield. … By the following morning, the small peck had turned into a 12[-]inch[-]long run Now it’s about 30 inches long…”

The complaint alleges that the windshields are a safety hazard “because a spontaneously shattering or cracking windshield can impair the driver’s view, distract the driver, and result in dislodged glass…” In fact, the complaint claims, some states make driving with a cracked windshield illegal if it interferes with the driver’s ability to see properly.

“Moreover,” the complaint claims, “in the event a vehicle is involved in a collision, an intact windshield assists in transferring the force of a front-end impact down to the chassis, which reduces the effect of the impact felt inside the vehicle and helps protect the passengers.”

Finally, the complaint calls the windshield “a vital component of a vehicle’s safety restraint system, which also includes airbags and seatbelts.” For example, it says, the windshield supports the airbags in deploying property, and it also provides roof support.

The complaint alleges that Toyota knew about the windshield defect but did not warn consumers about it.

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