Second-row seats in vehicles are often designed to fold down to allow owners to transport larger objects. When passengers sit in them instead, they must be latched into an upright position. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the second-row seats in 2018-2021 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles have defective latches that pose a hazard in accidents. It brings suit against Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons or entities who bought or leased, in the US or its territories, a Volkswagen Atlas with the latching device defect that were made, sold, distributed, or leased by Volkswagen and bought or leased after January 1, 2017.
State subclasses have also been proposed for California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia, for those who bought or leased one of the class vehicles in those states.
The complaint alleges that the latching for second-row seats in the Atlas is defectively designed: “As a result of the Latching Device Defect, during deceleration and/or in an accident or collision, the Latching Device in the Atlas may fail to secure the [] second-row seats, allowing those seats to slam forward. Any rear-seated passenger may be seriously injured upon collisions into the front [] seats.”
The complaint claims that this is particularly threatening to infants and younger children, who are lighter and particularly susceptible to harm from this problem. Latching devices for car seats are normally meant to last the lifetime of the vehicles, and these are not mentioned in the Atlas’s USA Warranty and Maintenance Schedules at all.
The vehicles come with bumper-to-bumper warranties—for the 2018-2019 models, six years or 72,000 miles and for the 2020-2021 models, four years or 50,000 miles. “However,” the complaint claims, Volkswagen has “excluded coverage for the Latching Device Defect under the Warranties because the Defect is one of design. Both the temporal limitations and scope of the warranty are the result of [Volkswagen’s] unconscionable manipulation of the Warranties to exclude coverage for non-mechanical defects, such as the Latching Device Defect.”
According to the complaint, Volkswagen has known about the defect for a long time, through its own testing, consumer complaints at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and reports to its Volkswagen Customer CARE. Also, it has put out at least one Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) on the issue. Despite this, the complaint says, Volkswagen has never warned drivers or passengers, has issued no recalls, and has not tried to remedy the problem.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Automobile
Most Recent Case Event
Volkswagen Atlas Defective Rear-Seat Latching Devices Complaint
October 15, 2021
Second-row seats in vehicles are often designed to fold down to allow owners to transport larger objects. When passengers sit in them instead, they must be latched into an upright position. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the second-row seats in 2018-2021 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles have defective latches that pose a hazard in accidents. It brings suit against Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Volkswagen Atlas Defective Rear-Seat Latching Devices ComplaintCase Event History
Volkswagen Atlas Defective Rear-Seat Latching Devices Complaint
October 15, 2021
Second-row seats in vehicles are often designed to fold down to allow owners to transport larger objects. When passengers sit in them instead, they must be latched into an upright position. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the second-row seats in 2018-2021 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles have defective latches that pose a hazard in accidents. It brings suit against Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Volkswagen Atlas Defective Rear-Seat Latching Devices Complaint