A Texas woman recently filed a class-action lawsuit against General Motors, LLC, seeking to represent all past and present Texas owners and lessees of 2017-2018 GMC Acadia vehicles. She claims that the vehicles were defective and caused owners numerous problems and that GM had a reasonable opportunity to fix the issue but has failed to do so.
The plaintiff, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, seeks monetary damages, including a refund of the full contract price, replacement of the vehicles with new vehicles, or repair of the defective vehicles with an extension on the warranties. She also seeks punitive damages.
GM Acadia Won’t Register that It Is In Park
According to the complaint, all of the class vehicles suffer from a defect with their transmission shifter, which intermittently causes them to not enter “park” mode. They display a “shift to park” message on the instrument cluster, preventing the driver from shutting off and locking the vehicle, even though the vehicle’s shift lever is in the “park” position.
As a result of this defect, the plaintiff and members of the class are allegedly unable to shut off their vehicles. To avoid battery discharge, they’re “forced to resort to all sorts of gimmicks to get their vehicles to detect that the shift lever is in fact in ‘park.’”
The plaintiff states she has repeatedly found herself stranded inside her vehicle at home, work, school, and various other places away from home, unable to shut her vehicle off. To get her vehicle to detect that the shifter is in fact in park, she has been forced to repeatedly wiggle the shifter, shift it through its gears, and start and stop the engine.
She claims she has complained to the GM authorized dealership in her area at least a half-dozen times, but was repeatedly told that since the shifter defect did not manifest itself at the time she complained, the dealership would not try to fix it.
According to the plaintiff, her experiences are not unique, as many other customers have complained about the same issue.
GM is Well Aware of the Problem, But Has Not Fixed It
Carcomplaints.com is a website that republishes complaints made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The plaintiff lists several complaints there that are related to this GM Acadia issue.
A driver from Aurora, Colorado, for instance, stated that when the car was parked on a flat surface, “the car will display ‘shift to park’ when it is already in park. The accessories stay on until the driver can get the car’s computer to notice the car is in park.”
Another driver from Prescott, Ariz. stated that after the vehicle was placed in park, it rolled forward. The message in the info center said “shift to park.” This occurred five times. The driver took it to the dealership “and was told they are waiting on GM to see what can be done.”
The plaintiff states that GM is “well aware” of the defect, and issued a technical service bulletin on it back in May 2018. According to that bulletin, “Engineering is still investigating the root cause.”
Exclusively focused on representing plaintiffs, especially in mass tort litigation, Eric Chaffin prides himself on providing unsurpassed professional legal services in pursuit of the specific goals of his clients and their families. Both his work and his cases have been featured in the national press, including on ABC’s Good Morning America.
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