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Fiat Chrysler Is Being Sued Over a Software Flaw (ieee.org)
"Last week, a California judge decided to allow a class action lawsuit filed in December 2017 against Fiat Chrysler to proceed," reports IEEE Spectrum. "The lawsuit, which could have major ramifications for car makers, was filed in response to stalling issues with 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivans that the plaintiffs allege were caused by known software defects." From the report: The plaintiffs allege that Fiat Chrysler, despite numerous owner complaints about the Pacifica stalling out, concealed knowledge of defects in Pacifica's powertrain control module (PCM) to keep customers from having concerns about buying the vehicle. Fiat Chrysler attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that consumer complaints don't prove that a vehicle defect exists, or demonstrate that the company knew about the alleged defect a priori and concealed it.
The judge agreed with Fiat Chrysler on those points, ruling that the plaintiffs could not use consumer complaints alone as evidence of a defect. However, he pointed out that Fiat Chrysler had issued two technical service bulletins relating to Pacifica's PCM software before the plaintiffs had purchased their vehicle, and two more following their purchase. The judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to believe it was "at least plausible" that Fiat Chrysler knew that there was a stalling problem with the vehicles before the plaintiffs bought them.
The judge agreed with Fiat Chrysler on those points, ruling that the plaintiffs could not use consumer complaints alone as evidence of a defect. However, he pointed out that Fiat Chrysler had issued two technical service bulletins relating to Pacifica's PCM software before the plaintiffs had purchased their vehicle, and two more following their purchase. The judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to believe it was "at least plausible" that Fiat Chrysler knew that there was a stalling problem with the vehicles before the plaintiffs bought them.
Now, apply this to Microsoft Windows (and other software) where defective or poorly designed software allows all kinds of malicious behavior (viruses and malware) causing the user real time and money and loss to recover from.
wouldn't it make sense to subpoena Fiat Crysler's records?
IANAL
Who knows what FC knew and covered up?
All 2.5L 4 cylinders engines without the EGR also fail because of the eroding bits of the Pre-Cats similar to sand get sucked back into the cylinders and damage the engine.
There isn't a 2.5L 4 cylinder engine recently made by Nissan that will make it past 80,000 miles, without being damaged. And if driven farther, a complete failure of the engine. Nissans solution is to reprogram the ECU to ignore the O2 sensor failure and not turn on the Check Engine light so it makes it to the 100,000 mile mark before complete failure of the engine. Then it is the consumers problem and the lies at the dealer start.
Toyota has this same problem, but fixed it by adding the EGR and replacing the faulty engine design. I say good for Toyota.
I guess Fiat really is changing Chrysler. Normally it takes 3-4 years for defects like this to surface in a Chrysler - about the time your car note is so upside down it looks a trailer for the Poseidon Adventure.
Flaws problems issues of cars deserve coverage only for Tesla.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
fix it again tony!
This will just teach them not to issue TSBs for known issues, in order to protect themselves better next time.
Who the hell would buy a Chrysler minivan to begin with? I know three guys who had those things. They were constantly in the shop. Total pieces of shit. Buy a Honda or Toyota.