— In what Fiat Chrysler (FCA) calls a "complete win," a Michigan jury primarily sided with Chrysler that its electronic monostable gearshifts aren't defective.
Several class action lawsuits were filed in 2016 after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in 2015 into the electronic gearshifts in 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs.
In February 2016, NHTSA upgraded the investigation to include Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger cars equipped with 3.6L engines because they use the same gearshifts.
Hundreds of FCA vehicles rolled away because the shifters were confusing and drivers didn't know how the shifters worked. Then in 2016, 27-year-old Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin was struck and killed by his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee in a rollaway incident.
According to police reports, Yelchin climbed out of the Jeep Grand Cherokee which rolled backward and down a driveway, killing him as the Jeep pinned the actor against a concrete mailbox.
The NHTSA investigation didn't find any defects, but safety regulators said the shifters were different than traditional gearshifts and were confusing to drivers.
NHTSA also found the FCA vehicles provided warnings to prevent drivers from exiting the vehicles without the vehicles in PARK, including audible chimes and visual warning messages used to alert a driver if the driver's side door is opened while the transmission is not in PARK.
However, drivers apparently ignored the warnings which allowed the vehicles to roll away.
The government found the FCA monostable electronic gearshifters looked like normal shifters used with automatic transmissions but worked much differently.
The Chrysler monostable shifter has a central neutral position the lever moves back to each time the driver releases the shifter. Going by the feel or location of the shifter is useless as the only way to know if a vehicle is in PARK is to look at indicator lights on the gear shifter and instrument panel.
A driver must take the time to look at the lights before exiting the vehicle to make sure the vehicle is in PARK or else risk the chance of a rollaway crash.
According to NHTSA, the FCA gearshift was confusing people who were used to using traditional shifters, and the more confusing something is the less safe operating the vehicle will be.
FCA eventually changed from a monostable gearshift to a polystable gearshift which made vehicles more similar to typical gearshifters for automatic transmissions.
NHTSA closed the gearshift investigation because FCA issued a recall of more than 800,000 vehicles in the U.S. to make the gearshifters less confusing to use.
Chrysler created software updates to force the vehicles to automatically shift to PARK and shut the engines off when the speed is 1.2 mph or less and the ignition On/Off button is pressed.
The vehicles will also automatically shift to PARK if the transmission isn't in PARK if the speed is 1.2 mph or less and the driver’s seat belt is unbuckled or the door is ajar and the brake pedal is not pressed.
And the updates ensured the vehicle automatically shifted to PARK if the speed dropped to 1.2 mph or less within 5 seconds of the attempted shift to PARK.
FCA Gear Shift Litigation
With multiple FCA gearshift class action lawsuits filed across the country, the lawsuits were consolidated in a Michigan federal court under multidistrict litigation entitled, In Re: FCA US LLC Monostable Electronic Gearshift Litigation.
The plaintiffs claim the FCA gearshifts are defective, confusing, dangerous and cause a loss of vehicle values.
After about six years of legal actions, the trial saw the jury decide Chrysler did not conceal alleged defects in the gearshifts and the shifters weren't defective in 18 of the states involved in the lawsuit. However, the federal jury found under Utah law the gearshifts had design defects.
In a statement to CarComplaints.com, FCA views the outcome as a complete win for the automaker.
“FCA US is pleased with this verdict and appreciates the hard work of the jury in this case. Based on the court’s prior rulings, our view is that the jury had to find for plaintiffs on all elements of all the claims in order for their claims to survive. We consider this a complete win for FCA on the issues tried in this case."
The Chrysler gearshift lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: In Re: FCA US LLC Monostable Electronic Gearshift Litigation.
