Jaguar was hit with a federal class-action lawsuit this week in New Jersey for allegedly selling defective windshields on its 2020 through 2022 Land Rover Defender vehicles.
This suit was surfaced by Law.com Radar, ALM’s source for immediate alerting on just-filed cases in federal and state courts.
The complaint was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of owners or lessees of Land Rovers that reportedly were manufactured with defective windshields. As early as 2019, the lead plaintiff, Stephen Seiber, claims Jaguar was aware of “one or more defects” in the Defender SUV’s that can cause the windshield to crack, chip or fracture. The case is captioned Seibers v. Jaguar Land Rover North America.
Some class members alleged their windshields failed for no reason at all, while others claimed they failed due to only a slight impact, according to the complaint.
“Land Rover, however, has refused to repair or replace the defective windshields in the class vehicle under Land Rover’s warranty, requiring that class vehicle owners pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to repair the defect—even where the defect occurs nearly immediately after class vehicle owners take possession of their vehicles,” the complaint said.
The car owners also claimed that Jaguar provided replacement windshields which were also defective, forcing them to repeatedly pay for their failed windshields out-of-pocket. Several complaints filed by drivers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claimed that their windshields failed within 30 days of acquiring their Land Rovers.
Some customers were also forced to wait several months for replacement windshields, according to the suit.
“The windshield defect poses an extreme safety hazard to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians because a spontaneously shattering or cracking windshield can impair the driver’s view, distract the driver, and result in dislodged glass that can injure drivers, passengers and pedestrians,” the complaint said.
Many states have laws that specifically prohibit driving with a cracked windshield, including New York, Pennsylvania, California and Florida.
The plaintiffs seek relief for fraudulent concealment, violation of state consumer protection laws, unfair competition laws, breach of express warranty and unjust enrichment.
The class is represented by Lemon law firm Lemberg Law in Wilton, Connecticut. Founder Sergei Lemberg did not return a request for comment.
Counsel for Jaguar has not yet entered an appearance in the case.