The complaint filed on September 4, 2020 states that the Controller Area Network or CAN bus in certain Subaru models contains a software defect. The CAN bus found in most modern vehicles allows microcontrollers and devices within the vehicle to communicate with each other without the need for a host computer. The defect in the CAN bus that prevents the electronic throttle control system from operating properly. The complaint also alleges Subaru’s brake override system is faulty and does not work as intended. According to court records, despite receiving hundreds of complaints about sudden acceleration defects, Subaru failed to disclose and potentially concealed the defect from consumers. The models affected by the defect are the 2015-2019 Legacy, 2012-2018 Forester and the 2015-2019 Outback models. The two plaintiffs in the lawsuit both claim to have experienced unintended acceleration in their vehicles and are demanding a jury trial. Several consumers also have filed complaints with U.S. safety regulators at NHTSA, citing problems with unintended acceleration. No additional information is available currently.
Florida Car Accidents with Manufacturer Defects
In Florida, to successfully provide a claim for strict products liability based on a manufacturing defect found in a motor vehicle, a plaintiff must show that the product was defective; the defect existed at the time the product left the defendant’s control; and the defect caused the plaintiff’s injury when the product was used in an intended or reasonably foreseeable way. Pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 768.81, a Florida plaintiff may bring a product liability claim based on negligence, strict products liability, nuisance, breach of warranty, or similar theories for damages caused by the manufacture, construction, design, formulation, installation, preparation, or assembly of a product. This right includes actions alleging that injuries received by a claimant in an accident were greater than the injuries he would have received but for a defective product. A product may be defective for multiple reasons, but most can be summed up in one of three ways, a defect in its design or manufacture or because of a failure to adequately warn the consumer of a hazard related to the foreseeable use of the product. To sum things up, when a plaintiff files a products liability case in connection with a car accident, they essentially have three potential types of causes of action that they can bring under the products liability umbrella: negligence, strict products liability, and breach of warranty. Each type of claim requires different elements.
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