WASHINGTON — (CNN) Jeep Grand Cherokee owners are hitting Fiat Chrysler with a lawsuit over the design defect that is suspected in the death of “Star Trek” actor Anton Yelchin.
Consumer rights law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLC filed the suit Thursday, claiming FCA “fraudulently concealed and failed to remedy a gear shifter design defect affecting 811,000 vehicles and linked to driverless rollaway incidents,” the firm said in a press release.
Those vehicles include 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees, 2012-2014 Chrysler 300s and 2012-2014 Dodge Chargers, according to the release.
The suit will seek class action status for the car owners, looking to force Fiat Chyrsler to compensate them for the diminished value of their vehicles following the “raft of negative publicity” brought on by Yelchin’s death, according to the complaint.
The death of Yelchin, 27, brought the gear shift issue to national attention when he was crushed by his Jeep outside his Los Angeles home on June 19.
According to law enforcement, Yelchin’s Jeep rolled down his driveway and pinned him to a brick post in front of his Los Angeles home.
Fiat Chrysler did file a recall notice for about 1.1 million cars — including the Jeep model that Yelchin owned — with federal regulators in April, citing issues with the gear selector. But owners had only received a warning and not an official recall notice at the time of Yelchin’s death.
More than 100 crashes have been reported due to a gear selector problem that caused driver confusion about whether the car was in park. More than two dozen injuries have been caused by these rollaways, according to federal reports.
The company did not immediately respond to CNNMoney’s requests for comment.
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