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Chrysler Class Action Lawsuit Says UConnect Infotainment System Is Defective

Richard Cranium

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Anyone here experiencing this trouble?



A class action lawsuit claims that the UConnect infotainment systems in the 2017- 2019 Pacifica and other vehicles can freeze and stop working, posing a range of safety hazards for drivers and others.

The Chrysler UConnect defect class action lawsuit was filed by Edward Pistorio and Paul Murdock, drivers who say that the UConnect infotainment systems in their vehicles do not live up to advertisements by the vehicle manufacturer, FCA.

They claim that they experienced problems like screen freezing, loss of backup camera, unintended reboots, loss of navigation system functionality, and others.

Allegedly, these issues plagued previously released versions of UConnect, but were not sufficiently resolved by the company by the time 2017- 2019 Pacifica and Chrysler 300 were released onto the market.

In their Chrysler infotainment problems class action lawsuit, Pistorio and Murdock recount why they chose to purchase their vehicles, and the problems they then experienced with a main feature of the vehicle — the UConnect infotainment system.

Pistorio says that he purchased a new 2017 Chrysler 300S in his home state in Florida. According to Pennsylvania resident Murdock, he purchased a new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica from a dealer in Pennsylvania. The two drivers say that they both prioritized safety and reliability when making their purchasing decisions.

They share how they conducted research online before buying a vehicle, perused dealership websites, and test drove vehicles to get a good sense of the features, safety, and functionality of a vehicle that they wished to purchase. Allegedly, neither of them were notified of a defect in the UConnect system and instead were told of its reliability and wide-ranging functionality.

According to the consumers, FCA was aware of the defect in the systems, and should have told customers about it. They explain that had they been aware of the defect in the UConnect systems, they would not have purchased their vehicles or would not have paid as much for them.

Pistorio and Murdock go on to explain that, within just a few months of purchasing their vehicles, they began to experience problems with the UConnect system malfunctioning. They claim that the the screen in the system would often turn black and reboot, on a frequent basis. Allegedly, this would occur at least weekly, and would sometimes happen multiple times during a single trip.

The screen turning black would allegedly disable the backup camera, navigation, and other important features. The drivers go on to state that other features in the system were affected, including GPS, Bluetooth, and audio system functions.

The drivers say that this problem posed a safety risk, because these can affect a driver’s ability to steer, navigate accurately, and reach a destination safely. Additionally, the lack of functionality can pose as a distraction to drivers, say Pistorio and Murdock, putting the drivers and others at risk for a crash.

The Chrysler infotainment system class action lawsuit says that Chrysler has not provided sufficient repairs or compensation for the issue at hand.

Allegedly, the company first implemented the UConnect system in 2004, and soon after the first version of the system was introduced, drivers began experiencing problems.

This issues have supposedly been well-documented by consumer complaints and technical bulletins, resulting in a recall of earlier generation UConnect devices.

Despite the recall and the company’s alleged knowledge of the issues, the problems persist, say Pistorio and Murdock.

According to the FCA class action lawsuit, the company regularly conceals the UConnect defect problem to consumers, sometimes by informing them that their vehicle is working well when they bring it in for a repair. In other instances, the company will allegedly conduct repairs that mask but do not fix the problem.

Additionally, the problem is reportedly not often covered under warranty — the Chrysler infotainment problem class action lawsuit argues that it should be, but instead, customers are often required to pay out-of-pocket for repairs.

Pistorio and Murdock are represented by E. Powell Miller, Sharon S. Almonrode, Emily E. Hughes, Dennis A. Lienhardt, and William Kalas of The Miller Law Firm PC; Laurence Deutsch and Jeffrey L. Osterwise of Berger Montague PC; Steven R. Weinmann, Tarek H. Zohdy, Cody R. Padgett, and Trisha K. Monesi of Capsone Law APC; and by Joshua H. Haffner and Graham G. Lambert of Haffner Law PC.

The Chrysler UConnect Infotainment System Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Edward Pistorio, et al. v. FCA US LLC, Case No. 2:20-cv-11838, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...ys-uconnect-infotainment-system-is-defective/
 
No problem with mine. If you need U connect to drive you should not be driving At all.
 
The screen (8.4"??) on my 2020 Ram Tradesman 2500 has done it a couple of times when first starting, but never when driving, usually when its really cold. My dads 2017? Ram High Option (Laramie??)3500 would do it randomly driving down the road, it would come back up in a few seconds. Dealer wouldn't do anything about it.
 
Mine is the 2015 5.5 system.

I LOVE it.

Samsung/Harmon-Kardon brand.

Sounds great. 50 WPC IIRC. (and mine doesn't even have the subwoofer)

The menu is pretty dang good, except I'd like it to go "up" one more level to aid in my media folder structure that is often 3 layers deep.

It did spontaneously reboot once., and the last time I tried to flash update it, it didn't recognize the file on the USB drive.

Minor annoyance is that it's REAL picky about album thumbnail size.

I was hoping the flash would fix one or both of the minor issues, but I haven't re-investigated applying it.

In contention for the best factory audio system I've ever experienced in a vehicle.
 
My 2019 Durango has been replaced. 10 years, 100,000 miles to go, on them.
 
The drivers say that this problem posed a safety risk, because these can affect a driver’s ability to steer, navigate accurately, and reach a destination safely. Additionally, the lack of functionality can pose as a distraction to drivers, say Pistorio and Murdock, putting the drivers and others at risk for a crash.
First off, any navigation system is only an ASSIST. It crashing does NOT affect your "ability to steer". Your being a moron, and relying on a machine to be able to handle standard, monotonous tasks, WILL affect your ability to steer a vehicle. Does it suck? Sure. I hate when my stuff doesn't work right. Is it an annoyance? Yep. Does it put your car in a ditch for you? NO.

My '14 Grand Cherokee has a Uconnect 8.4 nav system. 90k miles...zero issues, other than the fact that FCA doesn't offer a map update for the '14s. Fine. I use waze anyway. Nothing crashes (including my Jeep!!), it works like it should, no issues.

The new ones? They're trying to make do too much stuff. I work at a Subaru dealership, in service. Subies are having the same issues - random reboots, systems going offline, stuff like that. Software updates (just like your cell phone when it crashes, or is full of bugs) take care of things...until something else updates (like that cell phone you have paired to the vehicle and you can't live without), necessitating yet another update.

None of the system crashes cause the car to become inoperable.
None of the system crashes disable vital systems like steering or brakes or exterior lighting (probably because engineers don't connect the infotainment systems to vital control systems in the first place!).
If you can't handle driving a car without a navigation system, or bluetooth connection to your phone? Maybe you should turn in your license, and uber everywhere.
 
my 2020 2500 cummins had 3 radios replaced and was still screwing up it was the big screen one ordered that truck. ended up selling off my 5th wheel, so no need for that monster. had 40k miles on it and traded it in for the same number i paid for it new, because of the nonesense of todays world. the rain sensing wipers had a mind of there own too would turn on by themselves on a dry sunny day. went back to a big horn gas model, so far so good. 9k miles
 
No problem with mine. If you need U connect to drive you should not be driving At all.

....its not "needed", its just nice when it works properly. The LCD screen freeze issue is annoying as crap. Had the same issue on my 2018 Challenger too. When you go into reverse.....the camera will freeze on the image of the reverse and you cannot get back to any features of the Radio, GPS or climate control. It's a pain in the ***.
 
I have an 8.4 screen uconnect in my 2014 Dart, 106,000 miles no problems (knock wood).
I ordered the 8.4 in my 2021 Ram last year, so far so good. I've heard the 12" screen uconnects are troublesome. I also like the fact with the 8.4 you have knobs for several functions so if the screen were to crash you can at least do a few things, with the 12" you lose everything if it goes down.
 
....its not "needed", its just nice when it works properly. The LCD screen freeze issue is annoying as crap. Had the same issue on my 2018 Challenger too. When you go into reverse.....the camera will freeze on the image of the reverse and you cannot get back to any features of the Radio, GPS or climate control. It's a pain in the ***.
That's all it is, just as if you have a I-phone with the nav on giving directions. You are still, and the ONLY one, in complete control of the vehicle. You... the driver.
 
That's all it is, just as if you have a I-phone with the nav on giving directions. You are still, and the ONLY one, in complete control of the vehicle. You... the driver.
....of course, as the driver.....you are in control, but as the owner of a new car that has a functionality issue that can cause me to loose out on my Quiet Riot channel on XM....well, that's a major defect.
 
....of course, as the driver.....you are in control, but as the owner of a new car that has a functionality issue that can cause me to loose out on my Quiet Riot channel on XM....well, that's a major defect.
That's when
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSRXy_00u2UhzjVEOicW_jz20vCW7KHFCfPGg&usqp=CAU.jpg
 
Same with my 2017 Jeep , freezes every day it gets turned on

My 2011 Ram 1500 has been flawless since all the updates where done many moons ago
Even works fine with all the latest iPhones

Garmin map updates ended in 2017 I think for the Ram

So I bought a new Garmin with lifetime updates
 
How about this one, Wife almost got rear ended last night in her '17 Challenger GT AWD. She had her nav set for home and at 89 and 400 they have moved the on ramp to the 400 from one side of the bridge to the other. When she got onto the on ramp the screen light up RED warning her she was going the wrong way and slammed her brakes on. Second time her car has done so...
 
Hmm....this sounds vaguely familiar....I habe it.
This sounds just like Windows!
 
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