Unintended acceleration allegations lead to class action lawsuit

BOSTON — A 2016 Subaru Forester, mangled in Hadley, Massachusetts. The driver had to be cut out of the car. “I know that it was an unintended acceleration. It was such force,” said Chicopee resident Cheryl Boucher.

A 2016 Subaru Outback smashed in Washington state: “It was life or death for me. I mean, it happened that fast,” said Karen Karna.

And in Arizona, Ron Pepe’s shop was annihilated when he says his Subaru decided to accelerate on its own. His wife, Theresa Rawls says she never hit the gas, “I’m waiting for my garage door to go up and it took off.”

All 3 drivers, more than a dozen total, are suing Subaru in connection with crashes. The lawsuit claims the automaker: “…knew that the Class Vehicles contain one or more defects that cause sudden and unintended acceleration without driver input.”

Attorney for the class action Russell Paul says Subaru has known about the defect. “We have alleged Subaru has known since 2011 of this issue, and they’ve known it from complaints by customers directly to Subaru and to its dealers, as well as information passed on from Subaru prerelease testing.”

In the case of Karen Karna’s 2016 Outback, her simple trip to the nursery quickly turned into terror.

“I thought, what’s going on? What’s wrong with my car? I have no control.” She says the gas pedal “grabbed hold” and slammed to the floor. It sent her head on into a trailer.

“I could see what was coming in front of me and what decisions I had to make from killing somebody or killing myself or injuring myself or somebody,” said Karen.

Her sternum was cracked in the crash. “We’d been married 58 years. It’s okay. She could have died,” said her husband, Duane.

The lawsuit says there were more than 150 complaints filed to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration about “Sudden Unintended Acceleration.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Subaru says:

“Subaru of America takes safety very seriously, and we are not aware of a single confirmed case of unintended acceleration in a Subaru vehicle.”

“When reviewing cases with Event Data Recorder (EDR) data, the results invariably show that the vehicle driver pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal.”

Russell Paul is disputing this claim. “We’ve spoken to many, many of the class members. You’ve heard them testify, ponder over their experiences, and we’d analyze their crash data. And we’ve also created a simulation of all of the incidents that occurred. We believe they are clear, clear expressions of unintended acceleration.”

According to Cheryl Boucher of Massachusetts, her Forrester had one other instance of unintended acceleration before her car was totaled from a second instance.

When asked if the age of the drivers could play a role in the case, Paul said the plaintiffs include individuals of various ages, not just older drivers, and says one plaintiff is a current airline pilot.

If you feel there’s a problem with your car, the best advice is to have it looked at by a mechanic.

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