Yahoo Autos Land Rover Facing Class-Action Suit Over Alleged Fragile Defender Windshields
A federal class-action lawsuit has been filed against Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit, filed with the court in September, is being brought by owners of 2020–2022 model year Land Rover Defender vehicles; the plaintiffs claim that the windshields in these vehicles can easily fail.
The Land Rover Defender is positioned as a rugged, go-anywhere off-road vehicle — the SUV is expected to be able to withstand operating in the harshest environments. However, according to the suit, many frustrated owners believe that the windshield of these vehicles cannot even withstand slight impacts. Repairing or replacing these broken windshields can be both inconvenient and expensive.
On the social media platform Reddit, there's been an ongoing discussion among owners regarding the windshields in these vehicles. Some posters claim the issue is merely the nature of an upright windshield design, but others don’t buy, saying they have owned similar vehicles — including older Land Rover products — and none of them suffered windshield cracks at the same rate as the 2020–2022 Defenders.
The current lawsuit claims that Land Rover knew as early as 2019 about the defective windshields. (A similar lawsuit was filed and apparently dismissed for the same issue back in 2022.) The suit references multiple National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints, in which several owners claim that they experienced windshield failures within 30 days of acquiring their vehicle. In some cases, the complaints say it took months for a replacement windshield to become available.
In addition to the inconvenience and expense related to failed windshields, the lawsuit also calls out the safety risk. “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 reads.
The lawsuit is seeking monetary relief to cover actual damages, and also seeks the replacement of vehicles possessing alleged faulty windshields with new vehicles, or the repair of vehicles covered by the class-action suit. The plaintiffs are also asking for the Defenders to be recalled because of this issue. A jury trial has been requested.
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