About 100,00 drivers in Israel will receive compensation? A huge lawsuit is on the way

Champion Motors (unsplash photo, Champion Motors website)

Following the failure of the air bags of the Japanese company Takata, which was recently published in the media, a request was submitted for approval of a class action against the car importer ‘Champion Motors’ and the global car companies ‘Skoda’ and ‘Seat’, this was learned by ice today (Thursday) for the first time.

Lawyers Ehud Geri and Guy Sarosi, who specialize in class actions in the fields of automobiles, insurance, banking and consumerism and in civil-commercial law, filed the lawsuit on behalf of two owners of Skoda and Seat cars, estimating the personal damage caused to each of them at approximately NIS 5,000 , as well as for all other owners of damaged cars in Israel. The group damage was not accurately estimated, but in light of the large number of group members, it is a huge amount.

More in-

Attorney Gerry and Serousi claim in the lawsuit that while other companies in the world and in Israel have already approached the car owners several years ago, asking them to come to the garages to replace the dangerous airbags, and this following dozens of deaths of drivers and passengers in the world and the injury of hundreds, “Champion Motors Company, in Israel , did not do anything about it, and remembered to invite the owners of cars with the defective cushions from brands imported by her to a “recall”, just a few days ago.

Attorney Guy Sarosi. Photo: Ilan Esseig

Adv. Ehud Geri. Courtesy of the photographer

In light of this, it is claimed in the lawsuit that Champion Motors and the companies Skoda and Seat acted in a negligent and clearly unreasonable manner, and knowingly put tens of thousands of drivers and their families at risk to their safety and health. The lawsuit emphasizes that in Israel, which is characterized by high temperatures and significant humidity , the wear and tear on the defective airbags worsens over the years, and therefore, the danger from such defects in the airbags increases immeasurably compared to European countries for example.

It is also claimed that the defective cushions are installed in a significant number of ‘Seat’ and ‘Skoda’ vehicles, in front of the driver’s seat. In these pillows there is a metallic component responsible for inflating the pillow in the event of an accident. According to the lawsuit, this component may disintegrate during an emergency when the cushion is inflated and send metal parts towards the passengers in the vehicle, causing them injury, and even worse.

As early as 7 years ago, it was claimed, following an investigation by the American Highway Safety Administration, many car manufacturers announced a ‘recall’, one of the largest known to the automotive industry, to replace the defective cushions in the vehicles in which they were installed.

A similar ‘recall’ took place in Israel as well, when a long line of car manufacturers and importers, including Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Chevrolet, called on their customers to come to the company’s garages and replace the defective cushions. According to what is alleged in the lawsuit, Champion Motors, an importer of Skoda and Seat vehicles in Israel, chose not to join the initiative. In the lawsuit, it is emphasized that the importers of Skoda to the European Union actually issued a “recall” regarding the airbags, already in 2019, but in Israel, as mentioned, no similar call was issued.

According to the lawsuit, the two plaintiffs, residents of Netanya and Tel Aviv, who own cars, a 2017 Skoda Fabia and a 2015 Seat Toledo, along with tens of thousands of other drivers in Israel, recently received a message from Champion Motors to come and replace the airbags in their vehicles.

In the lawsuit, it is claimed that the number of members of the group in Israel, to whom the lawsuit concerns, is estimated at around one hundred thousand car owners, owners of cars from ten different models of the manufacturers ‘Skoda’ and ‘Seat’, manufactured between 2013-2018.

Attorney Geri and Serosi said that this is a clear case of gross negligence on a significant scale and the lawsuit is intended both to compensate the many customers and to establish a clear standard of care for similar cases that may occur in the future: “We are once again witnessing injustice in the automotive world. As we have done in previous class action lawsuits in the automotive world, we will put the interests of the customers before our eyes until adequate compensation is received.”

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