Hey guys, don't know if this was posted or not already. But anyway, I was watching the NBC 11:00 news last night, and a commercial came on for tomorrow's show. Basically, it said, "do you own a Nissan that has had its headlights stolen? If so, tune in tomorrow for 'Ask Asa' regarding a class-action law-suit". Figure it might be interesting to watch what's going on. Does anyone know anything about this? Sorry if it's a double post.

 

class-action suits rarely get the plaintiffs themselves much money. You'll get like $100 if it were to win. class-action suits are started BY LAWYERS to make LAWYERS rich. By the time the lawyers involved take their cut of the settlement, the plaintiffs get pretty much nothing. Especially since most of the plaintiffs never even know about the "class action" they are named in...

What I'm saying is don't get your hopes up. The suit won't win anyways. What next, sue Enkei because peoples rims are getting stolen?

to hell with lawyers.

 

Are You In Headlight Hell?
Xenon Lights More Popular Than Ever With Thieves
The new xenon headlights are clearly brighter and more efficient than the old style. They've also proven quite popular to both car owners and thieves.

We did early reports on the theft problem nearly two years ago. Since then, xenon headlights have continued to frustrate carmakers, lawmakers, and most of all people like Erica Swanson.

It took less than a year for Swanson to go from loving her car to resenting it.

"They've been stolen three times and I've had my car less than a year. April 10 will make it a year," Swanson said.

Swanson is not the worst case the New Jersey Attorney General's Office has seen.

"The winner so far is the poor person who has had this happen to them five times," said Reni Erdos of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.

Headlights stolen from 2002 and 2003 Nissan Maximas make up the majority of the 750 theft reports filed in New Jersey. That's enough to prompt a lawsuit against the carmaker.

"What we're seeking there is restitution and out-of-pocket loss that customers had suffered," New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said.

With replacement costs at $1,500 to $2,000, those pockets are pretty empty. Many consumers have paid outright and those who filed insurance claims still paid deductibles.

"I had to pay a $500 deductible," Swanson said.

Don't forget to multiply that $500 by the three times her lights were stolen.

Nissan responded by distributing antitheft kits. Some people bought them and others thought they were supposed to be free. Car owners found the solution offered puzzling at best. That's one of the reasons New York consumer authorities have decided to join in the legal action.

"We are urging people to contact the consumer protection board because we are negotiating with attorneys to help people get their money back," said Teresa A. Santiago of the New York State Consumer Protection Board.

In Connecticut, the attorney general's office tells us they haven't received any calls from consumers complaining about headlight thefts but are interested if there are any.

A Nissan spokesperson told us the company would not comment on issues that will be settled in court later. It is interesting to note the company acknowledges it redesigned the headlights in its 2004-2005 models.

 

man, What ever happened with the lawsuit about missing HP and bad paint? These things never go through.

 

Well... Our prayers may have been answered. Apparently, the recent NJ Attorney General's action may have sparked some interest from the Law community.

I found the following call to Maxima owners on the Sheller Ludwig & Badey site. I have contected them at the email address provided, and urge anyone on here who would like to entertain their offer to contact them as well.

Here is their call:

Consumer Class Actions: Nissan Maxima Headlights

Do you own a Nissan Maxima with the new ultrabright Xenon headlamps? Were those headlamps stolen from you or did you incur a cost for an antitheft kit?

The State of New Jersey has recently filed a lawsuit against Nissan North American for deliberately concealing the fact that these xenon headlamps were a favorite target of thieves. In addition, Nissan initially did a poor job securing the headlamps allowing a capable thief to steal the headlamps in less than ninety seconds. In response to the problem Nissan tried to sell an antitheft kit to the consumer at a cost of $175.

If you feel like this situation pertains to you or if you have information to share, please contact Jon Shub at jshub@sheller.com.

 

Yeah I'm starting a class action suit because theives jimmied the door of my Accord open and stole my system last year....honda should have made the doors so they couldn't be jimmied.

And yes, I once had to jimmy the door open when my keys were locked in the car. I had no idea what I was doing and it was STILL easy to do.

Look, I feel for the 2k2-3 guys getting lights stolen, and certainly the design is poor. But for the lady who had her lights stolen 5 times - doesn't that tell her maybe she should do something different with the lights after the 2nd, 3rd, 4th times - like get some halogen lights, stupid b1tch.....

If you have nice stuff (rims, system, whatever) people are going to want to steal that stuff. HIDs apparently count as "nice stuff". So if you live in an area where "nice stuff" will get jacked, DON'T GET NICE STUFF. Yeah that's a d1ck thing to say, but it's the only real solution.


If it were me, I'd take a sh1tload of epoxy and make damn sure the lights could NEVER come out!

Guess what - Virginia had a HUGE settlement with the tobacco companies in a class action suit. Well, I smoke. Guess what? Yeah, that's right - I didn't see a single penny. Oh, and I still smoke.

Even if the Nissan suit wins, Maxima owners will see no $$ and your lights will continue to get stolen. Oh, and like cigarettes, if Nissan has to make some huge payout, it will be to INSURANCE companies, and then Nissan (like Philip Morris) will raise the price of the product (Nissans) to make the money back. So in the end, the people who buy future Nissans are the ones REALLY getting screwed.

Sorry to rant. I f-ing HATE class action BS like this that will accomplish nothing.

Yeah, I'm the a@@hole.

 

Oh and I love the
"deliberately concealing the fact that these xenon headlamps were a favorite target of thieves"

How was Nissan supposed to foresee the thefts? Get a ouija board and have their fortune told?

 

Nissan shouldn't be at fault for selling things to people that people want to buy. But maybe, the "anti-theft" kits that they are selling shouldn't be so expensive either.

 

I agree with you there...if Nissan really cared about customers they would offer the anti-theft kits for free. But....we all know Nissan doesn't really care about its customers. That's not a crime, though.

Customers can/will just go elsewhere if the service/product sucks....

 

Just kinda curious... the people who have had thier headlights stolen... do you have alarms in your car? And did they go off....

 

The point of the NJ suit is that Nissan was aware that the headlights were being stolen in Sept 2002, and did not "officially" inform their customers until December 2003... About the same time that the 2003 model stopped production, and the 2004 came out for sale.

Thus, they continued to sell the 2003 without "disclosure" so as to not hinder sales.

That is a no-no, and we all live with that everyday when we buy-sell houses. I'll bet I can sue you if you leave a septic tank on the property you just sold me, and didn't disclose it (at least in NJ you'd lose).