Problem with Seat Power Adjustment in Millions of Stellantis Cars
A new lawsuit claims that cars from Dodge, Chrysler, and other brands owned by the Stellantis conglomerate may have a serious defect in the driver’s seat height adjustment mechanism. According to the statement, in a rear-end collision, the electric motor can break, leading to the seat suddenly lowering.
The main claims of the lawsuit are:
Scale of the Problem and Hidden Risks
The class-action lawsuit concerns seat height adjusters installed in millions of Stellantis vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2023. Lawyers claim that a small bracket inside the electric motor can fail during a rear-end impact even at a relatively low speed — around 40 km/h (25 mph).
This matters because safety systems are designed with the assumption that the driver’s or passenger’s torso is positioned exactly where engineers intended. If the seat lowers during a crash, airbags and seat belts may not function properly.
Involvement of the Manufacturer and Supplier
The lawsuit accuses the former company FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and its supplier Lear Corporation of knowing about this defect but deliberately not informing regulators and vehicle owners. The statement claims that the companies concealed the problem to avoid costly reworks and a large-scale recall.
FCA, Lear, authorized FCA dealers, and other parties were aware of FCA’s advertising claims and conspired to conceal the existence and scale of the defect in the seat height adjuster installed in the seat.
Consequences and Next Steps
For now, these are only allegations; a court decision has not yet been made. Stellantis has the opportunity to respond in court, and a judge will decide whether this case will achieve full class-action lawsuit status. This process could take months.
In the meantime, owners of the affected models probably shouldn’t worry too much — their seats are most likely to remain in place. However, this situation raises important questions about manufacturer responsibility and transparency in informing consumers about potential safety flaws.
This case demonstrates how critical even one seemingly minor detail in a car’s design can be for overall safety. A potential defect concerning driver positioning directly affects the operation of all passive safety systems designed for a specific seating posture. Such lawsuits often become a catalyst for reviewing manufacturing standards and quality control procedures not only in one company but across the entire industry, forcing automakers to conduct more rigorous strength tests on all safety-related components.