Class Action Case Claims General Motors’ Blind Spot Alert System Easily Damaged by Weather Conditions

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Two plaintiffs – a husband and wife –  have filed a proposed class action lawsuit against General Motors in which they claim the placement of the “side blind spot alert system” on 2013-2018 Chevrolet Cruze vehicles can easily render the feature “inoperable by rain, water on the pavement, or snow.”

Filed in Michigan, the 21-page complaint explains GM’s side blind spot alert system is meant to warn the driver if another vehicle is in his or her blind spot on either side of the car. The plaintiffs say they paid an additional $790 for this optional feature—part of GM’s “Enhanced Safety Package”—when they bought their Chevy Cruze in September 2013. The side blind spot alert system sensors are located on a vehicle’s rear bumper, which the lawsuit claims greatly contributes to how easily the feature can supposedly fail:

“In fact, the sensors of the ‘side blind spot alert system’ on the 2013 to 2018 Chevy Cruze are placed on the rear bumper in such a location that water and debris from the rear wheel wells is directed onto them.

Furthermore, the sensors and the relating wiring are poorly sealed, rendering them subject to damage by such water and debris.

As a result, the sensors are easily and frequently rendered inoperable by rain, water on the pavement, snow, or dirt, all conditions commonly encountered.”

Individuals who pay extra for this feature in the defendant’s vehicles do not get what they bargained for, according to the lawsuit. Furthermore, General Motors allegedly “does not and cannot” fix a faulty blind spot sensor when a vehicle is brought in for service, the plaintiffs say.

“If the sensor has been damaged, GM will replace it with a new sensor in the same problematic location,” the consumers argue.