— A Kia Carnival sliding door lawsuit will continue in a U.S. federal court after only one claim was dismissed.
Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher denied Kia's motion to compel arbitration and also denied Kia's motion to dismiss the Carnival sliding door lawsuit.
The original class action was filed by Rachel and Andrew Langerhans regarding 2022-2023 Kia Carnival minivans, all which are allegedly defective in the U.S.
It cost $405 to file the original class action lawsuit for more than $5 million, but the plaintiff doesn't claim to have experienced any problems with the Carnival sliding doors.
The lawsuit also contends Kia knew the Carnival sliding doors were defective and dangerous before the minivans were first sold. Kia supposedly sold the vehicles to family members, employees and consumers while knowing the sliding doors would injure people, especially children.
Andrew Langerhans was initially named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit but he voluntarily dismissed all his claims. And it was Mr. Langerhans who agreed to arbitrate his claims when the Carnival was purchased, not bring them in a class action lawsuit.
Kia argues the entire class action should be stopped and the claims sent to arbitration because Mr. Langerhans enrolled in Kia Connect, an in-vehicle technology system that connects to a smartphone.
To enroll, Mr. Langerhans entered his email address and agreed to the Kia Connect Terms of Service which contain an agreement to arbitrate all claims arising out of or relating to his Kia Carnival.
But since he is no longer a plaintiff along with his wife, the judge denied Kia's motion to compel arbitration because Mrs. Langerhans says she has never used a Kia Connect feature and can't be held to the arbitration agreement.
Kia Carnival Motion to Dismiss Denied
So far, this looks to be another case where trained automotive engineers and federal safety regulators are ignored by a judge.
In its motion to dismiss the Carnival sliding door lawsuit, the automaker presented common sense arguments that were denied by the judge.
According to Kia, the plaintiff never claims to have experienced any problems with her minivan, the sliding doors or the pinch sensors, not before the recall and not after. The plaintiff received a sliding door recall notice, took her minivan to a Kia dealer and was told there were no problems with the pinch sensors.
Kia also told the judge the Carnival power sliding door auto-reverse feature is only a supplemental feature which possibly may not activate in all situations. Customers are expected to pay attention when using the doors.
The automaker also references the conclusions reached by its own engineers, a third-party engineering company and a third-party biomechanical firm. Kia's engineers could find no problems with the Carnival sliding doors or the pinch sensors, so the automaker hired a third-party engineering company and a separate biomechanical firm to investigate.
The third-party engineers and biomechanical firm found no defects with the Carnival sliding doors and placed the blame on customers who did not know how the sliding doors functioned. This was the same conclusion reached by Kia's engineers.
Kia also referenced the April 2022 federal investigation that was closed based on Kia's recall repairs. In April 2023, Kia recalled about 51,000 Carnival minivans to update software to create audible chimes when the sliding doors are closing. This is to warn customers the doors are closing.
Software updates also decreased the speed of the closing Carnival sliding doors, and all of Kia's repairs were approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Kia also explained to the judge how federal safety regulators closed the investigation into the Carnival sliding doors and pinch sensors based on Kia's recall repairs.
All of these actions were completed before the class action lawsuit was first filed, but the plaintiff told the judge Kia's recall repairs failed and the pinch sensors are still defective. The judge agreed.
The judge ruled Rachel Langerhans didn't need to be physically injured by the sliding doors because the plaintiff claims the pinch sensors are defective.
The judge says she “must accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint” and must “draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.”
The Kia Carnival sliding door lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland: Langerhans v. Kia Corporation, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Migliaccio & Rathod LLP, and Levin Sedran & Berman.
