Baron & Budd Shareholder Roland Tellis Named Co-Lead Counsel in Class Action Lawsuit Involving Millions of ZF-TRW Airbags

The lawsuit alleges that ZF-TRW and several vehicle manufacturers concealed a potentially deadly airbag defect impacting 12.5 million vehicles.

February 25, 2020 04:46 PM EST — LOS ANGELES — Today, the nationally recognized law firm of Baron & Budd is pleased to announce that Shareholder Roland Tellis has been appointed co-lead counsel in a Multi-District Litigation class action lawsuit against airbag manufacturer ZF-TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. and vehicle manufacturers Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Kia, and FCA. Tellis previously filed the first defective airbag class action case against airbag manufacturer Takata Corp. and several automakers resulting in a class action settlement valued at approximately $1.5 billion.

In April 2019, the national law firms of Baron & Budd and co-counsel Lieff Cabraser filed a class action lawsuit alleging that airbags manufactured by ZF-TRW fail to operate during crashes due to a condition known as “electrical overstress.” Other class actions followed suit and the cases were ultimately centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The suit alleges that a defect in the application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”) built into the airbags causes a failure in the Airbag Control Unit (“ACU”) that prevents the airbags and the seat belt pre-tensioners from deploying during a crash. The suit also alleges that ZF-TRW and other automakers allegedly learned about the ACU defect as early as 2011 but failed to take timely steps to protect customers or inform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“I am proud to be appointed co-lead counsel in this matter, and I am ready to hold these companies accountable for their allegedly fraudulent behavior,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder, Roland Tellis. “Unfortunately, consumers and their loved ones are routinely placed in serious danger because large corporations continue to value profits over safety.”

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