Multiple Class Actions Targeting Automakers Over 3G's Network Sunset

Ahdoot Wolfson is soliciting Toyota, Porsche, BMW and Lexus owners as plaintiffs in possible class actions that seek to make the major automakers accountable for discontinuing in-vehicle reception of 3G network services, its website shows. Breach of warranty, unfair competition and fraudulent omission are some of the allegations the law firm leveled against Ford in a putative class action Thursday (docket 3:22-cv-01716) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego on behalf of Alpine, California, consumer Michael Scriber, the owner of a 2020 Ford Fusion Energi.

Scriber brought the allegations to remedy violations of law after his vehicle’s internet-enabled features, such as roadside emergency assistance, “were rendered inoperable after AT&T’s 3G phase out in 2022 due to Ford’s installation of obsolete telematics equipment,” said the complaint. Ford’s warranty manual “makes no mention of the fact that Ford installed an inferior 3G modem in the vehicle,” it said.

At the time Scriber purchased his car, Ford didn't inform him the vehicle's modem was a 3G modem, nor was it disclosed by Ford’s authorized dealership, said the complaint. Around June, Scriber began noticing his MyFord mobile app wasn't working, it said. “He was unable to remote start his vehicle, check whether his vehicle was charging, or schedule when his plugged-in vehicle charged,” it said. Ford also told him “the anti-theft system installed in his vehicle that allowed him to identify his vehicle’s location in case of theft would no longer function,” it said.

After many weeks of visits and dozens of phone calls to his local Ford dealership’s service center, Scriber was told Ford offered a 4G modem upgrade kit, said the complaint. “However, Ford did not consider it a repair covered by the warranty,” it said. “They estimated that the upgrade kit costs $458.69 and labor involved would cost $558.48.” Scriber wrote Ford Oct. 14 demanding to no avail that it honor the replacement of his nonfunctional 3G modem with a functional 4G modem as an authorized repair under his new vehicle warranty.

AT&T introduced 3G in 2006, then in February 2019 it publicly announced a plan to sunset its 3G wireless network to make way for its deployment of 5G, said the complaint. “Despite the inevitability of AT&T’s decommissioning of its 3G network, and the public announcement of the timetable in February 2019, Ford continued to manufacture” the vehicles with 3G modems, it said. “Ford knew or should have known” when it manufactured each of the vehicles that AT&T would decommission its 3G network “before the end of the usable life” of the vehicles and while they were still under warranty, it said. The lawsuit doesn't name AT&T as a defendant.

Scriber and members of the potential class “have not obtained an adequate repair for the non-functional 3G modem,” and they don’t know whether Ford “is capable of providing a repair for the non-functional 3G modem beyond its replacement with a 4G modem,” said the complaint. “Without the benefit of discovery, it is for all practical purposes impossible to know at this time whether a remedy at law or in equity will provide the appropriate full relief,” it said. Scriber “seeks both restitution and a remedy at law, where the claims so permit,” it said. He also seeks an injunction enjoining Ford from selling vehicles without notice that they have a nonfunctional 3G modem, it said. "Ford does not comment on pending litigation," emailed a spokesperson Monday.

Another law firm, Squitieri & Fearon, represented Peter Grayson, owner of a 2018 Porsche Panamera 4S in a similar class action Oct. 17 against Porsche and Volkswagen in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Trenton (docket 3:22-cv-06105). Porsche began marketing its vehicles in the 2014 model year with Porsche Connect telematics in “substantial efforts” to differentiate the product “as more technologically advanced than the competition,” said the complaint.

There was “no disclosure or even suggestion” that Porsche Connect would be “rendered obsolete once 3G was phased out or that the Porsche Connect feature was only temporary or had only a limited life,” said the complaint. In the later model years, after 4G became prevalent, Porsche “never disclosed that its equipment was one generation behind!” it said. “To the contrary, Defendant marketed Porsche Connect as a permanent feature of the Car.” Porsche didn’t comment Monday.