Chrysler Group LLC was sued over allegedly faulty ignition switches in Jeeps, in a follow-up to more than 120 lawsuits General Motors faces over the same defect, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Both automakers are accused of employing ignition switches that can be unexpectedly turned off, cutting power to brakes, steering and airbags and causing potentially deadly loss of control. The Chrysler lawsuit, filed yesterday in federal court in Riverside, California, follows the automaker’s announcement last week that it would recall almost 800,000 Grand Cherokees and Commanders made from 2005 to 2007 because a driver’s knee could bump the key out of the “on” position. Latoya Lumpkin, who owns a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee, filed the lawsuit as a class action, seeking to represent all U.S. owners of the recalled Chrysler vehicles. She’s asking for damages for these owners for lost use, repairs and diminished value, as well as an order to prohibit driving them until repairs are made.
