Dodge Dakota Transmission Defect and Park to Reverse Problem

In 2000, DaimlerChrysler announced a voluntary motor vehicle safety recall of about 140,000 model year 1991 and 1992 Dodge Dakota pick-ups. The Dodge Dakota trucks have a potential transmission defect that allows driver to place the vehicles into "false park" also known as the park to reverse defect.

About "Park to Reverse" Defects

In March 2007, Lieff Cabraser partners Robert J. Nelson and Scott P. Nealey served as lead trial counsel in a five week trial and obtained a $55.2 million verdict for the family of a young father killed due to the park-to-reverse defect with a 1991 Dodge Dakota pickup truck ($5.2 million in compensatory damages and 50 million in punitive damages). Lieff Cabraser has handled and settled numerous park-to-reverse injury cases in the last five years, yet the Mraz case was the first trial regarding this defect in a number of years. A "park to reverse" defect is found in vehicles in which it is possible for drivers to place the vehicle's automatic transmission shift selector into a position between park and reverse during normal vehicle operations. This shift position is also referred to as "false park" or "illusory park."

The evidence at trial showed that the transmission at issue, an A500 (also called a 42RE or 42RH) was defective in that it allowed the vehicle to be placed into “false park” (an unintended position between the park and the reverse gear positions) from which there could be a dangerous delayed engagement of powered reverse. The evidence showed DaimlerChrysler received numerous complaints of accidents and injuries in model year 1988 through 2003 Dakotas equipped with the same transmission and in other vehicles equipped with the 42 transmission, as well as the nearly identical 44RE, 46RE, 47RE, 48RE, and 49RE transmissions. These vehicles included Jeep Grand Cherokees, Dodge Rams, and Dodge Dakotas.

False park is a very dangerous defect because it appears to the driver that the vehicle is fully in park--the vehicle idles as it does in neutral and feels and sounds as it would in park--and the driver may exit the vehicle with the engine running (e.g., to load the car, get the mail, etc.) where upon the vehicle can self shift into powered reverse, runing over the driver or a bystander.

When a vehicle is in false park, the transmission is neither in park nor in hydraulic reverse, but instead it is in an unstable position between the two gears. Slight movements can cause the vehicle to self-shift into reverse. When the vehicle is running, this will cause the vehicle to move backwards unexpectedly under power.

Dodge Dakota Transmission Defect Attorneys | Lawyers

People who have been injured in accidents involving faulty Dodge Dakota transmissions, or family members of loved ones who have died, should click here to contact a lawyer at the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser.