Bridgestone, BMW settle run-flat lawsuit

By Bruce Davis, ERJ staff (TB)

Trenton New Jersey -- BMW North America LLC and Bridgestone Americas have agreed to reimburse US owners and lessees of certain 2006 and 2007 BMW 3-series models who had to replace their OE Bridgestone run-flat tyres due to premature wear, settling a class-action lawsuit that dates to 2008.

The settlement covers BMW 3-series models originally equipped with Bridgestone Turanza EL42 RFT 205/55R16 or 225/45R17 Run-Flat tyres, according to terms of the settlement, which was posted at www.gilardi.com/BMW-BridgestoneRFT.

The tyres in question were made at Bridgestone's plant in Tosu, Japan, prior to the 22nd week of 2007 for 16-inch models and prior to the 26th week of 2006 for the 17-inch versions.

The class-action suit started with an owners' group lawsuit-Chandran vs. BMW of North America LLC et al (Case No. 2:08-CV-02619-KSH-PS)-which alleged that defendants BMW and Bridgestone should have known the tyres were defective and prone to excessive noise and/or irregular wear, resulting in the need to replace the tyres frequently and causing the vehicles to ride roughly.

The federal court for New Jersey accepted the defendants' settlement offer on April 29, clearing the way for affected BMW owners to apply for reimbursement. Bridgestone estimates the potential size of the class at about 125,000 vehicles; BMW sold 262,670 3-series models in the US during 2006 and 2007.

The deadline for filing a claim is Nov. 8.

The settlement calls for full or partial reimbursement, depending on the mileage at which owners replaced their tyres:

* 100-percent reimbursement for the tyres and associated labour for eligible BMW owners who replaced their run-flat tyres due to irregular wear prior to 10,000 miles at a BMW dealership and reimbursement of the cost of the tyres for owners who replaced them at a non-BMW dealer.

* 100-percent reimbursement for the tyres and associated labour for eligible BMW owners who sought correction of the irregular wear prior to 10,000 miles at a BMW dealer but who replaced the tyres at between 10,001 and 15,000 miles, and reimbursement of the cost of the tyres for owners who replaced them at a non-BMW dealer under the same circumstances.

* 50-percent reimbursement for the tyres and 100 percent of associated labour for eligible BMW owners who sought correction of the irregular wear prior to 10,000 miles at a BMW dealer but who replaced the tyres at between 10,001 and 20,000 miles, and reimbursement of the cost of the tyres for owners who replaced them at a non-BMW dealer under the same circumstances.

* 35-percent reimbursement for the tyres and 50 percent of associated labour for eligible BMW owners who sought correction of the irregular wear prior to 20,000 miles but who replaced the tyres at between 20,001 and 30,000 miles.

In addition, plaintiffs' attorneys were awarded $1.2 million in fees and expenses.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)