Share Button

A class-action lawsuit brought by four law firms on behalf of people who bought used Chevrolet Impalas from car rental firm Enterprise has been settled in favor of the plaintiffs, but many of them are still unsatisfied.

The terms of the settlement have some saying it favors the lawyers more heavily than their clients. The plaintiffs each received a $100 voucher for Enterprise rentals or car purchases, while the four law firms representing them split a $1.3 million fee.

One of the plaintiffs' attorneys who tried to stop the settlement, Stuart Talley, said the car buyers who brought the suit had every right to feel aggrieved.

"The attorneys get paid off a lot and class members get next to nothing," he said.

The cars in question were Chevrolet Impalas manufactured between 2006 and 2008. Enterprise purposely ordered its vehicles without side-curtain airbags in order to cut the price by about $200 per car. However, when sold, the vehicles were advertised as having a five-star crash test safety rating, according to United Press International. This would have been true of if the Impalas had been sold at a dealership – since the side airbags were standard features – but the pre-owned rental versions of the cars may not have met this criterion.

Beyond their legal troubles, owners of the Impalas in question may have an increased risk of being injured in a collision, experts say. Even if the safety features on a vehicle are scaled back slightly, the driver's chance of being hurt in a crash can rise significantly, as can his or her car insurance premiums.