Consumer Protection – motor vehicles — model years

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil

Consumer Protection – motor vehicles — model years

Where a manufacturer represented that a 2008 model RV was a 2009 model, summary judgment was improperly granted to the manufacturer.

“Gulf Stream contends that it was permitted to assign the Tourmaster a 2009 model year because, as a multistage manufacturer, it was allowed to put an older chassis—the 2007 chassis that came with a 360 horsepower engine—in any finished recreational vehicle manufactured within two years (or up to 2009). See 49 C.F.R. § 565.12(m) (2008). But while manufacturing a ‘split model year’ vehicle with an older chassis is permitted, Gulf Stream’s argument overlooks the fact that it designed and completed the Tourmaster in its 2008 production cycle. As explained above, there is no exception in the consent agreements with respect to model year designations for the finished product of final-stage manufacturers. The consent agreements provide that a manufacturer cannot represent a vehicle ‘in any document . . . or in any advertisement’ as being a particular model year unless ‘the designation standards are uniformly applied throughout a model year to all vehicles of the same model assigned a model year designation.’ See Mack Trucks, 94 F.T.C. 236. Model year designations must be made in ‘accordance with written designation standards which clearly identify the vehicles to which they apply and the starting dates when such standards take effect.’ Id. (emphasis added). The model year assigned to a vehicle is to be determined by either the ‘characteristics of the vehicle designated’ or by the ‘date of manufacture.’ Id. Here, Gulf Stream did not follow either protocol because the characteristics of the Andersons’ Tourmaster were not consistent with those of the 2009 model year Tourmaster, and the date of manufacture of the final product preceded Gulf Stream’s 2009 model year production.”

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

11-1064 Liz Anderson v. Gulf Stream Coach, Inc.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Nuechterlein, Mag. J., Williams, J.