Shimano, Specialized and Trek Could Be Headed to Court Over Crankset Recall
The proposed class action lawsuit that was filed last week is the latest fallout from the massive Shimano Hollowtech crank recall that was announced by the company last month. Approximately 760,00 11-speed Hollowtech II road cranksets are affected by the recall.
Now, Specialized and Trek are being sucked into the consequences of one of the largest recalls the cycling industry has ever seen as co-defendants, along with Shimano, in a class action lawsuit. According to Classaction.org, a 72-page class action lawsuit has been filed against the three companies.
The suit alleges that Shimano was aware “for years” that its cranksets had issues that could cause them to separate and break, yet waited until September 21, 2023 to take action and issue a recall. The affected cranksets were spec’d on bikes sold by Specialized Bicycle Components and Trek Bicycle Corporation, which is why the two companies have been named as co-defendants.
The suit also alleges that Shimano’s recall is “ineffective” since it’s only addressing cranksets that are already showing “signs of bonding separation or delamination,” leaving riders whose cranksets have not yet shown these signs without recourse while possibly putting them in a dangerous situation should their cranks fail at some point in the future.
Additionally, the lawsuit accuses Shimano of “working hard to limit the cost of fixing the issue at the expense of consumers” and that riders who purchased bikes with recalled cranksets have been “injured financially” because they bikes they purchased “are of a lesser standard, grade, and quality than represented” and have potential safety issues.
Furthermore, the suit is alleging that the recall puts bike mechanics in a precarious position. The recall process has instructed consumers to have their cranksets evaluated by a bike mechanic at a retailer, and the suit claims that in doing so, Shimano is asking them to perform “an important engineering determination” in judging whether a crankset is defective,” adding that “bicycle mechanics are being asked to make this engineering judgment based solely on a visual inspection, without the benefit of stress testing.” The suit alleges this opens bike mechanics up to “the potential legal liability in the event a replacement is denied and the Defective Crankset later breaks and causes an injury”.
What the lawsuit is asking for
According to Bikeradar, the lawsuit is specifically asking for a declaration from Shimano that the defective cranksets are, in fact, defective, an award to plaintiffs “of compensatory, exemplary, and punitive remedies and damages and statutory penalties, including interest, in an amount to be proven at trial,” and a “Defendant-funded program” to reimburse customers for “out-of-pocket and loss-of-use expenses and damages claims associated with the Defective Cranksets.”
Who is covered by the Shimano crankset recall lawsuit?
The lawsuit covers anyone in the U.S. who purchased a defective crankset or a bike equipped with a defective crankset prior to Shimano’s recall, and who still owns the crankset, sold it after the recall, or discarded the part after it failed or was recalled.
Nothing needs to be done by affected consumers to join the class action suit. If and when the lawsuit settles, owners of the defective cranksets will be notified with instructions for what they need to do and what their legal rights are.
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