Consumer Law

Using Internet Forums to Research Defects

By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

Years ago, manufacturers and their dealers were forever telling owners with problem vehicles this "we've never seen this before" or "the car meets manufacturer's specifications" when the truth was that the manufacturer knew that the problem of which the owner was complaining was both real and to be found in other vehicles of the model. However, owners now communicate with each other about problems with their model vehicle using Internet forums. The upshot is that an owner with a problem vehicle may quickly discover that other owners are having the same problem.

In discovery in one of our class actions against a U.S. auto manufacturer, we obtained a copy of an internal memo that illustrates this development. The author made reference to an Internet forum on the particular truck model in question and then commented, "We can't lie to consumers anymore."

Some of the leading forums are automotiveforums.com, automotive.com, edmund.com/insideline, and rv.net. To find a forum specific to your model vehicle, just search using your model vehicle and the word forum. There seems to be a forum for every make and model vehicle.

Full post as published by Lemon Law Blog on October 26, 2007 (boomark / email).