Anton Yelchin's Parents File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Fiat Chrysler

The "Star Trek" actor died in June at the age of 27.
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The parents of the late “Star Trek” movie actor Anton Yelchin sued Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for negligence and product liability on Tuesday over the rollaway crash of a Jeep Grand Cherokee that killed their son.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is believed to be the first wrongful death complaint linked to the Fiat Chrysler recall in April of more than 1.1 million cars and SUVs because of vehicles that roll away after drivers exit them.

Yelchin, 27, was killed on June 19 when his 2015 Grand Cherokee, which was covered under the recall, rolled backward in the steep driveway of his Los Angeles home and crushed the actor against a brick wall and fence.

The lawsuit points to a transmission gear-selector design it describes as “defective” as being the cause of numerous driverless rollaway mishaps like the one that killed Yelchin.

The Russian-born actor, whose parents were both celebrated figure skaters in the former Soviet Union, was best known for playing the young starship navigator Pavel Chekov in the movie reboot of “Star Trek.”

“In spite of our unbelievable grief, we decided to come here to prevent other families from the same tragedy,” his father, Victor Yelchin, said in tearful remarks to reporters.

His wife, Irina Yelchin, said of her son, “He was very special, but now he’s very special because his death might just save some other life.”

The automaker said in a statement it had not been served with a lawsuit and declined to comment on it, but expressed its “sympathies to the Yelchin family for their tragic loss.”

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said that the gear selectors in question clearly pose a safety issue that has led to hundreds of crashes and dozens of injuries.

The agency has said testing of the electronic shifter found it “not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection.”

The recall applies to 811,000 vehicles in the United States, covering the 2014-2015 model years of the Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle and 2012-2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans.

The problem has been tied to at least 68 injuries, 266 crashes and 308 reports of property damage. Yelchin’s death marked the first known fatality linked to the issue.

The company has said rollaways occurred because drivers mistakenly believed they had placed the vehicles in park, and neglected to set the emergency brake, before getting out. The Italian-American automaker announced in June that it would soon furnish software upgrades to address the problem in all recalled vehicles.

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