Ferrari was accused in a US lawsuit of failing to fix a “dangerous safety defect” with the brakes in some of its luxury sports cars despite issuing multiple recalls.

The recalls were no more than “an interim corrective measure” for one of the identified brake problems, leaving thousands of Ferrari drivers in unsafe vehicles, according to the proposed class action filed on Monday (Mar 18) in a San Diego federal court.

California resident Iliya Nechev claimed his 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia, which he bought in 2020, had “brake issues” from the day he got it and “would experience partial or total loss of braking capability”.

“On one occasion, plaintiff was driving downhill at approximately 50 miles per hour, and while preparing to take a 90-degree right hand turn, plaintiff pressed down on his brakes,” but the car did not slow down, the brake pedal was hard, and despite downshifting, there was no brake pressure, according to the suit.

When Nechev reported this to the Ferrari dealer, he said he was told the issue was “normal”. 

Ferrari said in statement that its recall in October 2021 notified international authorities of a possible defect with leaking brake fluid that could impair braking capability. The original recall affected some cars from model years 2010 to 2019, and was later expanded voluntarily to include more vehicles produced from 2003 to 2019, Ferrari said. 

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“The safety and well-being of our clients is our highest priority,” according to the statement. “We operate according to stringent safety and security guidelines, to ensure that our vehicles always respect homologation specifications.”

Robert Bosch, which the complaint named as the maker of the faulty parts, is also named as a defendant. Bosch declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The complaint included descriptions of publicised Ferrari crashes in Portugal, the UK and Vietnam that were blamed on brake failure.

Ferrari is accused of not notifying customers of the full extent of the brake defect, which Nechev said could only be fixed by replacing the master cylinder.

Instead, the company continued “to sell (or benefit from the sale) of thousands of cars containing this life-threatening defect”, according to the complaint.

The case is Nechev v Ferrari North America Inc, 24-cv-00516, US District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego). Bloomberg