“Firearms manufacturer Taurus has agreed to a voluntary recall of nearly 1 million pistols as part of the settlement of a lawsuit that alleges nine handgun models had defects, including one that caused some to inadvertently fire when dropped,” al.com reports. “The settlement affects customers who bought the following models sold between 1997 and 2013 in the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam: PT-111 Millennium; PT-132 Millennium; PT-138-Millennium; PT-140 Millennium; PT-145 Millennium; PT-745 Millennium; PT-609; PT-640; and PT-24/7. In a statement released Friday night, Taurus denied that there are any design defects in the models . . .
“The Taurus Companies stand by the Class Pistols and vigorously deny all allegations of wrongdoing and liability,” a notice that will be sent to customers states.
Yes, well the models are not drop-safe (a Taurus executive testified in an earlier case that the models had not been tested for drop-safe performance prior to their release to the general public). On Thursday, a Miami federal judge approved the settlement, subject to a final judgement in January of next year. Under the terms of preliminary agreement Taurus must . . .
– Provide an enhanced warranty to allow any owner – even if it isn’t the original owner and for the life of the pistol – to submit the handgun for inspection and repair, if possible. If the defects can’t be repaired Taurus will offer to replace the pistol with a similar new one. Normal inspection and shipping fees and labor costs will be waived.
– Produce on-line safety training videos for those customers who bought the pistols to show them how to handle and carry the pistols to avoid dropping them and how to ship them for warranty repairs.
– Allow customers who bought the pistols to send their pistols back for cash payments. The payments will vary up to $200, depending on how many pistols are returned.
The variation is due to the cap agreed by both sides of the lawsuit. It limits Taurus’ customer liability to $30m, not including an estimated $9m payment to the lawyers who brought the suit.
Customers who bought the models listed above are advised: Taurus customer service is already a bit, uh, challenging. With the possibility of tens of thousands of guns heading back to the company, we doubt the situation will get any better in the days and months to come. You have been warned.