Info for lawnmower class action settlement $$$

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
In real simple terms:

You buy thirty widgets from me and I charge you for thirty. I put them in a bag, you take them home and find twenty. Is that right or is it wrong? Should I be punished for ripping you off? Or should you just shrug it off?


But they weren't selling you widgets, they were selling lawnmowers. In the widget case, consumer affairs would nail them.

If it came with no blades, then it's not a mower.

A few hundred watts (when the actual power output depends on altitude, humidity, temperature, fuel used etc. etc.) doesn't stop it being a lawnmower.

I just don't get people whingeing about how lawyers destroy society, then hop on board to get their little piece, perpetuating the problem.

Detroit have been giving false power outputs for 50 years...are they next ?

 

[boraticus]

Ok. I'll try another example.

You buy a three bedroom home and the third bedroom is actually a closet with a roll-out in it. It's a room with a bed in it right?

It seems you might be missing the point. Why should any company be allowed to mislead consumers? People who tolerate that type of shabby business practice are perpetuating the problem. I have as much disdain for ambulance chasers as the next guy. However, I also have disdain for deceitful businesses swindling consumers. If we don't have the occasional smack down, consumers would be getting shafted every which way!

 

[Hitzy]

It's the people that spent way too much on a mower that are the ones that are going to be upset. The guy that buys a 26hp tractor to cut a flat 1/2 acre, when a 13hp will do the same job.
The guy that bought the 13hp tractor mower for $800 wants a mower that cuts and doesn't blow up for a few years. The guy that bought the $5000 26hp mower wants to have the biggest bestest one on the block. and it has to be "better" then his nieghboors mower.
Well enjoy that $75, I'm sure it will solve all your mowing woes....

 

[MrHorspwer]

Quote:
Detroit have been giving false power outputs for 50 years...are they next ?


Bad example. The last car manufacturer I remember getting busted for exaggerated power numbers was Mazda with the RX-8. Mazda remedied the situaion by offering free maintenance plus $500 or they would buy the car back from the original owner.

The SAE has since created a new standard, J1349, that allows them to certify the HP rating and provide a way for automakes to aviod future troubles of exaggerated power claims.

Quote:
It seems you might be missing the point. Why should any company be allowed to mislead consumers? People who tolerate that type of shabby business practice are perpetuating the problem. I have as much disdain for ambulance chasers as the next guy. However, I also have disdain for deceitful businesses swindling consumers. If we don't have the occasional smack down, consumers would be getting shafted every which way!


Right-o! We have consumer protection laws for a reason. You can have all the animosity for lawyers and our big government, but consumer protection laws are there for us.

 

[wavinwayne]

I filed a claim.

 

[Shannow]

Don't get me wrong, I'm perpetually annoyed with what companies get away with.

I'm annoyed at frivolous lawsuits, and I'm especially annoyed at Oz tort reform that stops you from suing unless you are greater than 15% permanently disabled...

But if the mowers are mowing, then I don't see how a court case could cross the line as viable.

If the mower doesn't work as advertised, then under Oz law, you get your money back in full.

But for an arbitrary "power rating", that is not achievable anywhere outside a controlled laboratory doesn't work for me, any more than if advertised as fire engine red doesn't meet the ISO standard for that particular colour.

And Yes, I've written contract specifications that have damages clauses for lack of performance, power, and thermal efficiency, but these are the contract deliverables, measured by the customer rather than "cuts grass, and is red".

 

[ATS-V]

I filed a claim since my [censored] designed Briggs has blown 2 head gaskets to date.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: 5150ds
To those that are not filing their claims, who do you think gets the money if it is not claimed? I am pretty sure the lawyers that filed the lawsuit keep it, not the manufacturer. So who better to have it, you or them? I agree this lawsuit is pretty frivolous, but why let the ambulance chasers keep it?


The lawyers get their cut up front, trust me. The leftovers actually go to the "class" and the more people that file, the less each gets. Or in the case of the ADM class-action, the lawyers got ALL of the money and the rest of us got the satisfaction of justice being done at the expense of my stock price. But I digress.

Back on-topic. The lawyers have already been paid, and an individual filing a claim or not affects that in no way at all.

 

[occity79]

My Honda 2002 GVC160 is rated in the factory service manual at 5.5 hp AT 3,600 rpm, torque is 8.1 at 2,500. The governor however is set at 3,100 max per the service manual. My actual rpm out of the carton was only 2,900.

An owner would need a tach and a power curve to know what the hp is at any given rpm.

I adjusted the throttle cable properly and reset governor to 3,600, so far (8 yrs) running smooth, but I did adjust the carb mixture, and went 1 heat range colder on the spark plug.

The decal on the recoil cover states 5.5 hp, I'm not filing a claim.

 

[jsharp]

I wasn't surprised when I read about this suit. There has been a HP war going on with small engines for quite a while now. Anyone who's used a modern mower can attest to it. That's why a typical mower from the 70's or 80's seems to have just as much power as a modern mower with 1.5X - 2X the power rating.

We saw the same thing with small air compressors a few years back. All the "5 running HP!" marketing claims for instance that were really 2HP or less in actuality.

I read the PDF of the proposed settlement elsewhere. The lawyers can "only" get 1/3 of the settlement maximum.

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: occity79
My Honda 2002 GVC160 is rated in the factory service manual at 5.5 hp AT 3,600 rpm, torque is 8.1 at 2,500. The governor however is set at 3,100 max per the service manual. My actual rpm out of the carton was only 2,900.

An owner would need a tach and a power curve to know what the hp is at any given rpm.

I adjusted the throttle cable properly and reset governor to 3,600, so far (8 yrs) running smooth, but I did adjust the carb mixture, and went 1 heat range colder on the spark plug.

The decal on the recoil cover states 5.5 hp, I'm not filing a claim.


Lawn mower rpm is set at approx. 3000 for safety reasons. I have a 140cc Echo two stroke on my lawn mower. It was set to run at 2800 rpm. I was unhappy with that because walking speed was too slow. I adjusted the governor to as much as 6500 rpm. According to a horsepower calculation formula I had found, the engine was making between 12 and 14 h.p. at 6500 rpm. Not hard to believe. I have an old 175cc air cooled enduro race bike that makes 24 h.p. at 9000 rpm.

At 6500 rpm, I had to run to keep up with the mower. Not only that, it was just way too loud, hard on fuel. The engine has a controllable accelerator and I could control rpms but it was unnecessarily too fast so I cut max. rpm back to 4000 and usually operate the engine at or around 3300. If I need more power, I can just apply more throttle.

 

[Virtuoso]

From my (sometimes limited) understanding, the reason this settlement came about, was because of that slower running speed.

The stated horsepower figures were measured at 3,600 RPM (or higher?), however the mowers are governed at 3,100 (or so) RPM, therefore the owners were not getting actual stated power from the engines.

 

[occity79]

WOW-boraticus- sweet 2 stroke, I kick myself for not buying a lawn-boy 2 cycle in the late 90's. At least my Toro snowblower is a 2 cycle. My 1978 toro grassmaster was set at 3,600 from the dealer.

 

[Mr_Joe]

I threw my card in the trash.

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: occity79
WOW-boraticus- sweet 2 stroke, I kick myself for not buying a lawn-boy 2 cycle in the late 90's. At least my Toro snowblower is a 2 cycle. My 1978 toro grassmaster was set at 3,600 from the dealer.


Here's a link to the video I took showing the rpms on a mini tach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggeVrfl1o2U

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
From my (sometimes limited) understanding, the reason this settlement came about, was because of that slower running speed.

The stated horsepower figures were measured at 3,600 RPM (or higher?), however the mowers are governed at 3,100 (or so) RPM, therefore the owners were not getting actual stated power from the engines.

If you look at an older B&S motor lable, it will say 3.5HP in big letters, and underneath that wil say @3600 RPM. I beleive that was a standard for measuring HP in pretty much all 4 cycle mowers. RPM is governed by blade length, a 19 inch blade mower will run slightly faster than a 22" cut blade, it is FT per second, measured at end of blade tip.

 

[eljefino]

Thanks, OP, I actually have several of these mowers sitting around.

I got the overpriced CD class action settlement but not (yet) the diamond one. My Dad in the 1990s collected 17 (!) old toshiba computers that were good for $100 coupons off a new one.

 

[Tom NJ]

I actually got $458 last year in a class action settlement against American Express for hiding foreign currency exchange rate fees. I'm in another one against Visa for the same charge and expect $500-1,200 from that one.

Tom NJ

 

[opus1]

I guess I'm hanging around with the wrong "class" of people then.

The ADM class-action settlement wound up costing me money due to devalued stock and no monetary reward.

The settlement I got from a former employer amounted to an $8 store credit.

Maybe I should look into this one further.....

 

[mez]

Anyone else get their lawnmower class action check? Got a check for $52.XX today.