Sylvania Class Action Suit

I got a card in the mail today about a class action suit against Sylvania for misrepresenting their products. Anyone else?

 

[Anime]

San Francisco, CA: A preliminary $30 million settlement has been approved in the consumer fraud class action lawsuit pending against Sylvania. The lawsuit alleges the company made false and misleading claims regarding the effectiveness of its headlights in an effort to boost the sales price and subsequent profits.

Under the settlement terms, millions of class members will be able to submit claims for a partial refund on Sylvania's SilverStar headlights.

Sylvania is the North American business of Osram GmbH. According to court documents, the company sold over 60 million of the replacement headlamps during the class period.

The lawsuit was filed by Imran Chaudhri in September 2011, alleging that Sylvania represented that the headlights are brighter, provide a wider beam and allow drivers to see farther down the road than standard halogen headlights. However, the lawsuit alleges, Sylvania had "rigged the process" and committed consumer fraud.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims Sylvania failed to adequately disclose to consumers that those comparisons aren't based on similar testing conditions. SilverStar headlamps generally sell for roughly double that of halogen headlights.

According to the terms of the deal, eligible class members will be entitled to their pro rata share of the settlement fund with each class member expected to recover around $10. Sylvania also agreed in the deal to alter the headlights’ packaging to eliminate some of the challenged claims concerning the products' performance and lifespan. Chaudhri and the six other plaintiffs who later joined the case will share an incentive award of up to $25,000.

A fairness hearing will be held on March 25, 2015. The case is Chaudhri v. Osram Sylvania Inc. et al., number 2:11-cv-05504, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Seems like a pretty easy win, the science backs up the facts that the Silverstar lights aren't brighter, they actually put out LESS light, like people on this forum and automotive lighting forums have been saying since they came out.

Would be interesting to see how this affects any other products, like Philips' Crystal Vision, and stuff from PIAA, and the many cheapo bulb companies.

 

[OffTrac]

Seems like a pretty easy win, the science backs up the facts that the Silverstar lights aren't brighter, they actually put out LESS light, like people on this forum and automotive lighting forums have been saying since they came out.

Would be interesting to see how this affects any other products, like Philips' Crystal Vision, and stuff from PIAA, and the many cheapo bulb companies.

I bought the XtraVision bulbs over a year ago because I got them an extra 20% off a sale price. Paid less than $15 for the pair. Still in original packaging.

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[Anime]

I bought the XtraVision bulbs over a year ago because I got them an extra 20% off a sale price. Paid less than $15 for the pair. Still in original packaging.

XtraVision bulbs are fine, and actually DO put out more light on the road than the regular Sylvania bulbs, about 20-30% more, and right where you need it - about 75ft (or within the 50-100ft range) in front of the vehicle.

The Sylvania Silverstar is a blue-coated bulb that is made that way to put out "whiter" light, to make them look like HID bulbs or just make them stand out from standard bulbs, which look "yellow" next to "blue" or "white" bulbs.

This coating is what kills the light output - so little of the light spectrum is blue, that the filament must be overdriven like crazy to get the bulb to put out even close to the legally required amount of light. That's also why the bulbs fail so quickly, usually in less than a year.

XtraVision bulbs also drive the filament a little more to get the additional light output, but they use a finer filament (which also gives a slightly smaller point source for the light, which also improves performance), but the big difference is they use a clear bulb like the standard bulbs do - there is no light-robbing blue coating. So, Xtravisions are actually Sylvania's top of the line bulb in the U.S., not the Silverstar, despite the price structure. That worked out nicely for those of us who knew how good the XtraVisions were, but it sure sucked for those who just bought bulbs based on advertising.


The basis of the lawsuit was easy to prove - Sylvania's claims that Silverstars were "the brighter light" and put more light on the road than standard bulbs - defy the laws of physics and optics, and they had to resort to misleading "testing" to make those claims to consumers.