Parents sue over crash that killed ‘Star Trek’ actor Yelchin

Anton Yelchin died last June 19 after his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee crushed him in his driveway due to what the lawsuit says was a design defect in the vehicle.

Fiat Chrysler recalled more than 1.1 million Grand Cherokees and large cars in April because the drivers sometimes exited vehicles without putting them in park.

“That’s why we hope this lawsuit will make other families never go through the same hell we are going through right now”, said Victor Yelchin at a press conference in Los Angeles.

Anton Yelchin’s parents have filed court documents indicating the “Star Trek” actor died without a will and left behind a almost $1.4 million estate.

A variety of damages were being sought in the lawsuit, including the loss in value of the vehicle as a result of the publicity surrounding the actor’s death.

It has nonetheless been speeding up a recall campaign that the covers certain model-year 2012-2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans, and model-year 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs in the U.S. “These instructions include advising customers to set the parking brakes in their vehicles before exiting”.

“This vehicle prior to Anton’s death had over 700 roll away incidents, over 200 crashes and dozens and dozens of people injured that they knew about”, he said.

While not acknowledging a mechanical flaw in its transmission gear selectors, the company has said rollaways have occurred because drivers mistakenly believe they had placed the vehicles in park before getting out. Rather than clicking through distinct detents for park, reverse, neutral, drive and low, the unusual shift control is more like a joystick that toggles forward or back to select gears and then snaps back to a center position.

That same day, Yelchin’s parents, Irina and Victor filed a wrongful death lawsuit against manufacturer Fiat Chrysler.

It wasn’t until a week after Yelchin’s death the late actor received another notice informing him that the company had a fix for the gear shift, Dordick said.

He was best known for playing Pavel Chekov in the rebooted “Star Trek” franchise and left behind several unreleased projects.

Yelchin never cared about being a star but “he loved life very, very much”, Irina told the press conference movingly, occasionally leaning on her husband for support.