Sport-Utility Vehicle class action survey using conjoint analysis achieves settlement valued at $37 – $99 million

A class action lawsuit was filed in 2015 against a major Japanese auto company on behalf of customers who had purchased a model of its sport utility vehicles. The case involved a transmission-related defect. On June 28, 2017, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Florida approved a final settlement valued from $37 to $99 million. Applied Marketing Science (AMS) provided a conjoint analysis expert, Steven P. Gaskin, and his team, who served as consultants to the Plaintiff’s team of attorneys, and conducted market research and analysis to support the damages claim. To perform this analysis, AMS used choice-based conjoint analysis (CBC), a survey technique in which consumers are asked to trade off various product options they could consider in the buying situation. Conjoint analysis made it possible to calculate the difference in value between a product having a specific feature and a product lacking the feature.