GM Lawsuit Fails to Adequately Define Vehicle Defect, Court Says

General Motors Co. convinced a California federal court to dismiss a lawsuit over its vehicles’ airbag deployment systems because plaintiff motorists hadn’t sufficiently defined the alleged defect in the cars.

The US District Court for the Northern District of California agreed to dismiss the proposed class action Thursday on the grounds that the defect plaintiffs describe—software prematurely cutting off airbag deployment—isn’t uniform across class vehicles or consistent between the plaintiffs’ complaint and response in opposition.

Judge Jon S. Tigar granted plaintiffs three weeks leave to file an amended complaint, solely to correct deficiencies identified in the alleged defect’s definition.

• Tigar ...