The Kansas City Star A Jackson County judge this week approved a $33 million settlement of class-action lawsuits alleging that two major car manufacturers knowingly sold defective tire rims.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Marco Roldan on Tuesday gave the green light to the settlement, which ends four years of contentious litigation with Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., DaimlerChrysler Corp. and DaimlerChrysler Motors Co. LLC of Delaware. DaimlerChrysler Corp. owns a 20 percent stake in Mitsubishi.

The lawsuits alleged that the defendants knew that 17-inch rims on four of their models tended to bend under normal driving conditions, causing tire deflation, flats and blowouts. The suits charged that the defendants failed to disclose that information to consumers.

“I think this is an excellent result for our clients and an exceptional one in light of the vigorous defense that was asserted by the (defendants),” said Pat Stueve, the Kansas City lawyer who spearheaded the litigation. “I think they understood through discovery that there was a significant problem.”

An attorney for the defendants, Andrew Carpenter of Shook Hardy & Bacon, said that he wasn’t free to say anything about the settlement “except that they have settled the disputed claims and the processing of the settlement is under way.”

Notice of the nationwide settlement has been mailed to about 390,000 class members — owners or renters of the affected vehicles.

The settlement covers Chrysler Sebring coupes with 17-inch rims, model years 1997-2001; Dodge Avengers with 17-inch rims, model years 1997-2000; and Mitsubishi Eclipses or Eclipse Spyders with 17-inch rims, model years 1997-2002.

Included in the settlement is about $6 million in attorneys’ fees, most of which will go to Stueve’s law firm, Stueve Siegel Hanson Woody.

Under the settlement, owners who experienced deformed rims during normal use within the vehicles’ three-year warranty period are entitled to receive $205 for each replaced Mitsubishi rim and $275 for each replaced Chrysler rim.

Lessees who replaced deformed rims will be entitled to 75 percent of the cost of replaced rims and 75 percent of penalties incurred for returning vehicles at the end of the lease term because of a deformed rim. The defendants also have agreed to a one-year extended warranty on all new rims purchased.