Auto Leases and Contract Defenses

The New York Times ran this article today about car leases and how difficult it is to get out of them.  The article discusses one auto lessee who found that she had a medical condition that prevented her from driving.  When she tried to get out of her lease with Ford, she was told that there was no way that she could escape her obligations unless she joined the military or died.

Which brings me to contract defenses.  It would seem that being informed of a rare medical condition that prevents you from driving would constitute a classic changed circumstances situation that would allow a successful frustration of purpose defense.  But alas, most car leases allocate the risk of these unlikely events onto the consumer. In other words, although this specific medical condition may have been unforeseeable, the contract probably shifts the risk onto the consumer of all events which would prevent the consumer from making payments or from driving. 

Just another example of the interplay between contract clauses and doctrine.