Update:
- U.S. District Judge Judith E. Levy granted preliminary approval to a Fiat Chrysler class action settlement made to resolve claims it sold certain Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Fiat vehicles with an engine defect.
- The plaintiffs claimed Fiat Chrysler sold vehicles with a design defect that caused their engines to burn off more oil than what would be normal.
- Fiat Chrysler agreed to provide cash reimbursements, extend vehicle warranties to seven years or 100,000 miles and supply no-cost software upgrades as part of the agreement.
- The settlement agreement will benefit a class of nearly 1.7 million drivers.
- Drivers may be eligible to get $340 if they receive a service notification informing them they need an engine long block replacement, according to the settlement.
(May 5, 2020)
Fiat Chrysler has been hit with a class action lawsuit by Jeep owners who claim the company’s cars contain an engine defect that causes them to consume an excessive amount of oil.
Plaintiffs Amber Wood, Ashley Schuchart, Karen Burke and Danielle Oates say their Jeep vehicles, which are equipped with a 2.4L Tigershark MultiAir Engine II, consume too much oil, causing the oil pressure to drop dangerously low before recommended oil changes.
The plaintiffs claim the oil consumption defect can cause the vehicles can shut down during normal operation, which places the driver at risk of serious injury.
Wood, a citizen of Illinois, alleges she purchased a 2018 Jeep Compass from Bettenhausen Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM in Tinley Park, Illinois. She claims her vehicle is equipped with a defective 2.4L Tigershark Multi Air engine and fails to function safely, as advertised.
Wood says that, before she purchased the Fiat Chrysler vehicle, she reviewed the window sticker that was placed on the vehicle which advertised the car’s various features. She claims that she relied on the advertisements contained on the window sticker when deciding to purchase the vehicle.
The plaintiff says since purchasing the car, she has experienced excessive oil consumption and oil indicator lights persistently in the vehicle. While driving her car to work and making a left turn, the Fiat Chrysler vehicle shut off and would not move, she says.
Wood states she was finally able to get the car to start; once she got home, she called the dealership where she purchased the car.
She brought the vehicle to the dealership and was told the vehicle was sucking down oil and needed a new motor, the Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit alleges.
The dealership then replaced the engine, but Woods argues the oil indicator light recently came on even though it was only 2,000 miles since her last oil change.
“FCA never told Plaintiff about the Oil Consumption or Oil Indicator defects, so Plaintiff purchased her Affected Vehicle on the reasonable, but mistaken, belief that her Affected Vehicle would be reliable and safe and would retain all of its operating characteristics throughout its useful life,” the Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit goes on to say.
Wood explains she purposefully shopped for a Fiat Chrysler Jeep vehicle because she believed the advertising that went along with the car meant they were safe and reliable.
She states none of the advertisements disclosed there was a defect in with the engine and that Fiat Chrysler would refuse to repair the defects.
Wood says in the Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit that, if the company had disclosed that her vehicle had the oil consumption and oil indicator defects, she would not have purchased the vehicle or would have paid less for it.
Other plaintiffs in the Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit allegedly experienced similar issues due to an underlying defect affecting all of their vehicles.
The FCA class action lawsuit points to a March 2019 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaint regarding a 2015 Jeep Cherokee which states that a dealership indicated that there is an oil consumption issue having to do with the pistons.
Another complaint to the NHTSA, lodged in 2020, states that an owner of a 2019 Jeep Cherokee required a new engine because the piston rings in the engine broke and scored the cylinder which led to the engine to consume too much oil.
“Because of the Oil Consumption defect, the Class Vehicles are prone to sudden and unexpected shut down, creating unsafe driving conditions when the vehicle stalls or shuts off without warning,” the Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit argues.
The Fiat Chrysler class action lawsuit alleges that prior to 2013, consumers had complained that some of the vehicles in the class were not powered enough. In response, the larger yet defective 2.4L Tigershark MultiAir II Engine allegedly supplanted the older engines.
The Class vehicles that were equipped with the new defective engine are 2015-2016 Chrysler 200, 2013-2016 Dodge Dart, 2016-2020 Fiat 500X, 2017-2020 Fiat Toro, 2014-2020 Jeep Cherokee, 2017-2020 Jeep Compass, 2015-2020 Jeep Renegade and 2015-2020 Ram ProMaster City.
“Owners of these vehicles are terrified of sudden, unexpected engine stalls, and left empty-handed by FCA dealerships and technicians who continue to ignore this serious safety hazard,” counsel for the plaintiffs said in a statement.
“It’s only a matter of time before this defect leads to a fatality, with millions of affected vehicles sold by FCA on the road.”
Do you own one of the class vehicles and are having trouble with the engine? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Steve W. Berman and Elaine T. Byszewski of Hagens, Berman, Sobol, & Shapiro; E. Powell Miller of the Miller Law Firm; and Jeffrey S. Goldenberg and Todd Naylor of Goldenberg Schneider LPA.
The Fiat Chrysler engine defect class action lawsuit is Amber Wood, et al. v. FCA US LLC, Case No. 2:20-cv-11054, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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350 thoughts onFiat Chrysler class action over faulty engine claims settled with extended warranties
I have Crystler 200 and am experiencing the same issues. Have been through two oil consumption tests and have been told my car is fine. Have been told that maybe the technicians didn’t put enough oil in during the last oil change. Car has cut off in the middle of an intersection twice. On my way to get my oil changed now and am only 200 miles over and have very little oil in my car. This is ridiculous. Told I just nees to ensure to bring my car in a few miles before I need an oil change to avoid this issue. Something needs to be done.
This has happened to me too. I have a 2015 Chrysler 200. My car has shut off completely while driving and wouldn’t turn on for a good amount of time. I check my oil levels and it’s bone dry, but no where near time to replace oil
How are Tigershark engine owners able to join class action lawsuits? Lots of specific information requested, please.
Stuck in Cleveland
Aka George
I’m 100% experiencing the exact same issues with my 2018 Fiat 500X.
I’m experiencing the same problem with my fiat 500x
My 2016 Fiat 500x Trekking AWD has been giving me trouble since 45000 miles. Lots of lifter ticking. Danville, VA couldn’t diagnosis even though the tech heard the noise. After $250 diagnosis, their official diagnosis was transmission. Utter BS. Fought for half of my money back. I replaced the Multiair unit and purchased Multiair tool for $1000 plus. Did not help. 6 months later, engine started stalling at 50K miles on the freeway only. I’ve stayed off freeways as much as possible and ever since. A trusted master mechanic informed me that the engine oil MUST be changed by 4000 miles…..? Synthetic oil???? Why???. I did as he recommended. But the engine began misfiring, spark plug #1 had a lot of black soot…??? I replaced the #1 fuel injector. Not better. Slight pinging here and there. Dealerships couldn’t be trusted. I kept replacing spark plugs, coils, boots etc. No help. Replaced the throttle body under a throttle body code. Idle was poor and I shifted the trans into neutral at every stop light. I was now in Florida on flat ground. No issues. No load on the engine. Changed oil by 4K miles and was ok. No load on the engine. Mileage was now at 86K. Changed the oil. 6/21 I drove north on secondary roads up Natchez Trace, along the Mississippi to Minneapolis. I was driving 50mph or less. Pretty places. Went slow. I drove rte 2 east along UP Michigan. Gas mileage was nice at 29 mpg. I’ve never gotten better than 24 mpg. Crappy for a 4cyl engine. Came south along the east coast of MI. Beautiful place. Sunday night I needed to drive south through Detroit. I got on route 75? Freeway. Within 5 minutes, the engine stuttered gently, then violently, and stalled. Fortunately, no one was behind me, but also no shoulder. Flashers were immediately on at first sign of trouble. Almost rear-ended by an unalert driver. The check engine light was now on . Code from my code reader was misfire. I cleared the code once safely off the road. I began my freeway trip again. Check engine light off, all ok. Same problem again with engine under slight load. Almost rear-ended again as the engine stalled on the next exit ramp. Now I knew that I had a real severe problem and couldn’t drive my Fiat on the freeway. At this point, my oil change had 3500 miles on it. Obviously, I filled 3/4 of a quart of oil out of my 5quart oil jug that I carry. In actuality, it was prior to stalling that I filled the oil. Oil was very clean on the dipstick. Secondary roads took a long time, but I made it to the east side of Toledo going terribly slow, barely touching the throttle. Next morning, I made it to Port Clinton, OH where my engine promptly shut down. No warning. Permanent shut down. ECU wouldn’t even let the starter reengage. Shifter stuck in park. Brake pedal hard as a rock. No release of electric ebrake. Stuck in a dirt parking lot. Engine light had now come on with 3 permanent codes… P106C,P335?(camshaft sensor), P340(Crankshaft sensor). Dead. All done. Fortunately, it didn’t endanger anyone else. I was fortunatel to have extra spark plugs and oil to do a few changes. Spark plug #1 always seemed to have a little bit more black on it than the others, but #4 wasn’t looking so good either…? Towed to first dealership…. $100. Dealership diagnosis$125… Bad starter…? But engine died…. Kaput… Dead… Logical question… If brake pedal is hard and you can’t depress it, shifter is stuck, ebrake can’t be released… Why is that a starter problem? Service guy was defensive, then dismissive. He couldn’t even address the check engine light because he didn’t even look at it. He then denied that the light was even on. Last ditch effort was to ask him to contact Fiat Tech to confirm a diagnosis.( This was actually a Chrysler dealership). Straight up NO. Next step was to tow it east to a Fiat dealership 70 miles east. Ok… $250 down the drain with that dealership… Now $370 down the drain towing charges to next dealership east. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in a tent on a state park. I’m currently still living out of a tent in Ohio. We’re in the third week. It is July 2021. Weather is like Florida. Second dealership confirms starter diagnosis, but can’t explain my same logic… They insist upon me paying them$1200 for a starter…. But, as I reasoned, the engine DIED!!!!. Why is that a starter issue? If the brake pedal is hard and you can’t depress it, you can’t release the shifter, or ebrake…. Why do you expect the starter to engage???? No answer… But… Let’s just get that dead starter replacement, shall we…??? My answer… Nope. After a total of 15 days stuck in a campground, I called Fiat US…. Told them the stalling problem… The tech said… You know… There is a RECALL on excessive oil consumption… What??? No one ever said anything about a RECALL…???? The second service guy said that the engine consumption was “an issue” and promptly accused me of running my engine out of oil… But what RECALL..?????. WTF…. When class action lawsuits were now explored… Tiger shark engines have bad ENGINE RINGS!!! When the second service guy was confronted with the word RECALL, he then fortunately, confessed YES…it is a recall. As a near Master Mechanic, I then authorized the tech, for a one hour charge, to do a manual engine compression check. With the car in neutral, you remove all the spark plugs. With now no load on the engine, you put your compression tester on cylinder#1. You then take a 1/2″ drive impact wrench and turn the engine over by it’s crankshaft pulley bolt. High impact up to 250 ft lbs of torque. Now knowing the deliberately hidden fact that my engine has bad piston rings, I KNOW without any doubt that I will have significant loss of compression in cyl #1, and some loss of compression in cyl #4. I authorized the dealership to do the compression check. I refuse to authorize anything else. I’m stuck in Cleveland… AKA George from Kissimmee. A class action lawsuit calls Fiat “deliberately deceptive”. I wholeheartedly agree. There is 1000000 cars with these engines that could potentially cost Fiat/ Stellantis 25 billion!!! A good reason to be deceptive….??????????
Unfortunately I found out about this the hard way! I was on my way to work, heading onto a very busy highway and my car engine just stopped! I could have been killed, or killed someone…so horrible! I cannot keep a vehicle that has the opportunity to cause such damage. I cannot afford to just buy a new car. There was no mention of this at the time of purchase. No, it is not a brand new car, but things like this should be spoken of up front! Cars are so expensive anyway, let alone having a defect that I have no control over and am afraid to drive!
We purchased a brand new 2018 Fiat 500X Trecking last summer. Great deal/ price as it was a new left over 2018 in late 2020.
We had not even hit our 1st oil change at 5000 miles when I checked oil before a short out of town trip. It was nearly 2 quarts low. Confused/ concerned I called the dealer and they scheduled an oil cunsumption test, said they changed programming to fix problem, and said we need to return once driven 1500-1700 miles to re-check. Checked oil last night to find it is half way down the hash marks on dipstick! have barely driven 1000 miles. Waiting for a call back from service dept. to see if it’s still OK to drive till it runs 1500 mile before going back. Not happy!!!
New cars should use so little oil it is un-measurable between oil changes.
I have an 01 ford supercrew over 100,000 miles that needs no oil added between 4000 mile changes.
The dealership told me that my renegade is within Spec for oil usage would tell me what it was I had has shutdown on me twice and refuse to fix the problem refer me to the corporate office and told me that we’re done with the it
I owned 2016 FIAT 500X, and having same issues like engine stall, random warning lights are coming on and off. Took it to dealership here in Renton, WA and they did something there and top off the oil. They said if I stil have these problems, bring the vehicle back to dealer for further assistance. Now, again having all these warning lights are randomly coming on and the vehicle is having hard time climbing up hill and engine is stalling sometimes, too.
2019 Jeep Cherokee Limited, 2.4L – Same issues, already replaced battery due to start/stop issues at 17,187 miles. Car has lost power and died when driving (2 separate occasions) and also died at stops during April, 2021 – complete shut downs- @20k miles. The car is also going thru oil with no indicator lights. Please add me onto the lawsuit. Please contact me. Thank you.
I own a 2019 Jeep Cherokee and I’m experiencing similar problems. The car has no power and is using oil. I would like to be added to the lawsuit. Can someone please contact me
Same! My daughter was terrified when her car shut down while driving ( thankfully on a 35 mph rd) and could not get car to restart. How do we get in on class action suit?
Have you heard anything? I also am trying to find out what to do! I have a 2016 Fiat 500X I bought in December and I almost got into a huge accident on the highway, as it completely stalled on me, then finding out about the oil issue! I’m afraid to drive it and cannot afford to just buy another car.