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GM knowingly sold Corvette vehicles with defective engines, according to a recent class action lawsuit against the automotive company.
The class action lawsuit was filed against GM by individuals from numerous states who leased or purchased a 2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427 or 2006-2013 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vehicles equipped with an LS7 engine.
The plaintiffs say that the engines in these vehicles suffer from excessive valve guide wear, a problem known by General Motors.
The GM engine class action lawsuit states that, due to the defects in the manufacturing of the LS7 7.0LV8 engines, the Class vehicles are prone to frequent mechanical failure. The defect causes oil to suddenly leak under the vehicle which can cause the rear tires to lose traction, according to the General Motors class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs state that the engines present a “dire and significant safety danger” to the vehicle operator which could result in life-threatening bodily harm. Many of the plaintiffs maintain that this failure has occurred in their vehicles.
The GM class action claims that “Upon failure, the subject engines are subject to explosion, resulting in the ejection of engine fragments and other materials that can strike the driver of the subject vehicle, or other vehicles or drivers in the vicinity.”
Because of the design defect of the engines that are installed in the Class vehicles, the owners and lessees of these vehicles have suffered economic expense for repairs on the cars, according to the Corvette class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs argue that GM has not issued a recall so that the Class vehicles could be tested and repaired. In addition, they assert that GM has recalled the Corvettes at issue for two other, less serious defects.
The General Motors class action lawsuit argues that, even when confronted by the engine defects, the company insists that the “valve train noise” was an “inherent feature” of the engines and that they are not defective.
GM has assured the Class Members that the engines were performing as designed; however the engines continue to fail at a high rate, the plaintiffs claim.
The class action maintains that, as a result of consumer complaints about the engine, GM put into place a technique called the “wiggle method” to ascertain whether the valve guides were out of specification. However, once GM realized that this test would lead to more repairs than it wanted to perform, the “wiggle test” was unreasonably rejected, the plaintiffs state.
“In dealing with multiple complaints concerning the subject engine in the class vehicles, New GM acted, at all times, to deflect criticisms, defer investigations and repairs, and minimize the extent of the problems,” alleges the GM class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs claim that Class Members have continued to suffer from valve train noise, out of specification valve guides and engine failures all the while GM has minimized the extent of the defect in the vehicle engines.
A similar lawsuit was filed against GM in November 2017 by vehicle owners who allege that the Corvette Z06 cars have defects that make them unsafe to drive.
Do you own a Corvette with a defective engine? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by David M. Honigman, Douglas L. Toering, and Kenneth Chadwell of Mantese Honigman, PC and André E. Jardini, K.L. Myles, and Michael D. Carr of Knapp Petersen & Clarke.
The General Motors Engine Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Estate of William D. Pilgrim, et al. v. General Motors LLC, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-10562, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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125 thoughts onGM Class Action Says Corvette Engine Is Defective
Add me to the list 2008 Z06 LS7 427 Limited Edition
Pure factory original
Only 9,000 miles
Absolutely Gorgeous Museum quality in storage never in rain
No issues just concerned
i just bought a 07 zo6 with 25000 miles on it 3 months later sounds lo
ike there marbles in the motor i need new heads please add me to the list
My 2013 corvette with the 427 needed a new engine due to a crank bearing & valves going out. Dealership said it was a factory defect and replaced the engine but before costing me an arm and a leg!!! Please add me to the lawsuit filed. I have all of my documentation.
I would like to join the class action lawsuit i own 2007 c6 Z06. please add me to list !! good luck to all.
Good luck to you as well Tony. My 08 Z06 has 26,000 miles in it, has been garage kept and we’ll maintained.. but sounds like a sewing machine on the inside. Hopefully this isn’t indicative of another issue.
I have the 2013 427 Convertible and I would like to get some additional information to see if I fall into this category. I’ve replaced the Lifters, Lifter guides, Camshaft and will be replacing the Clutch, Flywheel and rebuilding the Torque Tube next week. The car is a beast but I can hear those Valves way more than I should. GM is well aware of this issue and needs to make the LS7 great again.
I have a 2007 ZO6, Ron Fellows addition. Add me to the list please, no failure yet but would like G.M. to check it in the very least. Also maybe reimbursement if I have the heads done. Dont like living on egg shells.
I feel this exact same way. I have a 2007 Z06 with 43,380 and I want to track the car but I feel like I need to dump like 10k into the engine in order to feel safe tracking this.
I have an 08 z06 with over 26,000 miles on it. I see soot and carbon build up in the tailpipe. The engine doesn’t seem that it’s losing oil due to being used. With all the statement coming from a lot of corvette owner, do I need to worry?
I recently purchased a 2006 z06. Carfax report shows it had the entire engine replaced in 2009. The odometer had just 31,709 miles on it. And the owner was likely given a replacement engine without protest because the car was sold to that owner by O’Reilly as a certified GM pre owned vehicle, 30,447 miles on the odometer when purhased from O’Reilly Chevrolet in Tucson AZ. The owner had only put about 1300 miles on the car before blowing the engine.
I mentioned above because after being for the car I didn’t start it to read the stories about the valve train issues. And out of concern and and I hope so assessing whether I should worry, I contacted O’Reilly Auto and I was lucky to have a very helpful service Dept rep. actually read me a virtual play by play of the data still on file regarding the engine replacement. Including replacemt of the dry.sump oil system, flushing all fluids, checking fluid and internal parts,for metal shavings. Which they found. Establishing that this was a catastrophic evnt. I asked the ref which engine they would have used the word is the saying he said it was the version ls7 engine that the car was built with in 2006. And the road tested it and recheck the valve springs pacifically involve dreams for wear but only after like a 20 25 mile test drive.
And even more strikingly the fact is that I called back to that very same service departments just a few days later to request copies of those records and I was not even given a reading of them as I had just four days earlier!
At present, the car has over 123,000 miles on the odometer.. in other words that would be 85,000 miles on the engine approximately. My Hope is that the mileage of that nature proves that this is not an engine that was pre-built with the bad exhaust valve openings that were non concentric. But I worry that that may just be luck and and likely going to have the engine checked for the valve issue at a cost out of pocket of probably over $2,500! Simply because no one can answer my question as to whether or not this engine has the same problem as the ones that we’re totally destroyed by the bed machining that led to dowell springs getting sucked into the heads and bouncing around this tree engine internally in many cases.
In some I find this rather exasperatingly because I bought the Corvette because I wanted a more reliable sports car than my 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. An awesome car when it runs and it’s working properly! And modifications is wonderful to drive when it’s pushing about 450 horsepower. But this route train issue is enough to give me PTSD from being a VR for owner. I find it extremely ironic because the VR4 1992 + 91 suffered from a transmission transfer case lock up problem that occurred just after I purchase the car in 1998 before the recall in 2001 so I paid out of pocket to have not just the engine with the transmission replaced as well nearly $9,000 at that time so about the equivalent of what the engine for a ZO6 cost at least in today’s money but there were far fewer of those vehicles sold so that it is rates Chevy’s claim that it’s a minor problem because they didn’t sell that many with the problem that’s a lawsuit addresses. And no I don’t believe a car should that be warrantied for a million miles or something egregious but I do believe a company has all the gation to stand up and do what is right when they know the defect is a manufacturing defect that’s a considerable difference from a design defect. Because we’re talking the physical screwing up of how the engine was supposed to be that led to the problem. I have no idea how they can rationalize not paying for repairs and then providing anyone who requests details regarding their particular vehicle whether it’s in the past. The excuse for not turning over documents or nothing sending documents. Because they may contain somebody’s private information is easily overcome by redacting it! Chevrolet should be ashamed of themselves about this issue. It’s absolutely unethical behavior in my opinion and there are mocking and insulting all of their supporters of whom the majority collectively believe made in America is better. Clearly they don’t walk there on talk at GM! Did the car I bought is awesome but the joy of owning such a vehicle is absolutely awesome but the fun of owning and driving it is overshadowed by the possibility that the engine can be totally destroyed in one fell swoop!
On Sept 2021 we bought a 2011 z06 with 29k mi had we known about this issue we would not have bought this vehicle. Please include us in this class action.
I bought a 2008 Z06, I found out about this issue after purchasing it and I’m terrified to drive it now. Getting the heads taken care of next week to prevent any issues. Please add me to the list as well.
Don’t be terrified. This lawsuit was dismissed due to lack of evidence. You’re car isn’t just going to blow up. Just don’t be silly and redline it. Piston speeds at 7100RPM (redline) are insanely high and was invented by marketing to hit the 3.6 second 0-60 in 1’st. Floor it but shift at 6k. The LS7 tops HP and torque right near there anyway so winding it out past that is just dumb and yeah, it’ll eventually blow if abused.
Spun a main bearing on my 2013 427 collector at 10,153 miles and when taking the heads off there was excessive wiggle gm did nothing for me cost me 23k to get it rebuilt with bullet proof parts and had the heads completely redone