GM Shift to Park Error Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Chevy owners have lodged a class action lawsuit against General Motors LLC (GM).
- Why: Plaintiffs allege GM is refusing to fix a defect affecting hundreds of thousands of its popular Chevy vehicles, including the Malibu, Volt, and Blazer.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Michigan federal court.
General Motors (GM) designed, manufactured, marketed, distributed, serviced and sold vehicles that fail to detect when they are put in park, instead signaling a “shift to park” error, a class action lawsuit alleges.
Lead plaintiffs, James Bertagnolli, Gregory Fladeboe, and Juanita Crawford allege the shift defect affects hundreds of thousands of 2016-19 Chevrolet Malibus, 2016-19 Chevrolet Volts, 2018-19 Chevrolet Traverses, and 2019 Chevrolet Blazers. They want to represent owners of those vehicles in a class action lawsuit filed in Michigan federal court.
Bertagnolli, Fladeboe, and Crawford claim the shift to park defect does not allow them to shut off their vehicles and Chevy owners must resort to “tricking” their vehicles into detecting that the vehicles shift lever is in the park position.
Automaker Will Not Fix Shift to Park Defect
The class action lawsuit alleges GM had knowledge of the defect, as evidenced by posting a bulletin to its dealerships back in 2017, however failed to address or resolve the issue with drivers.
The plaintiffs say that they and other Chevy owners are forced to fix the shift to park error at their own expense.
The plaintiffs claim this is a breach of contract on the behalf of the Defendant and is in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which governs warranties on consumer products.
“Had Plaintiffs and other proposed Class Members known that the defect existed at the time of purchase or lease, they would not have bought or leased the Class Vehicles, or would have paid substantially less for them,” states the shift to park class action lawsuit.
Bertagnolli, Fladeboe, and Crawford are seeking damages and restitution from General Motors for themselves and on behalf of all others similarly situated. The plaintiffs are also asking the automaker to notify all Class Members about the shift defect.
Another class action lawsuit filed earlier this month against General Motors alleges it knew millions of its SUVs were fitted with defective airbags and seatbelts.
The allegations came just days after the car manufacturer issued a recall on 50,000 of its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles determined to be a fire risk on account of a battery defect.
Do you own a Chevy Malibu, Volt, Traverse, or Blazer? If so, do you have trouble turning off your vehicle? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by David H. Fink of Fink Bressack, Michael F. Ram and Marie N. Appel of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, and Samuel J. Strauss of Turke Strauss, LLP.
The GM Shift to Park Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Bertagnolli et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 2:21-cv-11910, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.
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220 thoughts onGM Refusing to Fix ‘Shift to Park’ Error in Popular Chevy Vehicles, Says Class Action
Parents had a 2016 Malibu that had the issue and the vehicle was sold before it got too bad. Now the 2018 is doing the same thing. We will be calling the dealer Monday. Car would not completely shut off and it ran the battery dead.
Paid over $700 to have my 2018 Malibu fixed today for this issue
2019 Traverse shift to park issue and I paid out of pocket to have it fixed.
Our 2019 Blazer started giving us the “shift to park” message. It’s crazy to me that GM says, per their website “GM looks at safety from every angle. That’s why we’ve created an ongoing series of infographics that explore many aspects of road safety and what GM is doing to advance a safer world for all.” but yet, know they have thousands of drivers on the road, in vehicles they produced, that put us, the consumers, and other people on the road, in jeopardy of getting hurt. I don’t even want to drive the car anymore. Can our insurance companies do something? Will they even insure a vehicle that has such a safety hazard?
I have a 2019 Malibu in which I am experiencing the “shift to park” error in the shifter. My warranty ran out before the problem began to occur. I would love to see GM decide to offer a recall on this.
I recently bought a 2018 Chevy Malibu and I had this recurring problem after a week I bought the car. It really upsets me that this is a known problem and GM refuses to fix the problem! Not a good look. I will never buy a vehicle made by GM again.
Same issue has started on my 2019 Blazer
I have the same issue, drives me crazy
The message first popped up in 2021 and I went to the dealership to get it fixed. It’s now 2023 and the message has popped up again. And now the dealership will charge me a little more than what I paid before.
Am having the shift to park issue with my 2019 Chevy Traverse. Car is just shy of 30k miles. Am about to call the dealer where I purchased to ask about the fix. Don’t think I should put out any money to fix this obvious GM problem.