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.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
- Widespread Toyota ‘Echo Defect’ Renders Bluetooth Calls Unusable, Claims Class Action
- Yukon SUV Defect Makes Rear-End Collisions More Likely, Claims Class Action Lawsuit
- GM SUVs, Trucks’ Faulty Airbags, Belts ‘Recklessly Downplayed,’ Affect Millions, Alleges Class Action
- GM Engine Defect Class Action Lawsuit Putters Along in Oregon
220 thoughts onGM Refusing to Fix ‘Shift to Park’ Error in Popular Chevy Vehicles, Says Class Action
My wife just took our 2019 Traverse High Country into the dealership and paid $150 to find out that she has the shift to park error on her vehicle and it would cost $400 to resolve. This switch should not be failing after two years.
Happened to us in my wife’s car. The dealer will not cover it. He says 500 dollars just to look at it. Defective design and we as customers who have bought 2 cars from this dealership will not even fix a defective part. Regardless of the response “do you have an extended warranty” which is just another way of shifting blame. I want to join the class action on this shift to park and will never again buy a GM product if this is how we are treated.
I own a 2017 Volt and just started the issue today. After I read the comments, looks like with cost 400-600 to fix this problem.
My 2019 malibu has been doing this for at least 2 months. I bought this car brand new with no miles on it so I expect the problem to be covered under my warranty but they won’t.
Yes started week of of 10/28/2021 I have. A 2019 Chevy Traverse Premier 39000 miles just out of warranty.when I put by shifter into park and attempt to turn car off the alarms keep going off yellow light comes on dash says shift into park, after several attempts to restart and turn off car it finally shuts off.Went to dealer on 11/1/ 2021 for oil change and explained the issue I was having was told they think it’s the gear shift link, would cost $89.99 to check it and if it was that cost would would be $300- 400.00 to fix, ask if I wanted to schedule appt. I said no not at this time. come home did research online and wow seems to be a well known issue with GM, Husband called dealer and asked them to contact Gm as car recently went out of warranty, and this has been a known issue for some time, Dealer said they would notify Gm , Then called me back said It would only cost be $40. They will install a new harness and clip, I said well I’m reading that is only a temporary fix, what happens if it goes out again, not sure I was told, so I a, getting this harness and clip replaced as I can’t risk not being able to turn my car off.
Started last Friday on my 2019 redline traverse. I took it in and found that I was 15 days passed my bumper to bumper warranty. I am waiting for the service manager to contact GM to see if they will do a good will and cover replacing the shifter and harness. I haven’t even reached 20000 miles yet!
Started about 2 days ago. In my 2018 chevy Malibu. Shift to park coming on. An I have less than 40,000 miles on it. An it won’t turn off. Have to fool with it till the message goes away.
I have a 2018 Malibu and it was fixed July 29 of 2020, it is now October of 2021 and the same thing is happing I contacted the dealership and they said I would have to Pay between $400- 600 dollars to fix it i told them that they should replace it as it has not been very long that it was replaced they said GE will not cover the cost because my warranty has expired, I as well as every person talking about this problem probably live week to week and don’t have the money to keep fixing this problem.
I’m currently having this problem with 2017 Malibu and only 40,000 miles.
Have the issue on a 2019 Chevy Malibu. I baby my car and it looks like the first day I brought it home. This is definitely a defect and not due to user error.