A judge in Florida federal court has put her stamp of approval on a $42 million settlement agreement which resolves three lawsuits claiming that General Motors sold vehicles with an oil consumption defect.
Plaintiffs Ellen Berman and Dayana Guach allege that General Motors model year 2010-2013 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain cars that have 2.4-liter Ecotec engines suffer from the defect that consumes oil at a very high rate.
The primary cause of the defect is malfunctioning piston rings, which are prone to premature wear, the judge’s order states. The defect necessitates the need for the car owner to replenish the car’s oil more frequently.
The plaintiffs filed suit in September 2018, claiming that General Motors breached their written warranties under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Two other class action lawsuits were subsequently filed, based on similar allegations. The judge’s approval of the settlement resolves the claims in these three cases.
Starting in 2014, General Motors issued Special Coverage Adjustments (SCAs) for the model years 2010-2012 of the class vehicles, the judge’s order reads.
The SCAs were put into effect to extend the class vehicles’ warranty for piston replacement beyond the normal warranty expiration period, which was five years or 100,000 miles.
“The SCAs provided that owners of Class Vehicles could take their vehicles to a dealership and undergo an oil consumption diagnosis. If the diagnosis indicated excessive oil consumption, GM would replace the piston rings for free, if the vehicle was within certain time and mileage limitations,” the judge states in her order.
The Settlement Class is defined as: “All persons within the United States who purchased or leased, at any time before the Preliminary Approval Date, a new retail or used model year 2010, 2011, 2012, or 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or GMC Terrain vehicle equipped with 2.4 liter Ecotec engines, manufactured prior to the Production Change, and who have not executed a prior release of claims related to Class Vehicle oil consumption or resulting piston or engine damage in favor of GM.”
In addition, the judge’s order states that, for model year 2010-2012 class vehicles, owners will be able to get a free replacement of piston assemblies at authorized dealerships.
Also, Class Members who already paid for covered repairs but who did not already submit a claim under the Special Coverage Adjustments will have 120 days to submit a claim.
For model year 2013 class vehicles, Class Members will receive free piston assembly replacement. Also, those who previously paid out-of-pocket for repairs can file claims for reimbursement of expenses.
Each Class representative will receive $4,500 as a service payment, which the judge determined to be “appropriate, fair, and reasonable.” This award is being paid by General Motors separately from the funds being made available via the settlement agreement.
Also, the attorneys for the plaintiffs will receive fees of $3,390,351, which is eight percent of the settlement value. Class Counsel will also receive reimbursement of $109,649 for litigation expenses.
Do you own one of the class vehicles mentioned as part of the settlement? Leave a message in the comments section below.
Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.
The plaintiffs are represented by Rachel Soffin, Gregory F. Coleman, Adam A. Edwards and Mark E. Silvey of Greg Coleman Law PC, Robert Ahdoot of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC, and Daniel K. Bryson and J. Hunter Bryson of Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP.
The GM Chevrolet Equinox SUV Oil Consumption Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Ellen Berman, et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 2:18-cv-14371, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida; Hindsman, et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 3:17-cv-05337, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; and Sanchez, et al. v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 1:18-cv-02536, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
2,106 thoughts on$42M GM Chevy Equinox Oil Guzzling Class Action Settlement Approved
My 2013 Equinox has been broke down more than it’s been drove
I have the same problem with my 2013 equinox consuming oil motor wen broke the lifter the dealer wanted 7000.to put a motor in had it rebuilt now after 6 months the same problem started consuming oil about a quart a week now it’s rattling in the heads again I filled out the paper work on the motor have not heard anything back from gm on the first motor the dealer said I would have to replace it out of pocket because it wasn’t under warranty due to me not keeping up with the oil consumption and oil changes I changed the oil when needed and woul add a quart a week or every time it needed it
I have 2012 Chevrolet Equinox
Ls no one informed me of this lawsuit I purchased this truck in 2008
I have had my 2010 gmc terrain for seven years and the motors gone bad twice already. The first time was around 50,000 miles and they did the oil consumption test and determined that it was using too much oil. The car was still under warranty so the work was done at no cost. Then at approximately 110,000 it started running rough and I was putting oil in it everytime I filled up and sometimes even more than that. It got to the point I was very paranoid about the level so I was checking it every few days. Most of the time it always needed to be stopped off. When I called the dealership about it they said my warranties ran out but they didnt want to explain that the motor didnt have that actual amount of miles on it due to being replaced once already. I kept driving it and adding more and more oil until the engine just seized up. I cut it off one night and the next day it wouldn’t start. I had the towtruck bring it to the dealer and they were quick to tell me all warranties were inactive and the motor was seized up. They didnt have any recalls and when I asked about the suit they didnt know anything about it. Now its sitting at my garage collecting tree pollen. Tje dealership quoted me $7800 dollars for a new engine and charged me $187 to get it back. In short I’ve had this car for seven years and it’s been a pain since day one checking tje oil all the time and not to mention how many quarts of oil I purchased over 7 years. I paid $16,000 cash for tje car and I was hoping I would have it for years to come. Now i dont have a vehicle and the dealership acts like i have tje plague or something everytime i asked them anything about the car. They know something is wrong with the car yet they want to act like i did something wrong when i ask about it. Please let me know what i need to do to get In on this suit so maybe I can get the car fixed and sale it. I will never buy anything else gmc at this point im looking into foreign cars or maybe their competitor at Ford motor company. It’s what they deserve for ripping people off and continuing to sale the cars that they know are defective. Not only that they tried to teller that using 3 quarts of oil between oil changes was a normal thing and that I should maintain my vehicle better than I had been. The car was practically brand new when I bought it and no one would think they have to put oil in it like they would a junk of junk that’s already got a couple hundred thousand miles on it. I think they should reimburse me for tje 2 or 3 quarts of oil every couple of days that I had to put in tje car as well as the tow bills and labor price of having to check the oil every time I drove the car. I would also like a reimbursement of the trouble of getting a ride back and forth the last 2 months due to not having a vehicle this whole time. Please let me know how to sign up for the suit because I will be on the front row every day in court if I have to just to prove that a multi billion dollar company has to prey on consumers and take our money just to stay in business
I have a 2013 Chevy Equinox that has the issue of oil consumption and I knew nothing of this defect until recently. I called the dealership where I bought the car and asked if I my vehicle was covered and he said I had exceeded the miles on my car to qualify for free repairs. What can I do? I’m out of options.
I have a 2010 gmc terrain and had oil changes pistons,etc, still have to add oil once a week. What can I do
Has anyone received money from this lawsuit?
I was wondering the same thing. I filed my paperwork on time, anyone know the timeline for payout?
I thought the last paper I seen said end of August. I have a 2011 equinox, and still haven’t seen or heard if I will get reimbursed yet.
Bobbi haven t and every time I call all I get is an recording stating that so and so judge approved it…and it can take a year too get our reimbursement for the repairs we’ve done…when before it would say by May of 2020 checks would be sent out…i hate it that. I can’t talk too a live person too update address and new number…i guess wait another year too see if we get paid or not!! Flack I got rid of it last month..ive already made more repairs that I didn’t even get too put on the firms they sent us if the repairs too get reimburse for..another 1500.00 a total of 3000.
I sent in all paperwork as requested by GM to receive reimbursement from engine oil consumption for my 2012 GMC Terrain. $1700 in repairs for engine blowup at 53,000 miles. Has anyone received payment yet?????
I processed paper work in time. Checks were suppose to be mailed by August 2020. Never received anything. Paid 1,899 for timing chain.
I just called the number and it said the people who received a letter in January—- checks will be mailed out mid September to the ends of September. And the second round of people who received a letter post dated in May will get their check in the beginning of December.
I have a 2013 Equinox. Even after getting an oil change we had to start adding oil. We then found out the oil was leaking when my husband was taking me to the hospital for surgery. The car started acting like it was gonna stop on the highway and when we pull over the car was smoking really bad. My husband looked under the car and the oil was pouring out. It cost us over $2,000 to repair. back in March of this year. I have the documents and receipts from our mechanic showing the expense.
I also purchased a 2010 Chevy Equinox with an EcoTech engine affected by the recall. I purchased it used and the dealer never mentioned any oil consumption issues. I constantly had to keep adding oil to it. Took into the mechanic several times for the issue. Finally in 2019 I had to replace the entire engine due. I am so disappointed in GM.
I purchased my 2010 chevy equinox in April of 2020 from a used dealership, they never mentioned any of the oil consumption issues to me but they were adding oil to the car after they had just did an oil change.. I found this odd but I went ahead and bought the vehicle anyway.
In July I was having issues and had to get my timing chain replaced and they changed the oil in my vehicle and said it was two qts low. Just last week my car had been acting up again, so I took it back to the shop and they said my car was 4 qts low on oil!
My car was slowly breaking down and I could have blown my motor because I didn’t know about this until my mechanic did some research and found out about the class action. What should I do?
My 2010 Equinox burns about a quart every 600 mile. Timing chain just replaced because of excess noise at start up. GM knew these engines were bad from the start but kept selling them for several years. They need to send there engineers over to Japan or South Korea to learn how to build a good reliable engine. I know when I go shopping again for a new car or truck it will not be from a GM dealer.