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.
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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.
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2,106 thoughts on$42M GM Chevy Equinox Oil Guzzling Class Action Settlement Approved
I own a 2013 equinox with under 30,000 miles but did not know about the class action.Am I still able to file?I have not recieved an answer
can I get somw help
I recently purchased a used 2012 Equinox and it is consuming a lot of oil. How can i join the class action suit?
I own a 2013 equinox with under 30,000 miles but did not know about the class action.Am I still able to file?
I have a 2014 Equinox 2.4 eco tech engine with heavy oil consumption. Just bought it used in April 2020 and just now finding out about this lawsuit. I’m thinking my car could have been built in 2013 since it has same issue as the 2010-2013 models. Can I enter a complaint?
We are also part of the Chevy Back stabbing program. But we have received a double deal in it.
I maintained our 2013 equinox oil changes religiously with mobile one synthetic oil due to having two infant children and the car being my wife’s primary vehicle.
When oil consumption became an issue the local Sioux City iowa dealer blew us off like others in the country.
When the consumption became a quart every 500 miles and the low oil sensor did not keep up the motor blew.
Being our primary child hauler I did the right thing and had a Chevy crate motor installed to replace it by the local chevy dealer.
What a joke that was. On the receipt they had the nerve to say the blown motor was caused by too much fuel injected into the motor by a faulty fuel pump. What the heck, that will stall a motor not blow it up! Or every flooded engine would just explode!
Now the class action review board is refusing our claim due to this crazy lie from the local dealer. They sure have them boys trained.
My extended family has had three equinoxes and two out of the three have had engine issues. What can we do? Next round of class actions! Yes, where do we sign up!
We also received a denial letter on 11/16/2020. We own a 2011 Terrain and spent close to $7000.00 to replace the engine.. is the company keeping the money! Ridiculous
We are also part of the chevy back stabbing program. I kept our 2013 Equinox oil perfectly changed with Mobil one synthetic oil throughout the life of the motor. Each oil change it started using more and more oil. It eventually was to the point of being silly and the low oil sensor system did not keep up.
When the oil usage caused the motor to blow I took it directly to the Sioux City chevy dealer.
With two little kids and it being my wife’s primary car I did the right thing, I had them replace the blown motor with a chevy crate motor. But, on the repair receipt the dealer covered for the manufacturer and said the failure was caused was by excess fuel injected by the injection system. Excuse me folks but that isn’t possible that would flood the motor so it would stop not detonate a cylinder like all the rest of us on this web page.
They are screwing everyone. Plus they aren’t even be fined by government fir NOT having a working low oil warning in the cars.
They are denying everyone. So who wants to represent a new class action lawsuit. They messed with the wrong person.
just received denial letter today 11/17/2020. stating not enough information. I submitted this claim back in 01/2020 for my 2012 equinox. the thing only had 40k miles on it and went into catastrophic engine failure at the turn of the key. cost me over 3k to fix and that was with GM supplying some parts and labor…. at no point in 10 months have a I heard a single thing about needing more info. fired off an email to one of the attorneys on some of the original paperwork. he surprisingly wrote back stating that I need a letter from the GM dealership that did the work stating it was due to the pistons
Having some of same problem mentioned in other comments
I just received my denial letter as well..Ive spent 1000’s of dollars trying to fix this 2010 chevy equinox LEMON..with oil consumption problems etc…This is ridiculous….
I too just received my denial letter; I had to replace the engine on my 2010 Equinox, but they are saying that is not sufficient evidence of low oil consumption or piston ring wear? Sounds like we had some crooked attorneys representing their own interests; there has got to be some kind of recourse we can take.
When did you send in your info?
I received my denial letter as,bunch of bull
I have a 2013 Equinox, I bought it in 2015 with 25,000 miles on it. This car burns a quart of oil every 500 miles, always has since the day I bought it. Talked to GM about it and they said that was normal for that motor. That was in 2017 before this lawsuit was filed,
Done alot of research on the Eco Tec 2.4 and have found that the PVC is flawed, bad design causing gaskets to fail. I’ve had to replace 2 gaskets (rear crankcase and timing chain cover) also causes rings to fail. BY FAR THE WORST PIECE OF SHIT CAR I’VE EVER OWNED!! Never ever will i buy another GM product
I was notified by phone because I called to find out what was going on with the settlement that they’re denying my claim as well. They’re claiming they didn’t receive my claim & documents in time when I have all the emails from them telling me there was an extension and to email my claim & documents because they told me back in July they never received my usps mailed copy. I’m being told we can file a dispute but is it really worth it?! I have over $5000 in loss from my POS equinox. Is there any way to file a new suit or get an attorney to file a suit against GM on my own? What a mess!