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
Purchased my daughter 2013 chevy equinox less than 75000 miles on it timing chain broke chewed up everything inside motor.i am now out $ 3000 .any class action lawsuits I can get in on for this model????
I have a 2011 Chevy equinox and the engine is the loudest I’ve ever heard a vehicles engine to be. I’d get oil changes every two-three months and top offs in-between those because it burns off so much oil. Now I’m major engine issues with the vehicle and afraid I’m going to go into complete engine failure because of how much oil it burns.
I have a 2013 equinox and entered into an oil consumption test with Bush Auto in Ohio in March of 2020. I had the oil checked at this dealer every 1,000 miles from March 2020 to July 2021 and sometimes it showed full and sometimes up to 2 qts low. According to Bush Auto they say unless you consume 2 qts every 3,000 miles you are under normal guidelines with oil consumption and there’s nothing they will do. When I started this test I had 106,000 miles and now I have 120,000. Can I join the class action suit?
I bought my 2013 Chevy equinox a year ago used at a dealership.. I had to have the transmission replaced. My and just just seized and the mechanic that I had look at my car told me about the lawsuit so I’m wondering how I go about doing this because I don’t have $8,000 to replace an engine that I just bought the car from.
My 2013 Equinox was recalled for excessive oil consumption. They replaced the rings and pistons but now the Catalytic Converter is going, should that have been replaced as well??
My wife owns a 2011 Chevy equinox remox it has used oil since we bought it prione from from Chevy and now it’s only getting worse just found out about the lawsuit trying to get information to have car fixed
I own a 2012 GMC Terrain and it just broke down on Saturday. I never received anything about a settlement to get this fixed. The mechanic just called and told me the engine is shot and will need a replacement engine due to this. How do I get the settlement
I bought a 2013 with 155521 on it n didnt know about this oil deal but am goin through a quart every 3 days this is ridiculous that gm has not put out a recall this need to be fixed
My wife and I purchased new a 2012 GMC Terrain in October of 2011. For the first 8 years, the vehicle was driven exclusively by wife to and from work, a trip of no more than 15 miles. In 2019, a new car was purhased for my wife, with me taking possession of the Terrain as my work car. As I drive much further for work, 300 plus miles per week, I soon became aware that the vehicle was consuming excess oil, requiring the addition of 3 to 4 quarts between oil changes. The vehicle is just shy of 100,000 miles.
My equinox’s engine seized and had to be replaced costing me $8000. I was told it was due to extensive piston ring wear. I provided a law firm with the paper work the car dealer gave me but it didn’t specifically say piston ring wear. I couldn’t get the dealership to put it in writing. Even after they again repeated over the phone with me that it was due to “extensive piston ring wear”. I ran out of the 2 week window that was given to produce the letter due to service manager being on vacation.