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Two plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit against Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, alleging that the company manufactured outboard boating motors with a defective aluminum coating that are susceptible to corrosion and premature engine failure.
Florida residents Clifton Mitchell and Keith Johnson filed the Yamaha boat motor class action lawsuit on July 22. They allege that Yamaha should have known about the motor defect and taken steps to provide a remedy for customers who were affected by it.
The proposed members of the Yamaha boat motor class action lawsuit include Florida residents who bought a model year 2000-05 Yamaha first-generation F-Series four-stroke outboard motor for their personal use. The plaintiffs claim that because Yamaha failed to fix the problem with the motor, the Class Members have been forced to either pay thousands of dollars to repair the defect or be stuck with a defective motor that they never would have purchased had they known about the flaw.
Mitchell and Johnson purchased boats with the Yamaha F-Series motors from a boat dealership in Pensacola, Florida. Both plaintiffs were informed about the motor corrosion after they had their boats inspected after approximately 650 hours of recreational use. It cost Mitchell approximately $7,000 to repair the motor, while Johnson experienced close to $3,800 in repair costs.
In their class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that there is either a design or manufacturing defect in the coating on the aluminum exhaust components. They claim that this coating allows hot gasses to corrode the exhaust passages, eventually creating holes in the passages that cause engine problems or failure.
The plaintiffs claim that the expected life of a motor made by a major manufacturer like Yamaha is several thousand hours of usage before failing or requiring significant repairs. According to the class action lawsuit, the affected Yamaha motors sometimes only 500 hours before failing.
The affected Yamaha motors came with a three-year warranty. However, because these motors are marketed for recreational use, most users only average about 100 hours of use per year. As a result, the warranty usually expires before the customer experiences problems with the motor. Because the affected components are within the dry exhaust system, the corrosion takes place within the fully enclosed engine housing and is not visible. Therefore, boaters are unaware that the damage exists until they experience engine problems.
The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit allege that standard engineering tests should have revealed the motor defect to Yamaha during the design or manufacturing stage of production. Despite receiving numerous complaints about the defect, Yamaha failed to take steps to fix the situation. While Yamaha has changed the coating and created a kit to repair the defect, the kit alone costs $650 and will cost thousands of dollars to implement, the class action lawsuit says. The plaintiffs claim that Yamaha did not notify its customers about the defect or issue any service bulletins or recalls. The class action lawsuit accuses Yamaha of negligence, product liability, and violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The plaintiffs have requested a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit are represented by Peter J. Mougey and James Kauffman of Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA, and by Steven R. Jaffe and Mark S. Fistos of Farmer Jaffe Weissing Edwards Fistos & Lehrman PL.
The Yamaha Boat Engine Coating Class Action Lawsuitis Mitchell, et al. v. Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, case number 3:13-cv-00417, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
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94 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuit Targets Yamaha Boat Motor Defect
Would love to join the law suit. Contact me if I can. 2X 225 2004 4 strokes 560 hrs
Just bought a 2006 Parker with a 250 yamaha 4 stroke with only 129 hours on it. Bought Boat in May 2015. Pais 35 k for Boat and now in shop for same reason. Something with exhaust and water in oil thus now a 8 to possibly 12 thousand in repairs i am told. Very angry at this situation. Is there anything I can do even though I bought the Boat used.?. No gaurentees were giving with purchase. Can someone help please.
2004 F250 Yamaha motor on my 25 ft Grady. Ran my boat 2 weeks earlier and worked like a charm.. Loaded it up and went to the keys for a lobster/fishing trip. I launched the boat and It never started. I could hear the starter going but it failed to engage the flywheel. We open up the cowling and rust EVERYWHERE. The starter was partially seized, I had a completely seized pully, electronics corroded, and yes water pouring out from a whole in the block. I took it to a service place in Marathon who opened it up and said YUP YOU GOT A HOLE IN THE MOTOR. THIS MOTOR HAS THIS SPECIFIC PROBLEM. And now I’m back home scrambling for a repair shop to try and fix this. Gonna be a thousands out of pocket. Kind of unfair when you do everything to PM your engine and a defect in the block (something you cant control) is the cause of a catastrophic failure. Im so mad right now.. I know Yamaha will never compensate me for this.
did anyone contact your about your boat & motor???
if you can put me on your update list.2003 f225 approx. 475 hours 69j x 1006731
I just purchased a boat with twin 2005 250 Yamaha 4 strokes with only 33 original hours. I’ve put 100 hours on and decided to change thermostats and water pumps. The engines started overheating at idle. After some research , my mechanic, who I was ready to blame for the issue, did some good detective work and found out , from yamaha that this is an early sign of the defect. I’m happy he found it, but it’s still about 3k per engine. I will be joining this class action lawsuit, or being located in NY, I know plenty of attorneys and will be initiating one myself. So someone may contact me at 9174995000 to include me, or I’ll be getting in touch with all of you and then some . This cannot go unanswered. Yamaha is supposed to be one of the BEST. They need to live up to that, anything else is wrong . WE paid for their reputation, they need to pay to live up to it !
Hope you can help
I have 2 225s on my pro Kat 2860 both are make oil seem like this is the issue put me in the lawsuit there 2002 low hours 1100 thank you 954 456 1494
I have the same problem. I have twin 2005 F225s with only 300 hrs on them. They have been very carefully maintained and always flushed after use. When I took them to the dealer for 300 hr service, they found a corrosion hole in the power head near the thermostat and severe corrosion in the exhaust manifold. They said the other engine was close behind it. The dealer used it as an excuse to try to sell me new engines, didn’t mention a repair kit. I took the boat back unrepaired, but Im afraid to use it now because of this problem. I want to join the lawsuit.
I have 2005 twin 225 Yamaha motors that have corrosion problems. I would like to join the class action lawsuit that is on going. Could someone please contact me. 239-643-5560
Hi,I have 3 Yamaha 250 Hp year 2005, they have around 600 hours, my mechanics are suggesting me to repair all engines before it will be too late and it will cost around $3800 each one. I will be happy to partecipate at the class action against Yamaha.