GM defective paint class action overview:Â
- Who: Four owners of vehicles made by General Motors are suing the company.Â
- Why: The plaintiffs say General Motors used defective paint on its vehicles. It was prone to cracking, clouding and delaminating.Â
- Where: The GM defective paint class action lawsuit was filed in a California federal court.
This new class action alleges that General Motors sold cars coated with defective paint. That causes the vehicles’ exteriors to peel, crack, become cloudy and delaminate.
Plaintiffs Bryon Lyman, Kelly McAteer, Jason Merkel and Mark Volk filed the class action lawsuit against General Motors LLC on July 9 in a California federal court. They allege violations of state and federal consumer laws.Â
The class action refers to paint on 2015-2020 Chevrolet Tahoes, 2015-2020 Chevrolet Suburbans, 2015-2020 GMC Yukons, 2015-2020 GMC Yukon XLs, and 2015-2020 Cadillac Escalades.Â
“Although the defect manifested over time, [General Motors] knew or should have known of those issues prior to sale of the [vehicles]; yet GM continued to put the latently defective class vehicles on the market,” the lawsuit alleges.
The Lawsuit alleges that the paint issue is an expensive fix
The class action contains many consumer stories about the issues with their vehicles’ paint jobs.
Lyman says he bought a used 2017 Tahoe LT in California in 2019. He alleges that In early 2022, he began noticing issues with the vehicle’s paint. Despite his efforts to polish the car himself, the problem continued. A professional detailer later diagnosed it as a “clearcoat issue” and buffed the car. Lyman says that only provided a “bandaid” fix.Â
Lyman states that to repair and repaint the vehicle fully, he would have needed to spend over $10,000. This process would involve sanding the car down to bare metal. Lyman alleges that would significantly depreciate his car’s value.Â
GM likely knew about the defect, plaintiffs allege
The lawsuit alleges that the problem is not unique to Lyman’s Tahoe. Many other General Motors customers suffer from the same defect. It’s allegedly repeatedly leading to peeling, cracking, cloudiness, flaking, bubbling, erosion, and microblistering of the clearcoat.
The plaintiffs say they expected their “luxury” vehicles to be of good quality and had no reason to anticipate the paint issues. Had they known, they would not have bought the vehicles or paid less for them. The lawsuit says General Motors knew or should have known about the defect due to the high number of customer complaints.
The plaintiffs seek to represent anyone in the United States who bought or leased a class vehicle in California. They’re suing for breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, fraud, and violations of state consumer laws. The plaintiffs are asking for class action certification, damages, fees, costs, and a jury trial.Â
Meanwhile, consumers recently filed class action lawsuits against General Motors (GM) over claims involving alleged vehicle defects, unlawful data collection and sharing and hackable key fobs. GM also expanded a recall last month over concerns certain GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado vehicles contain tailgates that can inadvertently unlatch while the vehicle is parked.Â
Are you affected by this GM defective paint lawsuit? Let us know in the comments!Â
Steven W. Ritcheson, Taylor C. Bartlett, and Jeanie Sleadd of Heninger Garrison Davis LLC represent the plaintiffs.Â
The GM defective paint class action is Bryon Lyman et al v. General Motors LLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-05786Â in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.Â
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455 thoughts onGM class action claims Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and other vehicles have defective paint
Bought 2016 Tahoe LT in September 2015. Noticed cloudy, fading hood sometime back. Rest of vehicle seems fine. Hoping for a solution.
My 2015 GMC Yukon has been fading on the hood for over a year now. Originally thought it was oxidation, but after several trips to different professional auto detailers it was determined that the faulty paint is the issue, and no amount of buffing or waxing is going to help it. The red hood is now cloudy with no end in sight, seems to only get worse over time. Extremely frustrating that GMC would be ok with this.
I’ve been noticing more and more chips out of my white 2021 Chevy Traverse. I’ve never had a vehicle with this many chips and I used to drive on gravel and dirt roads. Every time I go through a car wash, there’s a new chip of paint that just flakes off down to the bare metal. The chips are all over different areas of the car and the entire car would have to be repainted. Can the class action suit be expanded to include other GM/ Chevy models?
Garaged 2017 black Tahoe LT has a graying hood and roof. Infuriating. It had been waxed every 3 months minimum. Clear coat gone and paint fading. Look like a Beverley hillbilly
Bought. A 2016 Chevy Tahoe in march of 2017, by summer of 2020 started noticing paint cloudiness on hood. Now the hood, roof, doors, almost every panel on the car has noticeable cloudiness
We have a 2018 Chevy Silverado with these same paint issues! Come on GM! Yall can do BETTER!
*Correction 2019 Silverado
PS. EDIT BUTTON would be a GREAT IDEA TCA!
I purchased a new 2017 Escalade in December 2018 and am having the same issue on the hood and roof. Brought it to a paint repair specialist and he tried to detail it to no avail. I was told by my auto body guy that the hood and roof need a complete sanding and repaint. Certainly not happy after the sticker price on the vehicle was $85,000 and the quality of the paint is this poor.
Bought a 2016 Tahoe in 2023. Noticed paint issues but looked like they could be polished out and corrected. Took it to an automotive paint specialist and was informed about this lawsuit and it was paint failure. Would have to be sanded to bare metal to fix. Was not bought in CA. I’m in Virginia.
I bought a 2015 Tahoe in 2015 w 20,000 miles. By 2018 I started having paint peeling, and dulling. Quoted 13k to repaint whole tahoe. Bodyshop said it had a clear coat issue, and was most likely defective from factory.
I bought a used Black 2016 Chevy Tahoe. The hood and roof of my Tahoe are completely white now. As soon as I saw the discoloration I called the dealership and they told me it was a “normal wear and tear” and they couldn’t do anything about it. I tried redoing the paint at a shop but I was quoted over 5K…way out of my price range. My expensive “luxury” suv is not so luxury anymore due to this issue. I don’t know what to do. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.