Toyota Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over Oil Consumption Defect

A group of plaintiffs from five different states have filed a Toyota oil defect class action lawsuit, alleging that a defect in the design of pistons in a four-cylinder engine used in many of the company’s vehicles as well as its Scion subsidiary led to excessive oil consumption and the potential for serious accidents.

According to the class action lawsuit, the 2AZ-FE engines have been known to have oil consumption issues that Toyota was aware of since at least 2008. However, the alleged design defect does not generally occur until after the warranty period for new car buyers and so Toyota has repeatedly refused to repair the vehicles except at the owner’s expense. Owners of the following vehicles in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Washington would be members of the class:

2007-2011 Toyota Camry Hybrid;
2007-2009 Toyota Camry;
2009 Toyota Corolla;
2009 Toyota Matrix;
2006-2008 Toyota RAV4;
2007-2008 Toyota Solara;
2007-2009 Scion tC;
and 2008-2009 Scion xB

The problem reportedly manifests itself when owners take their vehicles in for scheduled maintenance including having the oil changed, according to the class action lawsuit. Several of the plaintiffs have alleged that the amount of fluid in the oilpan dropped to nearly nothing over the course of the roughly 5,000 miles between expected maintenance. One alleges that a local service center employee told her “that it was abnormal for a vehicle to be consuming oil at a rate that would deplete the entirety of her oil shorter than Toyota’s recommended maintenance intervals.”

More disturbingly, according to some of the plaintiffs, is when the oil consumption issues lead to no lubrication before a driver realizes it. Some noted that the engine was “making a knocking noise” which can be an indicator of impending failure. A major component of design defect-based class action lawsuits is the impact of the failure on an owner’s safety as well as those of its occupants. The plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit lawyers argue that because an engine failure can lead to serious accidents, it puts too many people at risk.

However, while there were more than a dozen reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding the Toyota engine oil consumption issues, the auto maker never directly notified owners. Instead, it issued an internal service bulletin outlining a process where by owners would have to subject their vehicle to several oil consumption tests. If that demonstrated that the pistons were malfunctioning, and the car was under warranty, then the dealership would perform the repairs. Otherwise, the quoted price was several thousand dollars, according to the class action lawsuit.

The group of Toyota and Scion vehicle owners are seeking damages based on the decreased value of their vehicles. The class action lawsuit alleges violations of consumer protection statutes in the five states, breach of express warranty and common law fraud.

The plaintiffs are represented by class action lawsuit lawyers Jae J. Kim and Richard D. McCune, Jr. of McCune Wright LLP

The Toyota Oil Consumption Defect Class Action Lawsuit is April Lax, et al. v. Toyota Motor Corporation, et al., Case No. 14-cv-01490, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: The Toyota Oil Consumption class action lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on December 16, 2015.