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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.
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286 thoughts onToyota Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over Oil Consumption Defect
I have a 2006 Toyota Camry and when my car was still under the enhancement warranty no one ever told me about the problem with the engine burning oil. What I was told is that my valve cover gasket was leaking and it needed to be replaced. I agreed and noticed that my car was still consuming oil. The next time I went I for an oil change I mentioned the oil consumption and one of the advisors said that this was normal with a car with 124500 miles on the engine. Again there was no mention of this issue. Anyway today I went to the dealer and It was mentioned that Toyota had an enhancement program but it was already terminated. I called toyota and I was told that they will not do anything at this time because the program ended. They told me you were sent two notices that I told them I never received. It is funny how I recieved a few I recall letters over the years with the acceleration issue where they had to cut the gas petal but never recieved the oil consumption letter. Shame on Toyota . When I asked the service Manager why none of the services advisors never mentioned this oil issue, I was told that they were not obligated to talk about it unless I really complained specifically about the consumption. This is really a failure on Toyota and shame on the dealership for not brining this to my attention while the program was active. I am now stuck with an expensive repair
I have a 2011 Toyota Camry purchase new back in November 2010 and I am experiencing the same issue. I have to add oil in my car almost every week. I only began checking for this over the past year because I do have a lot of miles on my car. It’s becoming an issue for me now and I’ll be replacing car soon.
I have a Toyota Camry 2005. I have to put oil on pretty much every day.i have an oil change on Sunday December 29,I lost my engine on January the 5th when I called Toyota they told me they were aware of the problem. The worst thing my car doesn’t leak any oil whatsoever they need to do something about this problem.
This post says: “UPDATE: The Toyota Oil Consumption class action lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on December 16, 2015.”
What does this mean? This is a class action. Who makes a call on voluntarily dismissing the case?
If it was dismissed does that mean it is not settled and we can re-open it?
I have a slightly more interesting story than others I guess. Here is the timeline on my 2007 Toyota Camry 4 cylinder: December 2006: Purchased New November 2015: Dealership performed the piston and rings replacement after car failed the oil consumption test. The car had run only 44k miles till then September 2019: current mileage 61k miles. The car lost a piston while driving on the freeway. There is a hole in the short block. Not to mention the trauma associated with a cabin full of smoke during this incident. Note the oil change was done less than two months back and engine oil level checked and noticed to be normal within last week. Toyota has of course shrugged off any responsibility citing beyond warranty. The dealership that performed the recall says that the warranty for their work is only one year after performing the recall TSB. At 61k, I am now sitting with a paperweight that needs a $8k repair to get a new short block with a 12 month warranty. While I am with most of the population wondering why Toyota didn’t take real ownership of the problem, the big question in my mind is what are the new terms of warranty when you get the recall done on your car. Doesn’t it make sense to wait till the end of your 10 year warranty to get the recall related replacements done rather than proactively getting it done sooner and getting stuck with the 12 month warranty on their work which doesn’t seem to be fixing the issue? As for me, I feel grateful that I didn’t lose my life when this incident happened; the smoke had filled the cabin before I could stop the car. Toyota on the other hand seems to have settled for cheap profits at the cost of people’s lives. This happened with their unintended acceleration issue and seems to continue with little oversight. It’s a fight that you are bound to lose from the beginning.
My dealer told me today the pistions and rings needed to be replaced due to excessive oil consumption on my 2007 RAV4 with 68k miles. Toyota refuses any responsibility. Why was the Class Action dismissed? I am the original owner, one dealer has cared for this car and it has been beautifully maintained.
I have the same issue with my 2009 Toyoto and they don’t want to fix it either
How can you tell if you have a 2AZ-FE engine inmy 2009 Corolla?
Ok so this is the exact issue I’m having and now it has begun to knock… So we are SOL?
Yeah me too! I have a 2008 Toyota Camry I purchased used from the Toyota dealership and they didn’t inform me about any oil burning issues. I feel like I got ripped off.
09 Camry. Same issue. Toyota won’t do anything for me and I own 4 Toyotas, and have purchased 8 Toyotas in the last 20 years for my company and family. Why didn’t the dealer warn me of this when they knew it affected so many of them? Not happy.
2007 RAV4… same story almost to the letter as the original pist
My dealer told me today the pistions and rings needed to be replaced due to excessive oil consumption on my 2007 RAV4 with 68k miles. Toyota refuses any responsibility. Why was the Class Action dismissed? I am the original owner, one dealer has cared for this car and it has been beautifully maintained.