– A lawsuit over GM air conditioning that has been in court for eight years has still not been classified as a class action.
According to the lawsuit, these vehicles are equipped with defective “combi coolers.”
2014-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
GMC Sierra 1500 from 2014-2017
Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV 2015-2017
2015-2017 Chevrolet Suburban
2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe
2015-2017 GMC Yukon
However, models with LV1 or LV3 engines (6-cylinder engines) are excluded, with the exception of the following V6 vehicles which are included: Model year 2014-2015 vehicles built at the Arlington, Flint or Fort Wayne Assembly Plants on or before December 18, 2014, or the Silao Assembly Plant on or before October 23, 2014.
The original lawsuit filed in 2017 was a nationwide class action, but the lawsuit has since been narrowed to just five states.
After eight years, prosecutors are trying to convince a judge to approve a class action lawsuit for all individuals who purchased a vehicle in California, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee or Washington.
The lawsuit alleges that GM’s air conditioning systems stop working due to defective “combi coolers.” The owners who filed the lawsuit claim that General Motors knew the air conditioners were defective before the first vehicles were ever sold. But instead of repairing the vehicles, GM allegedly covered up the defects while knowing the systems would fail.
The lawsuit describes the combination cooler as a component that includes the air conditioning condenser and transmission oil cooler. The combination coolers reportedly fail due to extreme temperature fluctuations of as much as 212 degrees Fahrenheit every three to five minutes.
This would cause the combination cooler to suffer “significant physical displacement and thermal stress fatigue,” causing a crack in a component attached to the condenser. Refrigerant then leaks from the crack, causing the air conditioning to stop working.
“As GM explained in an internal presentation: the air conditioner condenser (normally cold while the AC is off) NEXT to the auxiliary transmission oil cooler (normally hot) is a constant source of thermal cycling stress that eventually leads to the formation of a crack… Once cracked, sufficient refrigerant will escape, resulting in the AC system shutting down.” — GM air conditioning lawsuit
The plaintiffs allege that GM made a major mistake by combining components that should not be together in the combination cooler. The vehicle owners also complain that the loss of air conditioning is a ‘safety lapse’.
GM argues that the lawsuit should not be certified
According to General Motors, the allegations vary from state to state, and a recent Sixth Circuit ruling requires denial of class action certification in this lawsuit.
Most customers would either never have had air conditioning problems, or for vehicles that did have problems, GM would repair the vehicles for free. This means that there was no injury.
The GM air conditioning class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division): Marketing and Sales Practices on Air Conditioning LitigationCase number 18-md-02818.
The plaintiffs are represented by Miller Law Firm, PC, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP and Sauder Schelkopf LLC.
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