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Corvette Z06 Owners Hit GM With Class-Action Suit For Overheating Issue

Scores of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 owners have all signed on with a class-action lawsuit against General Motors – a suit which alleges that the 650-horsepower track machine is woefully incapable of keeping cool at the race track. Filed yesterday by Hagens Berman (the same firm representing owners of the Shelby GT350 Mustang in their pending case regarding overheating gearboxes), the lawsuit specifies that a defect with the Z06’s cooling system can cause the car to overheat and enter “limp mode” after as little as 15 minutes of spirited track driving.

That’s problematic because limp mode limits the vehicle speed drastically, often without warning, in an attempt to prevent further damage to the engine, which can be dangerous when there are other vehicles about. Nonetheless, the complaint claims that the Z06’s alleged cooling defect causes extensive motor damage, warping components due to above-normal temperatures. What’s more, the complaint says the issue has reared its head even on public roads.

Hagens Berman says there are as many as 30,000 affected Chevrolet Corvette Z06 examples, and asserts that General Motors knew about the defect and yet sold the car as a track-ready vehicle without ever disclosing this critical weakness. The class-action lawsuit brings charges of fraudulent concealment, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, and more.

“GM enticed race enthusiasts with bells and whistles, promising a car that could maintain safe speeds and power when tracked, but we believe what it sold them was far from what it promised,” says Hagens Berman Managing Partner Steve Berman. “This defect not only damages the Z06 engine, but endangers drivers.”

Aaron Brzozowski is a writer and motoring enthusiast from Detroit with an affinity for '80s German steel. He is not active on the Twitter these days, but you may send him a courier pigeon.

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Comments

  1. SALUDOS

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  2. Reply
  3. Tadge Jeuchter: “You can drive this car from full to empty and come back to the pit and refuel for another session without any maintenance.”

    Mark Reuss: “When we at GM say we’re gonna do something, [unlike Musk] we IS gonna DO IT!”

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    1. my 2016 ZO6 3LZ frequently will exhibit power loss after a solid run at interstate speeds of 75-90+ with bursts to 100…loss of power, after slowing and going to idle: mushy response when pressing the GO pedal. AND also some of the intermittent irritating rattle-noise from the supercharger at idle, and light acceleration …. sounds like rocks in the SC. I had similar problem of noisy SC in my 2011 Cadillac CTS-V … couplings went bad and warranty replaced the SC!

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  4. Freaking Corvette Chasers

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  5. Haven’t ever heard of this, sounds like lawyers looking for lawsuit money. Hope they loose. Last thing we need is more idiot lawyers with full pockets

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    1. well, its true. I take that you don’t own one .

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  6. I had an experience when paceing a tricked out Camero, in my 2017 Corvette Grand Sport with Magnuson supercharger, on the way to Las Vegas on a back hwy off of Interstate 40. We were running around 120 and I decided to catch up to him to give him a thumbs up for a great cruise when the Vette went into Limp mode. My recollection is that the oil and coolant temps were on the high side of normal but never figured it would affect the system the way it did. Especially when it never set DTC in the ECM.

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    1. Let’s see, so 3,991 GT 350’s that were tracked WITHOUT the track pack are having this issue, and it’s somehow a worse screw up than 30,000 Corvettes overheating within 15 minutes of tracking due to poor engineering choices? Yep, you’re definitely a GM fangirl. GM CHOSE to put a small supercharger on these Vettes KNOWING that the cooling system could not handle the increased heat. Meanwhile, with the GT350, customers CHOSE to race a car without the accompanying track pack with upgraded cooling. Both were mistakes on the manufacturer’s part, but let’s not pretend that the bigger mistake was made by Ford because you like licking GM’s boot heels. Every manufacturer has ignorant people who blindly defend every poor choice they make and it’s pathetic.

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    2. Definitely a GM fangirl like is said above.

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      1. Why is this even a issue? It says in the GM publication that the system is rated to work up to a outside temp of 86.

        So as a driver if you are tracking your car and the temperature is over 86 and you are experiencing over heating issues then you either can’t read your owners manual or you don’t know how the fail safe features on the zo6 work

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        1. If that’s the case, the car is just poorly designed period. A cooling system rated to environmental temperatures of 86 degrees or lower is complete trash for ANY vehicle, especially one specifically designed for high performance driving. The fact that GM labels the Corvette as a supercar is laughable when it cannot be raced in some areas for weeks or months at a time.

          “Treat yourself to a brand new Corvette. For the low, low price of just $80,000, you can race on all but the mildest of days!” – General Motors

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          1. Don’t blame GM for this you have to blame the buyer for not educating themselves about what conditions this car could operate in and decide if the car will work for them

            Instead we have people like you who think that buying a car and then asking questions later is a better approach!

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            1. I said nothing of the sort. Perhaps you should buy reading glasses. Two can play this game though…

              Instead, we have people like you that think it is acceptable from ANY manufacturer to charge $80,000+ for a car with sub-standard engineering that allows them to be used for their intended purpose only in specific favorable conditions. People like you are the reason that said high-priced vehicles are becoming less reliable, more expensive, and sporting interiors and components that pale in comparison to the cheapest Fisher-Price playsets. You pass off piss-poor quality as a fault of the consumer that “should have known what they were getting” and continue to pay out of blind brand loyalty.

              At any rate, trying to reason with you people is an exercise in futility that only leads to wasted time and a headache. As such, I am done with this conversation. Have a nice day.

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              1. So then why are you trying to argue with me? Failing misably I might add!

                You sound like that one guy who bought a half ton truck and then complains when the truck breaks down because he’s trying to pull a 30,000 pound trailer with it!

                You as a consumer have to know what you are buying and will it perform to the limit you want it to!

                If you buy something blindly and it fails to meet your expectations then that is on you!

                Next time before you buy something do some research on how it will perform.

                You Know Like Grown Ups DO!

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              2. @Bradygirl
                “sub-standard engineering that allows them to be used for their intended purpose only in specific favorable conditions”? “You mad fangirl? How about your Technology packaged GT350?

                The “Mustang GT350” (as well as the R) is marketed as “track-ready vehicles”

                Ford had no mention of the parts essential for track use being removed with the Technology package option leading customers to believe they were buying a ” track-ready vehicle”.
                The removal of those parts resulted in a car with less then GT350 capability’s, or, a Mustang GT, doubt this was an oversight!

                Ford should have called this one a flat plane GT with a GT350 appearance package.

                Let’s read that again, the removal of the transmission and differential coolers made this car incapable of performing on the track as is was advertised! Ford knew that when they put them on the car in the first place.

                As I said before, see you in 50k miles or so when we start hearing of Fords “most ambitious power train program ever” (see bellow) having tranny and rear end problems on the highway, the thing only makes 526HP for Christ sake!

                From Ford’s own Customer Relationship Center (CRC)
                “The 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang is a thoroughbred capable of tackling the world?s most challenging roads and racetracks.”

                Do a search for
                Shelby GT350 Mustang 2016 First Commercial Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 CARJAM TV 4K 2015
                “This is by far the most ambitious power train program we’ve ever done”

                Happy Fathers Day, your Fisher-Price playsets is waiting!

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  8. I run this engine in a 77 vega and have had no issues with overheating even when thrashing the strip to the limits of reason. The cure is to know enough about what you’re doing to alter the map to reflect the current conditions and the loads imposed. Boosting the motor with six pounds takes you from 650 to just short 0f 800 and if you tune out the turbo lag the car will outrun the suspension quickly. If you thought you just bought a maintenance free race car you were delusional on the way in the dealership’s door.

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  9. The C7 Corvette is one of small handful of GM cars equipped with a black box which will give information of how the engine is functioning as this can tell exactly how long the car was being driven and under what conditions before the engine went to safety mode; this information can prove potentially whether the C7 Corvette Z06 is a lemon or the case has no merit especially as we’ve not heard of similar issue with Cadillac’s CTS-V which has essentially the same LT4 engine.

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    1. Your statement as far as the black box is corcerned this is on all cars generally from 81 on OB2 became the standard for all modern cars, but the cooling issues with a Corvette goes back a long time as some of the 2000 LT1 engines experience heating issues due to poor flow across the Radiator.I have retrofitted many aux cooling fans on stock vettes.As the cooling system degrades over time the overheating issues become more pronounce,New Radiators with more cores also additional cooling fans helps but rust in the cooling passages (Cast Iron blocks)oxidation on (Aluminum Engines,heads) degrade the heat transfer between cooling passages to the fluid.

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  10. Just a case of lawyers looking for a settlement where they will garner the owners a free oil change and for themselves enough money to buy their own GS while the rest of us pay more for our Colorados to pay for the losses.

    Sad.

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  11. Makes you wonder how all of those aftermarket tuners were able to build Corvette Z06 clones with 650 or more horsepower as wouldn’t these cars suffer similar issues yet not a word.

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  12. It’s time for a judge to throw this lawsuit out!

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  13. I’m not surprised by this. It’s a well-documented problem at this point. It was, perhaps, made most famous by Motor Trend when they were trying to run a 2015 Z06 at their Best Driver’s Car competition. It went into limp mode and they couldn’t push it to the max. Funny enough, even in limp mode in managed to beat some supercar times!

    I’m not an expert or anything, but from what I can tell it’s not the engine itself that’s at fault. It just runs hot when it’s pushed and needs a lot of cooling, and GM didn’t provide enough with the Z06. Remember, both the CTS-V and ZL1 use the same engine, and I haven’t heard anything about cooling issues or limp mode in those. GM obviously knew the LT4 runs hot, or they wouldn’t have given the ZL1 10 intercoolers to keep it cool. And look at the mouth on that thing! It’s enormous. It could swallow a compact car. Compare the front end and all engine bay vents on the Z06, CTS-V and ZL1, and you’ll see the Cadillac and Camaro will have substantially more air entering the bay to keep that LT4 cool. The Z06 has nearly identical grille and vent sizes as the regular C7 with its LT1. You MUST increase airflow to meet the demands of the significantly more powerful engine, and it doesn’t look like they did that. It seems impossible that they wouldn’t have noticed this flaw during testing.

    With regards to John F Lupton’s comment above, who has a Magnuson Supercharger on his Grand Sport, I reckon the problem is the same. The LT1, with its upgraded power, isn’t getting enough air to stay cool, especially in a hot location like Las Vegas. I am reasonably certain a larger grille opening and hood vent will solve the problem.

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    1. They copy the ZL1 CAMARO as far as the coolers.

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  14. How is this a lawsuit if the car is under warranty? Seems to me that if the car overheats and goes into limp mode then the owner takes car into dealership to be serviced and it is fixed no charge!

    Is this right or wrong?

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  15. Remember when the Z06 broke during MotorTrend’s driver’s car of the year competition?… Foreshadowing? This isn’t a surprise at all, given that GM couldn’t even deliver a working vehicle to a competition watched by millions of viewers.

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  16. the Camaro ZL1 and Cadillac CTS/V uses the same LT4 V8. So, why there isn’t problems with those two cars???

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  17. The problem think to be in the Z06’s Software sistem, a few kind of electronic or sensors issue, not the engine

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  18. Hey guys! Notice a trend! Lawyers tear into WV for real emission issues, and money diggers try the same on the general. The gt350 gets sued for a issue and the lawyers target its competitor as well. Stinking lawyers! Just wondering, was the original corvette owner who sued a lawyer? I’m sure they have lots of money considering the amount of suits they file these days

    Reply

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