General Motors Hit With New ‘Shift To Park’ Class Action Lawsuit
50
Sponsored Links
General Motors has been hit with another class-action lawsuit over the well-known ‘Shift to Park’ issue that it has received widespread complaints about in the past.
This latest Shift to Park lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to Car Complaints, the plaintiff in this suit says they are forced to constantly wiggle and move their vehicle’s electronic shifter in order to get it to recognize the fact the shifter has been put in the ‘Park’ position. Like other ‘Shift to Park’ lawsuits, the plaintiff says the issue has caused them to become trapped in their vehicle, as the error message means the vehicle cannot be shifted into ‘Park’, preventing them from being able to safely exit the vehicle.
Since this problem is not under recall, customers are allegedly forced to pay out-of-pocket for repairs contained in the TSBs, which in some cases includes a full transmission replacement. The replacement parts contain the same defect as the original factory parts, however, leaving owners with little recourse to prevent the ‘Shift to Park’ error message from appearing again in the future. In addition to the above-mentioned technical problems, this suit also says that plaintiffs’ vehicles have now diminished in value as a result of the ‘Shift to Park’ error.
Unlike some previous ‘Shift to Park’ lawsuits that have focused mainly on the GMC Acadia, this latest suit includes Illinois consumers and business entities that purchased or leased various Chevy vehicles. This includes the 2016-2019 Chevy Malibu, 2016-2019 Chevy Volt, 2018-2019 Chevy Traverse and 2019 Chevy Blazer. GM has issued Technical Service Bulletins in the past attempting to address the ‘Shift to Park’ issue in these vehicles, the most recent of which was published in September of 2019.
A similar lawsuit containing the same Chevy vehicles was also filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan back in August.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related legal news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
- Sweepstakes Of The Month: Win a 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible. Details here.
Sponsored Links
Had this problem in my 2014 Buick Regal as well. Hoping I don’t have the same in my 2014 LaCrosse.
Ah that GM quality.
Time for Chapter 7 and to return the assets to the people.
This has been for sure on going issue. It is a resisters issue in the shifter that is causing a signal issue to the BCM. GM has replaced shifters to fix it but often the replacements are doing it again. Often the people who paid are on a second sifter.
This lawsuit will not amount to much for the customer. GM really should offer changes on the shifter and if they are high mile a discount.
This Was not really a danger thing as the vehicles are in park the vehicle just does not recognize it is. Often the worst things is the vehicle will want to drain the battery. Usually you can shift back and fourth a few times it will pick up the signal.
On the web many have fixed this by shorting the sensor with a paper clip.
This law suit will just make some lawyers rich and customers with a few oil change or discount on a new car.
They say the situation wont let them out of their vehicle, what about manually unlocking the damned door idiot?
That way they can get a good look at the vehicle as it rolls away. Smart.
Won’t roll away if you engage the parking brake…
Paul, you obviously do not have the problem and do not understand what the issue is. When the car does not go into Park when you turn it off, it goes into ACC mode. Everything except the engine is still ON! The is a constant ‘ding’ the gets progressively louder and louder! If/When you open the door, the stupid ‘walk away’ turns on all exterior lights. This will drain the battery in about 10 minutes. Does not literally mean one cannot get out of the vehicle. Means one should not leave the vehicle for safety and security reasons.
So, who is the idiot?
thank you I couldn’t have said it better
Do you want to look at your own comment before calling people in idiot. What they mean is you can’t get out of the stupid car or the batteries gonna die you have to stay there till you clear the message
I have a 2018 Malibu that had the shift to park problem. I did a permanent fix by cutting the black and blue wires that got to the switch that’s below the shifter by stripping the insulation on the wires back about a half inch. Twist the bare wires together and cover with electrical tape. This bypass the microswitch and you will.nevwr have that shift to park problem again.
This just started happening in my 19 Traverse. Sending it in on Wednesday. Let’s see what happens.
Got the vehicle back yesterday (Thursday). It required a new switch and wiring harness in the shifter. Luckily it was covered by the extended warranty.
No car is perfect. Neither is the driver.
Yet some are worse than others , engineering should have addressed this issue long ago.
Have had this fixed twice on 2017 Acadia. I paid $428.33 for the second fix. First one was under warranty which obviously didn’t work. The “fix” appears to last 2 years in my experience. At least the dealer is warranting the latest fix for 2 years. Past lawsuits appear to have been dismissed over technicalities. I hope this lawsuit has been filed more “correctly”.
An issue like this can occur with any manufacturer, however, the way GM is reacting to it and other issues like this seems to be “to hell with existing customers” and pissing them off rather than just facing up to the problem, fixing it, and making it a positive experience for the customer. GM did the right thing with the Bolt batteries and likely will have the 140K affected customers likely to buy and / or recommend GM positively in the future. However, by ignoring other existing customers with issues like this “Shift to Park” issue (and others) and creating class-action lawsuits it not only can alienate millions of potential repeat customers but also create negative word-of-mouth and publicity. In a recent investor conference GM spoke of their plans to double revenues by 2030 and of investing 25 – 30 billion in EVs to help do this. Maybe this works, but it seems that perhaps spending a few billion to keep from losing the existing customer base would be money well-spent in achieving their goal.
Hate to say it … But same old same old. The General spends millions denying the problem exists. Spends nothing ignoring the problem. Why ? Because we keep buying new problems from them. Remember the definition of insanity… it really does apply here.
I have an appointment with my Chevy Dealer this Saturday to have my ’19 Malibu Premier looked at….the “shift to park” error started happening about 2 weeks ago…I have only put 12K on it since I bought it new in August, 2019. It’s a shame because I’ve loved the car up to now…the dealer told me the repair “should be” covered under my warranty. They wouldn’t even offer me a loaner car because of the “car shortage” so I’ll be stuck sitting for hours on my Saturday waiting on it. I’ve documented the problem using my video camera on my phone just in case it won’t perform the error when I get to the dealer…it’s sporadically happening…not every time I drive it.
I have the same issue on my 2018 Acadia. It seems to be getting worst as time passes. I have not taken it in to the dealer as it’s not under warranty anymore, but I’m thinking about shorting out the sensor as well and see if it works.
This shift to park happens on my 2014 Cadillac SRX.
Had the same problem on our 2016 cadillac srx
Had this issue on my 2018 Malibu with about 13,000 miles on it. Had to arm wrestle a bit to get it covered under warranty because they sold it to me as new 35 months before I took it in for repair but had reported it to GM as sold 38 months before I took it in.
Could be worse, I had a Camaro that the cruise control would randomly kick on full accelerate and not stop unless I killed the engine. The amount of fighting I had to do to get a new cruise control module covered under warranty was insane. Yah I disabled it, but it’s a nice accessory to have.
Gm needs to build simple and quality vehicles, and do away with all the computer crappie. You got te be a rocket scientist to work on your vehicle now days or pay out the wazoo to take to a dealership that can’t fix it either.
Took my 19 Malibu Premier in this morning for the repair. I was in and out in about an hour and 20 minutes. “Cause: Park switch not pulling BCM signal low. Remove and reinstall transmission control, install new shifter harness, add wire harness jumper”.
Covered under warranty.
3rd time fixing the shift-to-park issue…this time they want me to pay! Dealership is covering it but won’t cover any future issues even though GM hasn’t figured out the correct fix. How can I get in on the lawsuit?
Curious how to join the lawsuit.
And what’s the downside/risk of bypassing the sensor?
This just happened to my mom today. She has a 2018 Equinox. It’s at the dealership. I have a feeling it won’t be covered under warranty. She is 80 this week and was stranded out with her sister because this happened. Luckily, she was able to call me to get someone out there to help her. THe GM dealership was of NO help. They should have came out and towed her because they KNOW about this problem.