17 Plaintiffs Sent To Arbitration In GM V8 Engine Valve Lifter Lawsuit
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A federal judge has sent 17 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against GM to arbitration. The plaintiffs were part of a class action lawsuit against GM that alleges a malfunction in the automaker’s V8 engine valve lifters.
Per a report from Car Complaints, the class action lawsuit identifies a broad variety of GM vehicles produced between the 2014 and 2021 model years that may exhibit malfunctioning V8 engine valve lifters. These vehicles include:
- 2014 – 2021 Cadillac Escalade
- 2016 – 2019 Cadillac CTS-V
- 2014 – 2021 Chevy Silverado
- 2014 – 2019 Chevy Corvette
- 2014 – 2016 Chevy Avalanche
- 2014 – 2021 Chevy Suburban
- 2014 – 2021 Chevy Tahoe
- 2016 – 2021 Chevy Camaro
- 2014 – 2016 GMC Sierra
- 2014 – 2021 GMC Yukon
Following the judge’s decision to send 17 of the plaintiffs to arbitration, the class action lawsuit now includes 42 plaintiffs.
The class action lawsuit alleges that the vehicles listed above may exhibit an issue with the engine valve lifters, which are part of the engine’s active fuel management system. Plaintiffs state that the rocker arms shed needle bearings, which in turn cause the arms to fall out of sync with the rest of the valvetrain. The valve springs will allegedly break down and fail prematurely, and thus fail to hold the combustion chamber closed. Lifters may allegedly get stuck or collapse.
As a result, plaintiffs allege that the V8 engines will tick or squeak when not idling, and that the engine will eventually misfire, causing the engine to lose power, surge, or stall.
Per Car Complaints, GM filed a motion to compel 20 of the class action lawsuit plaintiffs to arbitration, as the vehicle owners allegedly signed valid arbitration clauses. However, Judge Laurie J. Michelson granted GM’s motion to compel arbitration for only 17 of those plaintiffs. According to the judge, the 17 plaintiffs signed arbitration agreements with GM dealerships, providing “clear and unmistakable” evidence that they agreed to arbitrate their claims with an arbitrator.
The GM valve lifter lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Harrison, et al., v. General Motors LLC.
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GO electric-no valve lifter worry!
Just your battery catching on fire & burning down your home.
But hey atleast you’ll be homeless & living the ultimate green lifestyle.
And how often does that happen? About as often as an ICE catching fire. Nice try though…
I’ve had my EV about 5 years…no worries.
Does anyone know who the National Transport Safety Board is, or do I just listen to the ICE genius Dan?
By: Andrei Nedelea
” This is not the first time it’s been said that EVs are not as likely to catch fire as vehicles that have an internal combustion engine. Now it has been confirmed with data from the National Transport Safety Board, compiled by AutoinsuranceEZ, which says that hybrid vehicles have the highest fire risk.
Fully electric vehicles, on the other hand, were deemed far safer than both hybirds and gas cars; they are far less likely to catch fire, with just 25.1 fires per 100,000 sales. That’s compared to 3,474 hybrid fires and 1,529 ICE fires per 100,000 sales respectively.”
Shocking isn’t it. I know this will not make any difference but maybe someone with an open mind might be helped. Just burry your head in the sand and don’t think of the 2500 rpm causing 1250 explosions for each cylinder you have every minute all the while having the fuel under pressure of about 60lbs just waiting for your backyard mechanic to not get the fuel line tightened to the right speck or cross threaded!
It’s kind of funny, no one even blinks an eye at having electricity flowing through their house electrifying 50 or more items from 120V to 240V and they lay right down and go to sleep right next to it. HUMM, I might have a hard time tonight!
If you haul stuff like me…..batteries are not a viable option right now. Especially in the rural area. Also, it is amazing that so many people think they are so green. Look up lithium mines. I’m not saying ICE vehicles are either….just saying electric is one option that works for some and not others. Please just don’t force it down our throats – this is directed to our government and not you.
Blah,blah and blah. I think all ya tag from the same exact news outlets because it’s always the same lame argument, there’s oil spills daily talk about that, all the petroleum based products you use talk about that, the oil companies destroying the environment even indirectly talk about that and if you haven’t driven an EV don’t talk about it at all you lack the experience to give a truthful opinion.
How about the fact that there are petroleum based products used in the EV you so lovingly promote? It’s pretty mind boggling just how many items we use on a daily basis use petroleum in some form. In order to use less … we need to find an alternative, but ironically, most alternatives are plant based and would require farming, which uses … you guessed it, petroleum products! I’m not saying I’m against EVs, I’m saying they can’t compete efficiently and economically with certain ICE vehicles right now, and are nowhere near being able to compete with farm implements. TFLTruck did a few tests with EVs towing a trailer. The Tesla model X rated to tow 5,000 pounds barely made it 62 miles pulling a 5,000 pound trailer. I believe they hooked up an 11,000 pound trailer to an f-150 lightning, and drove around 80 miles before pulling off to charge it up again! And that’s if you stay on highly traveled roads with ample charging stations. I don’t want to have to stop every 80 miles or less to “fill up” my vehicle.
Who “lovingly” promoted anything?
You do know that you can’t have a horse and buggy today on most roads and freeways don’t you. So, it got forced down the throats of someone. Someday your ice vehicle will be living in a barn just like horses are today. You will probably be able to drive your vehicles anytime you want around the homestead. That’s only if it will be close enough to get the fuel. There is something everyone is forgetting we are in the first days of electrification, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what these vehicles can do. They already beat ice vehicles in almost everything but filling up. The fastest ICE vehicle cost 2.5 million $ and it just beats a family car made by Tesla. I don’t think the Model A could do the work of what a Horse and wagon could do. After all we are now over 100 years after the model A. Everyone is looking at only what the Ford Chevy and other Electric trucks can do today. Remember they are only 150 models ICE vehicles if the 150 doesn’t work for you, you have the 250 350 450 550 or you can go bigger if gas doesn’t work you have diesel. So, you might want to stop and look at the forest and not just the trees!
The difference here is cars provided advantages over the horse and buggy. Electric cars provided ZERO, not one, benefit over an internal combustion engine vehicle.
They don’t travel further. They weigh more. They take longer to stop due to higher weight. They take longer to get back on the road when they run out of energy. They cost more to repair (before you try saying that’s not true the cost to fix them is why most insurance companies are just totaling them out when they get into accidents.) The batteries are way more hazardous and toxic. They still use crude oil for production. The materials used are far less plentiful.
Like I said we are just in the beginning, and you have over a hundred years of progress to look at in ICE vehicles. I’m pretty sure they said the same as you about the Ford. Remember it had a crank to start it at first. With all your concerns about weight it is still cheaper to charge than to use gas. Also, stopping is not a problem I take my foot off the gas and the car stops for me and doesn’t use any breaks, at least 1 advantage other than costing less per mile to drive and being faster than a comparable car or truck. Thats 3 advantages. You are wrong about almost everything you say, or I mean repeat.
You might want to do a little light reading? “Ford confirmed the rumors in The New York Times on January 11, 1914:
Within a year, I hope, we shall begin the manufacture of an electric automobile. I don’t like to talk about things which are a year ahead, but I am willing to tell you something of my plans.
The fact is that Mr. Edison and I have been working for some years on an electric automobile which would be cheap and practicable. Cars have been built for experimental purposes, and we are satisfied now that the way is clear to success. The problem so far has been to build a storage battery of light weight which would operate for long distances without recharging. Mr. Edison has been experimenting with such a battery for some time.”
“Mr. Henry Ford is making plans for the tools, special machinery, factory buildings and equipment for the production of this new electric. There is so much special work to be done that no date can be fixed now as to when the new electric can be put on the market. But Mr. Ford is working steadily on the details, and he knows his business so it will not be long.
“I believe that ultimately the electric motor will be universally used for trucking in all large cities, and that the electric automobile will be the family carriage of the future. All trucking must come to electricity. I am convinced that it will not be long before all the trucking in New York City will be electric.”
So, this has really never been a Dog and Pony show. It’s been something thought about from the beginning. Even your beloved Ford.
You see I don’t really need you on my side!
“Mr. Henry Ford is making plans for the tools, special machinery, factory buildings and equipment for the production of this new electric. There is so much special work to be done that no date can be fixed now as to when the new electric can be put on the market. But Mr. Ford is working steadily on the details, and he knows his business so it will not be long.
“I believe that ultimately the electric motor will be universally used for trucking in all large cities, and that the electric automobile will be the family carriage of the future. All trucking must come to electricity. I am convinced that it will not be long before all the trucking in New York City will be electric.”
Electric vehicles will fail. Once the uneducated learn how much power is needed to recharge all these vehicles.
Electric will be a fad until the grid is updated on every street to every house across the entire country.
We will need hundreds of new nuclear plants to go along with the grid update. It takes at least 10 years to build a single nuclear power station.
People are so short sited.
Yes we need to stop burning fossil fuels. But we should have started this process 30 years ago.
Lithium batteries are not the future. There has to be a faster recharge rate than lithium.
Also the pollution from cars and trucks make up 7 to 11 % of the world’s pollution. The most pollution comes from cargo ships and airplanes along with power generation.
So if people really want to do something about global warming then stop taking plane trips. There is 5000 planes in the air over the USA alone 24/7. Most getting 1 miles per 5 gallons of fuel. They have no after treatment systems to reduce soot.
You don’t make any sense, it may come from a lack of education on the subject. For example, Tesla, if not the majority it will be soon is charging from Solar panels or windmills and storing the energy in batteries at their stations. If anyone has an EV, they will probably start getting more solar systems to not only charge their cars for free but also use to cut the tie with the companies that supply them electricity.
There are already batteries that are under development that will do away or slow the need for Lithium batteries, beside the development of plants to reuse about 90% of the minerals in them. Not to mention the use of the batteries in a second life that will take the need to recycle them to over 20 years or longer can you say the same about your engine oil and gas.
You mention aircraft as a problem saying, ” Most getting 1 miles per 5 gallons of fuel.” At present it would be impossible to just stop flying. There are several reasons one is time, and could you imagine the traffic it would cause if everyone is on the road and by the way there are not any roads across the oceans! There is also, that the cars would be less efficient on gas or fuel. But could you imagine the problems caused by the waste produced by that much vehicle travel? Oil changes brake pads you name it and you can see the extra problems caused. I’m not sticking up for airliners but like I have said we are just in the beginning of electrification.
“A fully loaded 787-9 carries about 300 passengers, therefore fuel consumption per passenger is 18 litres per passenger per hour. Travelling at a ground speed of 900km/h, each passenger is covering 50km/litre, or 2 litres/100km. That assumes the aircraft is flying with a full passenger load. A more realistic passenger load is 90 per cent, in which case fuel consumption per passenger is 2.2 litres/100km.
1.87 is the average in 2020.
Conversely, if the vehicle is travelling with three aboard instead of four, fuel consumption for each is 2.66 litres/100km. Aircraft engines continue to deliver better fuel efficiency. For a fully loaded Boeing 747-8, the most recent passenger version, the figure per passenger is 2.39litres/100km, one of the main reasons the four-engine jumbo is fading from the skies.”
So, like most you are saying the sky is falling while in reality the Sun is just coming out and shinning a light on a new beginning for travel and living. It took me almost 10 years to get into my first EV mostly because of cost. But now Like you I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to go back or in your case forward to change!
Life span of batteries 8 to 12 years depending on the daily used of vehicle. 12 to 15 000$ to replace. And what do we do with old batteries? Very environmentally friendly 👍🏼
GMs actions of avoiding service to its customers is disgusting.
How long will these customers have to wait for GM to make this right?
Examples like this make me laugh when Mary Barry says “ we earn customer for life.”
This is how you make Ex customers for life.
I WAS a customer for life………..until this engine. Now I drive a Ford.
GM knows the AFM design is flawed. But they push the BS design to try and get that 1 to 1.5 mpg so that EPA and Federal Govt continues to send federal dollars their way.
How can I join this class action? I have a 2014 that had two back to back cylinder 6 lifter failures while under power train that I had Chevy fix, and now the same cylinder lifter failed that I’m stuck to fix myself due to cost
Gotta ask. Why do you still own the vehicle after 2 failures? You can trade in or sell a vehicle.
When you read how the customers were treated, After the fact. That is Problem. When I see Mary Barry making Millions of Dollars, it makes me want to puke! She should handle the problems and treat the Customers How “YOU would Want to be treated.” NOT looking at that next raise! She should be fired, NOT praised.
How is it that this class-action doesn’t include essentially every 5.3/6.0/6.2 with DoD built since 2007?
They ALL end up eating the back two cylinders eventually after making a ton of noise and drinking a lake of oil.
Every incarnation of GM’s DoD has been a complete failure and ends up costing owners $3k to $9k in repairs, some of which is used to delete the system entirely.
My daughter has a 2018 chevy traverse redline. Her right passenger tail lamp has been out since November so she has no turn signal or brake light. The part is on national back order so she has to continue to drive an unsafe vehicle with no help from Chevrolet or GM.
It’s on backorder, what are the supposed to do exactly?
Have the DOD disabled problem solved.
That Active fuel management is a joke. Doesn’t do anything for fuel mileage. Just valve lifter failures that cost money. The guts in the lifters fail causing the ticking sound and oil pressure is compromised.
My 2010 silverado #7 cylinder lifter failed causing a misfire and the engine to knock and shaking. I rebuilt the top end. In it and runs good now.
Yeah – that is definitely a solution (which I have done on my GM V8 vehicles).
But it needs to be done before it makes noise or its too late.
Its also worthwhile to point out that it is technically illegal to do this because of Federal emissions laws, so many folks with the capability and software to disable DoD aren’t going to volunteer themselves to offer that service.
All of the retail deletion kits are aftermarket and carry a disclaimer.
Just go to a speed shop and get a custom dyno tune and have them take out torque management as well. I did this vehicle runs fine, dyno tune here is about 300-400$
Yes – and, as I pointed out, the vehicle is now not legally road-worthy.
Quite a few shops here in AZ were taken completely out of business by the EPA in 2019 and 2020 by enforcement actions that amounted to more than $100k per tuned vehicle.
ymmv
I thought this won’t ever happen to me….2015 6.2….85000 miles and whammy #7 lifter stuck and bent a push rod. After a half a can of sea foam in the oil the lifter loosened up. Turned off the afm and replaced the pushrod…. so far so good. Knock on wood. I suggest turn off AFM as soon as possible. The amount you save a year from this system is not even a tenth of the cost to repair the system.
Need to get in on this lawsuit. Replacing my engine right now. On my 5.3 2017 1500 silverado. 7 lifters failed. Metal shavings found in the oil. I’ve keep up on all oil changes and maintenance, with the dealership service department. Last year it was the transmission. What happen to chevys being dependable, sad just sad
Just spent 7k replacing the transimission on my 5.3 2017 chevy silverado with 30k miles with the dealer. After they finished, they found issue with the engine.. possibly lifters
My understanding is that the bulletin GM put out advises they will repair all those engines mentioned at NO CHARGE to the customer as it is a “known” defect. Why do you need a lawsuit unless GM refused to honor their bulletin.
I have a 2021 Duramax which is has no problems yet but many of my friends have the 5.3 and 6.2. None have complained about any of the above problems so far. We live in British Columbia Canada and I assume there are no differences in the engines installed in vehicles going North.
Barry
They know and I’m still getting charged for replacement of a engine.
They need a lawsuit because replacing a faulty engine with another faulty engine just kicks the can down the road. People get an engine repaired with the same crap parts and the clock just starts over again. GM needs to be forced to rid themselves of AFM/DFM completely. And while we’re at it, lets get rid of the stupid auto start/stop too!
I can’t believe how the IDIOT judges always side with GM. This has been going on for to long. Maybe they need to get the EPA involved and declaim the destructive nature of the failure causes massive carbon from building unnecessary engines……
It’s the same as the start stop, one starter or flywheel replacement will exceed the carbon produced from not idling.
It seems that the people making the rules have no common sense.
Cause once the drivetrain warranty is up, dealers charge for this repair, it’s not covered by them bulletin or not. What will happen after warranty when you go visit the dealer with this issue, they will find the bulletin and quote the repair price based on what the bulletin says. It won’t be free. This is a FLAW for sure and one that will cost me money as by the time I reach the mileage where these fail, I will be long out of warranty.
2016 silverado 5.3L had the injectors go out at 73,000 miles , clogging the catalytic converter. Never buying GM again and I’m a Chevy fan. Quality has gone down the drain
Friend of mine had the injectors fail also and they wouldn’t even cover them under the emissions equipment warranty. Even though they were causing a rich mixture.
It is disgusting how they treat their customers. I bought a 2017 Chevy Silverado Z71. The transmission is constantly slipping. I even had it rebuilt in December. Worked okay for about a month. Now it’s back to doing the same thing. The truck feels like it has a lack of power. Lags between 1st and 3rd. Hard shifts every time when downshifting through the automatic transmission at 30 mph. The AFM in the engine makes the truck have a hard time figuring out which gear it wants to be in, to quote “save fuel”. It doesn’t matter if I drive it like it has a broken leg. It shifts hard no matter what I do. Being stuck financing the truck is a nightmare. I can’t even trade the truck in without having to pay more for another vehicle. I should have went with dodge and avoided this scam of a company. Talked to corporate twice and they refuse to help resolve the situation. Just tell you to go pay the inspection fee and then basically let them rack up hours for labor to walk out the door with the same problem not fixed. I don’t feel like that is how you take care of your customers.
Unfortunately, you would be in a similar situation with Dodge/Chrysler/Fiat/RAM/Jeep/etc.
Those vehicles are an endless electrical nightmare and many critical service parts are now on permanent back-order.
When Mercedes bought MOPAR, the first thing they did was force-obsolesce most of the new-old parts catalog from 2007 and back.
When Stellantis took over, they did the same for 2012 and back.
Then the import tariff/chip-shortage self-p0wn has left us with no new replacement parts in a lot of cases.
Now we are faced with a large number of “Chrysler” vehicles which have “theft-relevant” parts failures and no replacement parts available from the OE. Only a handful of us in the aftermarket have the ability to get around this with used (junk) parts and the availability of these donor parts is drying up fast.
The whole GM line up is built verh cheaply, my mother bought a brand new 2018 Chev Malibu, at 500 miles she ran over a curb in Wal-mart parking lot at walking speed, and broke the lower A frame at the ball joint, the whole assembly broke away and the tire and rim tore away the front fender, ATWALKING SPEED !! This is because GM made this part out of cast aluminm, who in their right mind would make a cheaply made part like this? When we went to Hertz for a rental car, we noticed the wrecked cars all had front wheels broken off ..Where are the lawyers on this?? Her quote on this is ” that never happened on my 71 FordTorino” !! Before buying another new car, she now has a dealer put the new car on the lift for a quality inspection by her mechanic.
These vehicles are just about 10 years old a lot of them this shouldn’t even be a lawsuit. If it were vehicles 1-4 years old I could understand but this is just normal wear on a vehicle. Since gm doesn’t know how to build them properly this is what you end up with. Should have just not bought a gm and avoided the problem all together.
GM does need their ass handed to them for such a poor design with that cylinder deactivation.
When a system like that fails it can cost the owner a huge amount of money.
It’s a bad design and even the new system is absolutely garbage.
Maybe the judge needs to own one that fails….
I’m still driving my 15 5.3 Sierra with 255k on it. I drive it hard every day. Maybe you guy’s need to drive/use the truck for more than groceries and travel. Rev it out every day and keep the engine monsters out of your bay.
Not sure luck has a thing to do with it. Luck isn’t real. Nor am I out of touch with these trucks. I just know there are far less people experiencing these issues. I also now know that you are too sensitive…I’m sorry for hurting your feelings.
1. The Lady President of GM should be fired over thus switching to cheap Chinese metal for manufacturing.
2. Those tree hugging idiots that say switch to Electric don’t even realize anything about what they are talking about.
2a. EV trend has up ticked pollution on a level going back 50 yrs ago, the amount of soil erosion and hazardous waste to manufacture these electric so called petroleum free cars is ridiculous, but they base their opinion on being home and plugging it in.
2b. Electric vehicles cannot tow and most of the engines on this list deal with a 5.3 V-8 so take your battery ran vehicle and bury it in your own yard when it expires, not someone else’s yard.
People should know facts before spouting off and believing in a future of pollution free. Ask ( what, When, Where, Why, and How )
This is the sheepol of society today that walk about mindless and completely void of sound education using what they hear or read or Google as their evidence to use platforms like this to show complete ignorance to lobby for EV over A proven combustion engine platform.
Richard I was with you on the 1st point. Then you went off the rails for the rest. NO one is talking about ev’s but you. This is about the poorly designed 5.3 V8 and the lifters failing. Stay on subject!
Thank You Richard! You hit the nail on the head!
Wait till you have to replace the lifters and cam now since all 8 cyl have deactivation lifters it’s over $11k at dealership because have to pull engines and almost do a complete tear down now, I’ve bought two trade in lately that they traded out of warranty
Hi Lonnie,
I’m not a mechanic. What are deactivation lifters. is this when the engine runs on 4 ,6 or 8 cylinders to save gas?
thanks.
Yes 2019 up have AFM on all 8 cyl
Basically and motor has to come out to repair them so,even new Escalade 6.2 are tearing up cams and lifters not just old cars anymore , so bad there is a back order on parts