A judge has approved the class action status of a complaint filed by 39 plaintiffs from 26 different states accusing General Motors of selling vehicles with defective transmissions on purpose.
In Speerly v. GM, which represents the owners of various GM vehicles with one of two versions of eight-speed automatic transmissions — the GM 8L90 or 8L45 — produced between 2015 and March 1, 2019, U.S. District Judge David Lawson awarded class certification on Monday.
The lawsuit claimed that the transmissions jerk and shutter while driving, posing a safety risk.
“General Motors took the commercial decision to not inform its customers before purchase, knowing that over 800,000 eight-speed gearbox vehicles it sold were defective for years “Ted Leopold, a partner at Cohen Milstein and the class action case’s main attorney, issued the statement. “Dealers were instructed to inform clients that difficult shifts were “typical” or “regular.” Such decisions are both extremely reckless and indicative of what GM thinks it can get away with.”
Does GM have issues with its transmission?
The plaintiffs claimed that on occasion, the automatic transmissions in their cars “slide, buck, kick, jerk and harshly engage, “in accordance with the judge’s court order from Monday. The plaintiffs claimed that the automobiles may be risky to drive because the transmission “causes the vehicle to act erratically, such as with rapid or delayed acceleration.”
According to some drivers, the gear shifting was so abrupt that it felt like another automobile had struck them, Leopold said in a statement. The plaintiffs’ counsel also claimed that internal corporate records showed GM had decided that the “startling effect” of the abrupt adjustments could pose a safety risk. According to the lawsuit, the cars also have a second gearbox flaw that makes them “shudder” at highway speeds.
The plaintiffs contend that by intentionally releasing “defective” vehicles onto the road, GM broke state consumer protection laws. Leopold reported that there had been no fatalities or injuries.
According to him, the plaintiffs are looking for reimbursement for allegedly overpaying for defective cars at the time of sale or reimbursement for the cost of replacing any gearboxes or defective parts that were replaced.
Battle v. General Motors, another lawsuit against GM for automobiles with 8L gearboxes, is also under progress. In that situation, 8L vehicles built from March 1, 2019, through the model year 2022 are included since GM changed the automatic gearbox fluid that was the root of the shudder issue.
