- The lawsuit covers roughly 800,000 vehicles from Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC.
- Vehicles with 8L45 and 8L90 transmissions can shake, shudder, and lurch.
- The plaintiffs claim that GM instructed dealers to tell customers that harsh shifts were normal.
General Motors must face a class action that alleges it violated laws in 26 U.S. states by selling vehicles with faulty transmissions produced between the 2015 and 2019 model years.
Earlier this week, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge has the discretion to let drivers sue GM for Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC models built with its 8L45 and 8L90 transmissions. The litigation covers roughly 800,000 vehicles that drivers allege shake and shudder in higher gears while hesitating and lurching in lower gears. The gearbox is also claimed to have an “inability to purge trapped air due to an insufficient valve body architecture.”
Read: Judge Certifies Class Actions For Over 800,000 GM Vehicles With Faulty Transmissions
GM is said to have developed a new automatic transmission fluid and used it in vehicles sitting on dealership lots but did not deploy this new fluid to vehicles it had already sold.
The lawsuit also claims that GM has told dealers to assure customers that harsh shifts were “normal.” Among the vehicles caught up in the class action include the 2015-2019 Chevrolet Silverado, 2017-2019 Chevrolet Colorado, 2015-2019 Chevrolet Corvette, 2016-2019 Chevrolet Camaro, 2015-2019 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, 2016-2019 Cadillac ATS, ATS-V, CTS, CT6, and CTS-V models, 2015-2019 GMC Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL and Yukon Denali XL, as well as the 2017-2019 GMC Canyon.
The car manufacturer had attempted to avoid facing the accusations in court. It stated that most class members had never experienced transmission problems and lacked standing. They also asserted that potential claims should be settled in arbitration, says Reuters. Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore disagreed, stating it didn’t matter “exactly how, and to what extent, each of the individual plaintiffs experienced a shudder or shift quality issue,” noting what matters is whether GM concealed known defects.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson first certified class actions for the alleged transmission faults in March 2023.
