General Motors Transmission Class Action Lawsuit Faces Pushback From Automaker
A class action lawsuit alleging faulty transmissions in certain General Motors vehicles is now facing a fight from the automaker after it’s slowly made some progress, according to Car Complaints.
Specifically, the lawsuit applies to 8L45 and 8L90 automatic transmissions in the following models:
- 2015-2019 Chevrolet Silverado
- 2017-2019 Chevrolet Colorado
- 2015-2019 Chevrolet Corvette
- 2016-2019 Chevrolet Camaro
- 2015-2017 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV
- 2016-2019 Cadillac CTS
- 2016-2018 Cadillac CT6
- 2015-2019 GMC Sierra
- 2015-2017 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL
- 2017-2019 GMC Canyon
The lawsuit, first filed around six years ago, has argued that the transmissions exhibit slipping, bucking, kicking, jerking, harsh engagement, and sometimes even failure. It also contends that GM has been aware of the faulty transmissions for some time now.
Though many vehicle owners have argued GM should have the transmissions repaired regardless of warranty status, plaintiffs who received dealership repairs claimed it did not resolve the problem.
A U.S. district court judge finally granted class action certification to the lawsuit, after years of waiting in court—however, this was not met without resistance from GM, which appealed the class certification ruling.
GM argued that most affected vehicle owners did not experience issues with their transmissions, and that there are discrepancies between issues with different models and transmissions.
The appeals court did not side with GM, responding that even customers who didn’t personally experience transmission issues may have still overpaid for their vehicles.
Now, GM has requested the appeals court to rehear the case “en banc,” a procedure in which all the Sixth Circuit judges will hear the case, rather than the typical three-judge panel.
As Car Complaints noted, the decision to rehear the case en banc is rare, and—for now at least—nullifies the initial appeals court ruling that granted class action certification.
