— A Subaru engine lawsuit has been dismissed after a driver alleged the following vehicles were equipped with defective turbocharged engines tuned too highly.
- 2014-2016 Subaru Forester XT
- 2014-2016 Subaru WRX
- 2014-2016 Subaru WRX STI
The Subaru engine lawsuit says the automaker tried to fix the problems in 2016 in an emissions recall to repair ignition timing problems. But the plaintiff who sued claims Subaru “secretly updated the operating system . . . and detuned the Engines in an attempt to fix the damage caused by them.”
This allegedly caused her 2014 Forester XT and the other vehicles to suffer from surging and stalling engines.
According to the plaintiff, "the damage caused by the Engines from being tuned too highly and further loss of control issues caused by the Fix represents a serious risk to drivers of the Class Vehicles and also significantly impacts the value of the Class Vehicles.”
The plaintiff leased a new 2014 Subaru Forester XT in April 2013, but in March 2016 she brought her vehicle to a dealer because of the recall.
She claims that “[i]n the process of doing the Fix, Defendant also re-tuned the Engines in an attempt to fix the over tuning defect” but did not disclose that any re-tuning would be a part of the recall repair. The engine lawsuit alleges it was after the recall repair that her Forester engine began surging and stalling.
The Subaru engine lawsuit alleges the automaker “initially refused to analyze, correct, replace, or otherwise fix the issues with Plaintiff’s Vehicle caused by the Fix,” and “repeatedly failed to correct the issues caused by the Fix when presented with Plaintiff’s Vehicle.”
The plaintiff says Subaru refused to buy back the vehicle but decided the engine could be replaced if the plaintiff could wait months for the work to be performed.
Subaru allegedly made misleading statements in advertisements about the vehicles while concealing the alleged engine defects.
In its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit, Subaru argues the plaintiff lacks standing to bring claims about any model other than the plaintiff's 2014 Subaru Forester. In addition, the automaker says the 2016 recall didn't even include some of the vehicles named in the lawsuit.
Subaru also proved the plaintiff’s FA-series engine is different from the EJ-series engines in Subaru WRX models and based on different “engine architecture and do not share interchangeable parts .”
The judge agreed with Subaru and dismissed all the claims as to vehicles other than the 2014 Forester XT.
Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez also ruled the plaintiff failed to plead express warranty claims with sufficient detail and rejected her breach of implied warranty claims.
In addition, the judge dismissed fraud claims because the plaintiff failed to plead fraud with the particularity required under the law.
The Subaru engine lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey - Sauer, et al., vs. Subaru of America, Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by DeNittis Osefchen Prince, P.C., and the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman.
CarComplaints.com has driver complaints about the Subaru Forester, Subaru WRX and Subaru WRX STI.