— A GM Shift to Park lawsuit alleges drivers are unable to shut off these vehicles even though the gear shifters are in PARK.
- 2016-2019 Chevrolet Malibu
- 2016-2019 Chevrolet Volt
- 2018-2019 Chevrolet Traverse
- 2019 Chevrolet Blazer
According to the GM class action lawsuit, the vehicles fail to detect they are shifted into PARK which blocks the ability to shut off and lock the vehicles. A Shift to Park message will appear on the instrument panel until a driver jiggles and wiggles the gear shifter or shifts through the gears.
“So when you spend this kind of money on a vehicle you expect it to hold up for several years. This car is barely a year old and for the last month I have been dealing with my SUV not recognizing when it is in park. What that means is, the vehicle will not shut off and I can not lock it and walk away. I have to sit and jiggle the gear shifter like a mad woman until it decides to recognize that it is indeed in park." — 2018 Chevrolet Traverse owner
"Vehicle does not turn off after shifting to park. The car does not detect park mode and driver has to 'jiggle' shift knob.” — 2018 Chevrolet Volt owner
The Shift to Park class action lawsuit was filed by Wisconsin plaintiff James Bertagnolli (2017 Chevrolet Malibu), Minnesota plaintiff Gregory Fladeboe (2018 Chevrolet Malibu) and Maryland plaintiff Juanita Crawford (2017 Chevrolet Malibu).
GM Shift to Park Technical Service Bulletins
The Shift to Park lawsuit alleges General Motors knows about the problem because the automaker has issued several technical service bulletins to dealerships regarding vehicles with Shift to Park messages.
- January 9, 2017 (TSB PIC6244) — “Diagnostic Aid For Vehicles With Shift To Park Message And All DTCs P1AEE P1AEF P1AF0 P1AF2 P1E22.”
The GM lawsuit says this bulletin concerned Shift to Park messages on 2016-2017 Chevrolet Malibu and Chevrolet Volt vehicles. The TSB was updated on October 17, 2017, to add 2018 model year vehicles and updated again September 17, 2018, to add 2019 model year vehicles.
- December 5, 2017 (TSB PIE0441) — “Engineering Information – Shift to Park Message Displayed.”
This TSB provided GM dealerships of Shift to Park warnings on 2018 Chevrolet Malibus.
- December 1, 2018 (TSB 18-NA-297) — “Message Displaying Shift to Park when in Park.”
Dealers were given information about Shift to Park problems on 2016-2018 Chevrolet Malibu, 2018 Traverse and 2017-2019 Acadia vehicles.
- September 2019 (TSB 19NA206) — “Intermittent Shift to Park Message Displayed While Vehicle in Park."
GM addressed gear shifter problems on 2016-2019 Chevrolet Malibu, 2016-2019 Chevrolet Volt, 2018-2019 Chevrolet Traverse and 2019 Chevrolet Blazer vehicles.
The GM Shift to Park lawsuit alleges when owners pay to have the problems fixed, GM typically replaces the transmission drive units or the transmission control assembly park switches.
However, the lawsuit alleges GM does nothing but replace defective components with equally defective parts.
The GM Shift to Park lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: Bertagnolli, et al., v. General Motors LLC.
The plaintiffs are represented by Fink Bressack, Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, and Turke & Strauss, LLP.