— VW TSI engine problems have caused a lawsuit that alleges 2018-2019 Volkswagen GTI, Golf, Jetta, Passat and Tiguan vehicles suddenly stall while driving.
According to the plaintiffs, the 2-liter TSI engines make driving dangerous and lead to expensive repairs for VW owners and lessees.
One of the plaintiffs says she leased a new 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan in January 2019, but within a week the vehicle stalled while the plaintiff was trying to make a U-turn.
The plaintiff says she took the Tiguan to a VW dealer which ran a diagnostic test but allegedly found nothing wrong, reporting the vehicle was “operating properly as designed.”
But the Tiguan allegedly continued to stall when the vehicle slowed while approaching traffic lights. In addition, the plaintiff claims the vehicle was not responsive after she restarted the TSI engine.
In March 2019, TSI engine problems allegedly made the Tiguan stall again, causing the plaintiff to call Volkswagen to complain about the engine. The class action lawsuit alleges the plaintiff was offered $5,000 credit toward the lease of a new Audi vehicle.
According to the plaintiff, she took the Tiguan back to the dealership to use the $5,000 toward a different vehicle, but the dealer allegedly refused to honor the credit. The lawsuit says the plaintiff surrendered the Tiguan to the dealer with about 35 months remaining on the lease.
Because she felt the Tiguan was not safe to drive, the plaintiff alleges she was hit with a $3,200 early termination fee and she lost the $2,490 deposit paid to Volkswagen.
The VW TSI engine lawsuit says the stalling problems are caused by the inability of the actuator solenoids to accurately correct and adjust the timing of the camshafts to carry out the combustion cycle. The combustion cycle allegedly cannot be completed and the vehicle will suddenly stall.
The plaintiffs claim VW tells customers it's their fault the vehicles stall, all so the automaker doesn't have to pay for repairs while the vehicles are under their warranties.
Customers are also allegedly forced to incur expenses just to diagnose the stalling problems even though Volkswagen allegedly knows the TSI engines are defective.
The TSI engine problems have allegedly caused the vehicles to lose value, and Volkswagen allegedly has done nothing to recall and repair the problems. Additionally, the plaintiffs allege VW hasn't offered to reimburse customers who paid out-of-pocket for the TSI engine problems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) received a petition to investigate stalling problems in 2019 Volkswagen GTI, Golf GTI and Jetta GLI vehicles. And in September 2019, NHTSA announced it would look at the claims made by the petitioner and possibly open an official investigation into the engine-stall problems.
Safety regulators denied the petition to open an investigation based on Volkswagen's Service Action 24FD which the automaker announced in December 2019 to update the engine control module software and extend the warranties to December 31, 2025.
According to VW, the program covers 2019-2020 Jetta GLI and Golf GTI vehicles.
The VW TSI engine stall class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey: Conroy, et al., vs. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Sauder Schelkopf LLC, and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC.