— A GM air conditioning lawsuit in court for eight years still has not been certified as a class action.
According to the lawsuit, these vehicles are equipped with defective "combi-coolers."
- 2014-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2014-2017 GMC Sierra 1500
- 2015-2017 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV
- 2015-2017 Chevrolet Suburban
- 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2015-2017 GMC Yukon
However, excluded are models equipped with LV1 or LV3 (6-cylinder engines), except for the following V6 vehicles which are included: Model year 2014-2015 vehicles built at the Arlington, Flint or Fort Wayne assembly plants on or before December 18, 2014, or the Silao assembly plant on or before October 23, 2014.
The original lawsuit filed in 2017 was a nationwide class action, but since then the lawsuit has dwindled to just five states.
After eight years, the plaintiffs are trying to convince the judge to certify a class action lawsuit for all persons who purchased a vehicle in California, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee or Washington.
The lawsuit asserts the GM air conditioning systems stop working due to defective “combi-coolers.” The owners who filed the lawsuit claim General Motors knew the air conditioners were defective before the first vehicles were ever sold. But instead of repairing the vehicles, GM supposedly covered up the defects while knowing the systems would fail.
The lawsuit describes the combi-cooler as a component containing the air conditioner condenser and transmission oil cooler. The combi-coolers purportedly fail due to extreme changes of temperature of as much as 212 degrees Fahrenheit every three to five minutes.
This allegedly causes the combi-cooler to suffer “significant physical displacement and thermal stress fatigue” which causes a crack on a part attached to the condenser. Refrigerant then leaks from the crack which causes the air conditioning to stop working.
"As GM explained in an internal presentation: The Air Conditioner Condenser (normally cold while AC is off) NEXT TO the Auxiliary Transmission Oil Cooler (normally hot) is a constant source of Thermal Cycling Stress which ultimately leads to forming a crack....Once cracked, enough refrigerant will escape resulting in the shutdown of the AC system." — GM air conditioning lawsuit
The plaintiffs claim GM made a bad mistake by combining components that should not be near each other in the combi-cooler. The vehicle owners also complain the loss of the air conditioning is a "safety defect."
GM Argues Lawsuit Shouldn't Be Certified
According to General Motors, the allegations are different state-to-state and a recent ruling from the Sixth Circuit demands refusal of class action certification in this lawsuit.
Most customers either allegedly never had any air conditioning problems, or for vehicles that did have problems GM repaired the vehicles for free. This supposedly means no plaintiff suffered an injury.
The GM air conditioning class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division): Air Conditioning Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, Case No. 18-md-02818.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Miller Law Firm, P.C., Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP, and Sauder Schelkopf LLC.