— General Motors lifter problems caused vehicle owners to file a lawsuit more than four years ago seeking class action status which still hasn't happened.
The most recent court actions have seen several plaintiffs voluntarily dismiss their claims against GM and some of the original lawyers who filed the proposed lifter class action have left the case.
According to the GM lifter failure lawsuit, multiple components are defective including the dynamic fuel management lifters, active fuel management lifters and the valvetrains.
The allegedly faulty lifters are in these General Motors vehicles equipped with 5.3-liter, 6.0L or 6.2L V8 engines.
- 2014-present Cadillac Escalade
- 2016-2019 Cadillac CTS-V
- 2014-present Chevrolet Silverado
- 2014-present Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2014-2019 Chevrolet Corvette
- 2014-2016 Chevrolet Avalanche
- 2014-present Chevrolet Suburban
- 2014-present Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2016-present Chevrolet Camaro
- 2014-present Chevrolet Camaro SS
- 2014-2016 Chevrolet Corvette
- 2014 to present GMC Sierra
- 2014 to present GMC Sierra 1500
- 2014-present GMC Yukon
- 2014-present Yukon XL
The plaintiffs complain a GM lifter recall should have been issued long ago but the automaker has chosen to force vehicle owners to pay for repairs.
GM's lifters supposedly don't meet the correct design specifications and are made with lightweight materials. The lifters also purportedly were installed in the wrong position by General Motors. The lawsuit further contends mistakes were made by GM because engineers didn't think about the contraction and expansion rates of the lifters and engine blocks.
This causes a lack of clearance for the lifters which can damage the components. And GM's engineers supposedly allegedly "failed to account for the amount of increased pressure to which the AFM lifters are exposed by the pressurized oil used to operate the lifters, causing them to fail prematurely."
According to the GM lifter lawsuit, even if dealers replace the lifters and components for free it supposedly is useless because GM's replacement parts are just as defective as the originals.
GM's vehicles included in the lifter failure lawsuit allegedly need more frequent oil changes and engine cleaning due to the problems. And valve lifter oil manifold replacements are also required. All of this in an attempt to prevent a vehicle from shuddering, surging, hesitating and stalling.
In the beginning the GM lifter lawsuit included nine customers, then more were added later before the claims of 17 customers were sent to arbitration with the claims paused in court. However, several plaintiffs returned to the lifter lawsuit while multiple plaintiffs dismissed their claims and left the proposed class action after four years in court.
A year ago the motion for class action certification was set for December 1, 2025, but the motion has been extended into 2026.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the class action lawsuit certification.
The GM lifter failure lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: Harrison, et al., v. General Motors LLC.