General Motors is facing a class action lawsuit over performance problems of its C7 Z06 models produced from 2015-2017, according to a Florida law firm representing the plaintiffs.
Hagens Berman and Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen filed the lawsuit on June 13 on behalf of a group of Z06 owners, seeking reimbursement and all damages permitted by law in an amount to be proven at trial.
“In marketing the Z06, GM said this car was ‘conceived on the track’,” said Stuart Grossman, founder and partner at Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen. “Any reasonable purchaser would have assumed that a car sold this way wouldn’t shut down and lose speed and power after only 15 minutes of track driving.”
The lawsuit claims the Z06s are prone to overheating on the track and on public roads, sometimes after just 15 minutes of track driving, because of a defective cooling system and then enter limp mode, which causes power and speed to be “drastically reduced,” creating a dangerous situation when surrounded by speeding cars.
According to the suit, “GM enticed race enthusiasts with bells and whistles, promising a car that could maintain safe speeds and power when tracked, but we believe what it sold them was far from what it promised. This defect not only damages the Z06 engine, but endangers drivers.”
An estimated 30,000 Z06s are included in the lawsuit, the attorneys said.
“We believe we’ve found GM to be guilty of a classic bait and switch – one that cost thousands of consumers dearly, up to $120,000, and broke state consumer protection laws,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, which has a history of high-profile automotive court cases. “GM enticed race enthusiasts with bells and whistles, promising a car that could maintain safe speeds and power when tracked, but we believe what it sold them was far from what it promised. This defect not only damages the Z06 engine, but endangers drivers.”
Berman adds: “The defect in question markedly limits the car’s performance – the sole reason these hotrod enthusiasts bought the Corvette Z06 in the first place. If they’d known of this defect at the time of purchase, they likely wouldn’t have spent six figures on the Z06.”
The suit alleges that GM deceived customers and violated state and federal laws by failing to ensure that the Z06 functions safely, and by failing to disclose the cooling system defect. The suit brings counts of fraudulent concealment, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment and other claims.
According to the suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida: “Customer experiences with the Z06 on the track differ dramatically from GM’s promise of a track vehicle and chronicle the activation of Limp Mode, or the driver having to pull off the track to let the engine cool down. Z06 testimonial websites and GM customer service files are replete with complaints from consumers who reasonably believed that their Z06 would in fact be fully track capable, but instead have been put at risk of accident on race tracks and during non-track driving when the defective transmissions and rear differentials overheat, causing the cars to go into Limp Mode at drastically reduced speed and performance, or have to stop track driving to protect the engine.”
Hagens Berman asks Z06 owners to contact the firm for more details.
Motor 1 reported earlier that Tadge Juechter, Corvette executive chief engineer, says that a small number of customers reported heatsoak or overheating issues when running their Z06s hard on track. The exact number might have been less than five percent of all buyers, Juechter said, but those drivers complained loudly about the issues. As part of his engineering team’s emphasis on “continual improvement,” the 2017 Z06 received a new hood with improved cooling vents and some other changes “for additional cooling on the track.”
Source:
businesswire.com
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Gm should sue the attorney…. the cars are run hard all day on the track at Ron Fellow’s in the desert outside Vegas…. No issues
Supercharged vehicles run hot! GM should have recalled early Z06’s on the first complaints and installed a larger inter cooler/radiator. Larger hood scoops don’t cut it, Tadge! I’ll stick with my stock C7 Z51. Plenty of power.
It’s the shortage of cooling of the differential and transmission that cause the car to go into limp mode. Not engine cooling.
I have a 15 Z06 and so far haven’t had anything close to an overheating issue. I’ve driven the car in several GT track events and 1/2 mile straight line events. Mine is a manual so maybe that is the difference. I have read that the Z06’s with the automatic transmissions are more of a problem but I’m not sure. I think some of the issues are user error. It’s difficult to trust bloodsucking lawyers. I’m extremely happy with my car, best Vette I’ve ever owned. Id love to hear other comments re: their experience – good or bad.
Really, almost bought a 2015 z06, I’d be contacting the law firm today if I did, I wonder what the damages will be, think il be wrenching on some mods on my stingray, nice ride,
Oh no , special shout out to the lawyers who fight for protecting the rights of citizens everyday, looks like an interesting year on the track and off, Shawn , I love my c7, even more when the mods go on,
I have a 2015 ZO6 I ran it at Road America the first summer I had it. No limp mode oil temperature was up to about 280 after driving in a 95 degree weather in almost two hundred miles around the Four Mile track at the end of the day. It was soon after that though that I noticed just driving around normal speeds in town and on the highway that after a half an hour after the car warmed up there was reduced power where I could not even spin the tires from a standing stop. That’s what the traction control turned off and in race mode. Very sluggish off the line after only a half an hour on the road hesitation at highway speeds and definitely a loss of power. Then at the dealer several times and still has not fixed the issue I will definitely be joining this action. By the way I had it at Road America the year after where the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler. The first year when the temperature was at 95 at the end of the straight away I got it up to about 145. The following summer when was only in the seventies I couldn’t even break 100 to 110
Mark, what were the excuses they gave you at the dealership? I don’t blame you for joining the lawsuit since the dealership hasn’t fixed it. Do you have mods? If so, you may be SOL. I want to drive Road America, looks awesome. I’ve driven mine several times on Road Atlanta – cool track.
How do you join the Class? I have a 2015 and live in Florida and am having continual problems.
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