— A Land Rover turbocharger lawsuit alleges these vehicles enter limp mode and can't accelerate safely when the turbochargers fail.
- 2012-2017 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
- 2015-2017 Land Rover Discovery Sport
- 2013-2015 Land Rover LR2
One of the plaintiffs, New York owner Loretta Flynn-Murphy, purchased a used 2015 Land Rover LR2 in 2017 but didn't know the turbocharger was allegedly defective.
The plaintiff says the LR2 turbocharger failed in 2020 which caused the engine to completely fail. She says the vehicle was brought to the dealer multiple times for service, and the dealership noted there was a “crack in manifold/turbo.”
Plaintiff Flynn-Murphy says she was forced to replace the Turbocharger because Land Rover didn't tell her when she purchased the vehicle that the turbocharger was defective.
"Had Defendant disclosed that the defects in the Turbocharger would require Plaintiff to spend thousands of dollars to repair or replace the Turbocharger, other engine parts, and/or the engine, Plaintiff would not have purchased her vehicle, or would have paid less for her vehicle." - Land Rover turbocharger lawsuit
The class action says if the automaker would have admitted the turbochargers would fail, the plaintiffs, owners and lessees would have demanded that Land Rover perform repairs or replacements of the turbochargers during the warranty periods.
The plaintiffs say owners and lessees were provided with warranty and maintenance schedules that do not show any turbocharger inspection or maintenance within the first 100,000 miles.
In addition, Land Rover placed the turbocharger in a location in the engine that replacement requires more than a day of highly skilled shop labor, adding to the cost of replacing the turbocharger.
According to the turbocharger lawsuit, the internally-mounted volute (the part that channels the force of the exhaust to the turbine) and its supporting structure in the exhaust manifold portion of the turbocharger assembly experience accelerated metal fatigue and premature failure.
The volute allegedly becomes loose and although remaining contained, it may rattle around in the exhaust manifold.
Eventually, the loose volute can allegedly no longer maintain clearances with the turbine and makes contact with the turbine (which is spinning at a high rate of speed), "causing breaking, chipping, and erosion of the metal turbine blades."
The lawsuit alleges the turbocharger may fail immediately or it may continue to run while the "damage worsens and performance is increasingly degraded as the turbine blades are eroded."
The turbine allegedly cannot extract power from the exhaust and the compressor fails to make the desired level of boost, then provides no boost at all.
The Land Rover vehicle will allegedly become sluggish and emit high emissions. The engine is also allegedly derated to prevent further damage, the check engine light illuminates and the vehicle is unable to accelerate safely.
The plaintiffs also claim if an owner decides to sell their vehicle, they will be forced to sell the vehicle at a loss due to the alleged turbocharger defects.
The Land Rover turbocharger lawsuit says the automaker hasn't issued a recall and refuses to repair the vehicles for free outside of their warranty periods. This allegedly transfers the repair or replacement cost onto Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport and LR2 customers.
The Land Rover turbocharger lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey: Flynn-Murphy, et al., v. Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC.
The plaintiffs are represented by Seeger Weiss LLP, and Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello, P.C.
