— A VW engine class action lawsuit alleges 2.0L TSI engines contain defects that cause 2018 and 2019 Volkswagen GTI, Golf, Jetta, Passat and Tiguan vehicles to stall.
According to the Volkswagen TSI engine lawsuit, defects result in the inability of the actuator solenoids to adjust the timing of the camshafts necessary to the combustion cycles.
This allegedly causes a vehicle to stall because the combustion cycle cannot be completed.
Filed by two Volkswagen customers, the class action alleges Volkswagen knows how the TSI engines suddenly stall but allegedly conceals the defects from customers. In addition, the plaintiffs claim the 2.0-liter engines cause owners to spend their own money to pay for VW's failures.
One of the plaintiffs says she purchased a new 2019 Volkswagen Jetta equipped with a manual transmission, but the vehicle has allegedly stalled at least 25 times as she slowed down. She says each time she had to turn off the lights and radio, turn on the hazard lights and wait up to ten minutes before restarting the Jetta.
One stalling incident occurred as she was approaching a traffic light at a busy intersection, so she turned off the headlights and radio and turned on the hazard lights. The plaintiff says she was finally able to restart the Jetta after sitting through multiple green/red light changes.
"However, upon restarting her vehicle’s engine, she was unable to properly shift between gears, the RPMs raced, and the car failed to accelerate – slowly jolting forward at no more than 5 -10 miles per hour with the gas pedal engaged." - VW lawsuit
The plaintiff says she pulled into a parking lot and left the vehicle for several hours.
The Jetta owner says she contacted the VW dealership and told technicians about the stalling problems and how it felt like the clutch was slipping gears.
The class action says she was driving to the dealer in March and the Jetta stalled again, so she turned off the headlights and radio, turned on the hazard lights and finally got the vehicle restarted after several attempts. But she says she couldn't shift the gears and the dealership had to send out a tow truck.
According to the lawsuit, technicians inspected the vehicle and told her and her husband the Jetta needed a new clutch, flywheel, bearing and clutch kit at a cost of $1,919.48. The plaintiff says she asked for the work to be performed under warranty but was denied, forcing her to pay the $1,919.48.
The plaintiff also alleges dealer technicians implied she didn't know how to properly drive a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission.
During the dealer visit, the plaintiff says she waited in the service department office area while her husband met with mechanics. But she says a dealer employee entered where she was waiting and she allegedly overheard him say the Jetta needed repairs because the plaintiff had been driving with the emergency brake engaged.
The plaintiff says she told the dealer employee that she had experience driving vehicles with manual transmissions and that she had not been driving the Jetta with the emergency brake engaged. The employee allegedly responded by saying the Jetta was protected by a 6-year-warranty.
According to the VW lawsuit, the Jetta still stalls even after paying nearly $2,000 for repairs.
Many Volkswagen owners have allegedly told the automaker to repair the vehicles for free, but VW allegedly tells owners the vehicles are operating normally, which means there will be no repairs covered by warranties.
The class action references a petition submitted to the government to formally investigate alleged Volkswagen stalling problems following 157 complaints.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in 2019 how it had received a petition which requested an investigation of alleged manual transmission defects in 2019 Volkswagen GTI, Golf GTI and Jetta GLI vehicles.
The petitioner alleges the vehicles experience excessive stalling incidents which turn the engines off without warning as the vehicles slow to stops or prepare to turn across traffic with the clutch pedals pressed in and the vehicles in NEUTRAL.
To date, NHTSA hasn't announced if it will grant or deny the petition to investigate the vehicles.
According to the class action lawsuit, VW hasn't recalled the vehicles, hasn't offered to replace them and hasn't offered to reimburse owners.
The Volkswagen engine class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York: Dickinson, et al., v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, and Sauder Schelkopf LLC.
