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Engine Knock Class Action Suit

S

slargent

Full Member
Joined
May 28, 2002
Messages
45
If you wish to show GM that the Piston Knock in 1999-2002 engines is unacceptable, pls join the class action suit already in place. GM has 800,000 of these engines to fix and they wont do it with just a few thousand complaints....
:8: :8: :8:
http://federmanlaw.com/case.asp?CaseID=228

you can join the class action by filling out the questionaire at the bottom and giving up 40% of the proceeds (on contingency of course.)

PS-i have no connection with this law firm.
 
What about those of us who do not have the noise?
 
lance6902 said:
everyone looks for excuses to sue....thats part of the problem with this world we live in.
Click to expand...

We all have enough excuses. Sometimes you sue to get what you deserve or to make things right.
 
I have a problem with this lawsuit. What if GM gives you a new engine. Do you owe the lawyers 40% of the value of the new mill? Something doesn't seem right with this suit. I have piston slap in my 02 AV, and my 2000 3/4 ton. I will just deal with General Motors through my dealer, and not give up 40%. I for one am against all these lawsuits for anything that has a problem. People don't have enough balls to handle the problems by themselfs, and not line the pockets of the lawyers. Pressure on your dealer is the key. Enough said.
 
I am thinking about joining it. It decreases the resale value of my truck.

If a person is looking at buying a 2002 Avalanche, and compares mine to another one that does not knock on startup, then I lose. GM doesn't lose a thing, and by me telling the buyer that it is harmless will not help! :8:
 
Too funny.

I just read the link/lawsuit......the main complaint is lost fuel economy and emissions. Secondary is loss of resale value.

1st, because the skirts of the pistons are slapping the cylinder walls it does not mean that the piston rings are losing their sealing capabilities.

2nd, I do not read anywhere in my contracts that GM guarantees the resale value of a vehicle I purchase from them.

Granted, my vehicle does not exhibit piston slap, but generally it does not harm anything, rather it could be annoying. How sad is it that folks are empowering lawyers to ultimately cost all of us more $$$ (GM will recoup their 40% somehow). I like the response in this thread that states he would handle it himself. Seems to me there are a lot of folks looking for something from nothing.
 
avalanchecrazy said:
I am thinking about joining it. It decreases the resale value of my truck.
If a person is looking at buying a 2002 Avalanche, and compares mine to another one that does not knock on startup, then I lose. GM doesn't lose a thing, and by me telling the buyer that it is harmless will not help! :8:
Click to expand...
Just make sure they start it warm. (y)
 
tomsr said:
I have a problem with this lawsuit. What if GM gives you a new engine. Do you owe the lawyers 40% of the value of the new mill? Something doesn't seem right with this suit. I have piston slap in my 02 AV, and my 2000 3/4 ton. I will just deal with General Motors through my dealer, and not give up 40%. I for one am against all these lawsuits for anything that has a problem. People don't have enough balls to handle the problems by themselfs, and not line the pockets of the lawyers. Pressure on your dealer is the key. Enough said.
Click to expand...

The issue here is economics 101. Participating in lawsuits is essential to mantaining economic equity. Such a large percentage of what is spent on goods and services goes to pay for these "lawsuits" and this is a problem, yes. BUT if you don't participate in this deeply entrenched aspect of the economic system you are hurting noone but yourself. Recovery of the funds that were taken from you by this "suehappy" system MUST be recovered somehow. Once again it is basic economics. The only other solution is to bring all lawsuits to an abrupt and final end, cut your losses, and hope for the no other lawyer motivated scheme to take its place but this is unrealistic since finacial restitution is the only viable way for courts to give equity/justice in almost all situations.

I used to feel the same way as Tomsr regarding this highly letigious society but realized it only hurts myself since it is impossible to isolate myself from the American economic system.
 
easier way is 2 earn it....but not many people are willing to bust ass to get what they want....why "work" for it if you can "take"

sad world we live in...

I rather bust my ass for it and say I earned it.

 
Dean_Machine said:
tomsr said:
I have a problem with this lawsuit. What if GM gives you a new engine. Do you owe the lawyers 40% of the value of the new mill? Something doesn't seem right with this suit. I have piston slap in my 02 AV, and my 2000 3/4 ton. I will just deal with General Motors through my dealer, and not give up 40%. I for one am against all these lawsuits for anything that has a problem. People don't have enough balls to handle the problems by themselfs, and not line the pockets of the lawyers. Pressure on your dealer is the key. Enough said.
Click to expand...

The issue here is economics 101. Participating in lawsuits is essential to mantaining economic equity. Such a large percentage of what is spent on goods and services goes to pay for these "lawsuits" and this is a problem, yes. BUT if you don't participate in this deeply entrenched aspect of the economic system you are hurting noone but yourself. Recovery of the funds that were taken from you by this "suehappy" system MUST be recovered somehow. Once again it is basic economics. The only other solution is to bring all lawsuits to an abrupt and final end, cut your losses, and hope for the no other lawyer motivated scheme to take its place but this is unrealistic since finacial restitution is the only viable way for courts to give equity/justice in almost all situations.

I used to feel the same way as Tomsr regarding this highly letigious society but realized it only hurts myself since it is impossible to isolate myself from the American economic system.
Click to expand...
you can OPT in the suit

OR

OPT out...

If you OPT in..then you are stuck with results no matter what....

If you OPT out then you can sue on your own......which may or may not be harder....also you settlement if you were to win....may or may not be as large.....but you do have the right to sue invididually.....

Make sense?
 
I am a service consultant at a local dealership and I have heard this complaint for several years. Now don't get me wrong I am a commisioned employee. I would love to put engines in all these trucks. ( maybe could buy a nice boat ). However, I still see these same vehicles with 100K, 150k, 200k miles on them. My brother owned a 99 c2500 Pickup. He raised holy heck when vehicle had 35,000 miles. No response from Chevy. Just given a bulletin stating it will not harm or effect the longevity of the engine. He sold it at 280,000 miles on it. I for one will not sue the hand that feeds me. Just my opinion................. dangerranger
 
ygmn said:
you can OPT in the suit

OR

OPT out...

If you OPT in..then you are stuck with results no matter what....

If you OPT out then you can sue on your own......which may or may not be harder....also you settlement if you were to win....may or may not be as large.....but you do have the right to sue invididually.....

Make sense?
Click to expand...

Sure does thanks, and for those out there interested there is a site , nolo.com, that sells a book on civil suits for anyone to file up to $25,000. Do it yourself and save. Those books have the forms and step by step. Nolo is anti lawyer, pro legal reform. They have some great lawyer jokes to. ;D
 
:E: :E: :E: :E: :E:

First off, I am new here and would like to say hello and man, what a lot of information!

A few years ago I bought what I swore would be my last GM product ever, a 2000 Malibu. In less than 10,000 miles, it was in the shop no less than 15 times. After constant complaints, the engine was fully replaced do to scoring of he sleeves. They did their best to just do quick fixes, but finally gave in after many hours of my lost time. Before we hit 7,000 the rotors warped, a common problem with this vehicle. We ended up going to Tuffy for the $100+ we saved as they offered a limited lifetime warranty, GM not only did not honor their original warranty, and called it a normal wear item, they would not warranty the replacements off their property!

When it comes to the "Big Three", I am all for class actions suits as it is the only way to get ANY of them to care about the problems or to take care of them. My 1999 Dodge Ram, known issue with the transmission, Dodge did nothing about their own mistake, and then asked me to pay almost double what the local transmission shops wanted to repair the problem. The big three do not understand work it out with the dealer, they only understand that enough people are pee'd off about it that they are suing, now is the time to pretend we care.

I am now the owner of a 2004 AV, almost 3K miles on it because my cousins in the business asked me to buy from GM as they are employees, I hope I do not get burned again!
 
hmmmm wonder what the 40% will take away from these vehicles......hmmm the dome lights mabe ????....lol gm will find a way to cover their costs !
 
If you don't like the knocking, keep the engine warm and/or put on a loud aftermarket exhaust system. With my Flowmaster, I can't hear any knock....

As for suing - a major problem with our society is that so many people want something for nothing. We got what we paid for. Anybody that buys a vehicle for resale value is foolish anyway. Talk about basic economics.

This piston slap does not reduce the life of your engine. So, on what grounds does anyone have to sue. I am not for the big companies of the world, but I have to agree with GM on this one.

Sad, but the sorry truth is, some foolhardy Jury will make a really stupid decision in this case and you know who will pay for it? Not GM!!!

We will! About the time we are all ready to buy a new AV, becuase we drove our first one into the ground with 300,000 miles on a slapping engine, we will ALL pay another $5,000.00 for the new AV to cover the cost of this and all the other frivolous lawsuits.

That, my friends, is truly BASIC economics :E:
 
AVentinus! said:
This piston slap does not reduce the life of your engine. So, on what grounds does anyone have to sue. I am not for the big companies of the world, but I have to agree with GM on this one.


That, my friends, is truly BASIC economics :E:
Click to expand...

Simple answer: false advertisement is the SOLID grounds for suit justification. GM advertises that the sound level in the cab is X but in fact it is Y this means they give me Z. ;)

But in fact my Av does not have this problem, thank God, but if it did this would be an avenue I might pursue. Someone else is welcome to my idea, if noone else came up with it first. A digital sound level meter can be obtained at Fry's Electronics for about $70.00. I own one for developement purposes but I recommend not buying the cheaper analog one. It is too difficult to monitor readings.
 
I had the engine knock until I started using 87 octane gas. Part of the problem seems to be carbon build up from slow burning Premium gas. I don't know if this will solve all prolems with knocking, but good place to start.
 
Dean_Machine said:
The issue here is economics 101. Participating in lawsuits is essential to mantaining economic equity. Such a large percentage of what is spent on goods and services goes to pay for these "lawsuits" and this is a problem, yes. BUT if you don't participate in this deeply entrenched aspect of the economic system you are hurting noone but yourself. Recovery of the funds that were taken from you by this "suehappy" system MUST be recovered somehow. Once again it is basic economics. The only other solution is to bring all lawsuits to an abrupt and final end, cut your losses, and hope for the no other lawyer motivated scheme to take its place but this is unrealistic since finacial restitution is the only viable way for courts to give equity/justice in almost all situations.

I used to feel the same way as Tomsr regarding this highly letigious society but realized it only hurts myself since it is impossible to isolate myself from the American economic system.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure where you took economics; maybe the Karl Marx School of Socailism? In the U.S. we used to care about self-reliance and responsibility, but that seems to have changed. Now, it's easier to comply with a group think mentality, and go along with what everyone else is doing. "Basic economics"...?
You should go ahead and move to France or Canada, and then you can see for yourself what Gov't can do to screw everything up. If you'll notice, people come from all over the world to take advantage of our privately run medical system....because it's the best in the world! When people like you mulitply enough and outnumber the people like me, then the gov't can solve all of our problems and we can recite the Communist manifesto to a 40' x 60' picture of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
 
GomerSaysHey said:
I'm not sure where you took economics; maybe the Karl Marx School of Socailism? In the U.S. we used to care about self-reliance and responsibility, but that seems to have changed. Now, it's easier to comply with a group think mentality, and go along with what everyone else is doing. "Basic economics"...?
You should go ahead and move to France or Canada, and then you can see for yourself what Gov't can do to screw everything up. If you'll notice, people come from all over the world to take advantage of our privately run medical system....because it's the best in the world! When people like you mulitply enough and outnumber the people like me, then the gov't can solve all of our problems and we can recite the Communist manifesto to a 40' x 60' picture of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Click to expand...

Now how did this go from a class action lawsuit to a political forum ??? Gomer you are way out of line with your comments. If you have been on this site for more than an hour you know that we have a lot good friends that live in Canada ( oh yeah and YAK also :p ) If you are going to make this a political discussion, you will find that it can cause nothing but dissention among friends. We all have our politacal views on how things should be, but this is not the place nor the time for this type of discusion. It's okay to be vocal but lets employ a little tack with our point of views.

Big Dog
Woof Woof
 
I have a little rattle on cold starts.... not worried about it.... I have a100k warranty....

I bet it doesn't break... but if it does I'm prepared
 
No knock here (knock on wood), but I wanted to add my .02.

Ok, economics, lets see the easiest way to put this into perspective is to look at the Exploder issue.

It is a known fact that F*%d knew about the rollover issues with the exploder however, they crunched the numbers and decided that it was more economical for them to deal with any lawsuits as a result of any accidents caused by design flaws. They decided it would be cheaper to settle out of court as compared to the costs of re-tooling to increase the width of the wheel base by an inch or two. By settling out of court they kept the issue mostly out of the media until they blamed everything on the tires.

So IMHO, any issues like this most of the big 3 will set down and look at the numbers, what will cost them more, to resolve the issue or just let it ride. Since most people don't have the resources or life span to fight these things in court, suing is not really a viable alternative.

I agree that the people in our country are sue happy, from being and idiot and spilling a cup of coffee in your lap to issues like this, more and more people are just looking for a meal ticket, including the lawers who are not out for the interest of those they represent but for their own meal ticket.

good luck.
 
O.K., FWIW,

It's a function of numbers. One engine out of a quarter million is not a design issue, nor a lawsuit. It's tuff shinitz.

As the numbers go up, the issue shifts.

I don't know what percentage of engines have this problem, nor if it's truely a problem, potential problem, or no problem. But I certainly don't want to rely on buyer loyalities, or manufacturer's dismissal of a concern.

I can hear a slight knock on start-up, that goes away once the engine oil has a chance to flow. Problem? How am I to know. I do know, after 35 years of car ownership, it's the first time I've ever noticed this particular sound.

When will it surface as an issue? 10K, 50K, 100K miles? No one can know. If it causes wear, above the level of engines that don't exhibit this "slap", and it shortens the engine life, then it is a problem.

One thing for sure, the lawyers for this action don't win jack if they can't prove, read that "PROVE", this is a variation from the expected norm. Additionally, the court will assign the value of this variation, to be distributed to the class action members.

I for one would be happy with some extension of coverage, assuming proper oil/filter changes. I don't want da cha-ching.

So, you can ignore the issue, cover yourself with extended warranties, but if it happens to you, it's gonna cost you a ton o'cash to 1) fix it or 2) sue for yourself.

IMHO - I'm not waiting for my engine to blow at x0,000 miles. Hop on, and see what happens

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