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A Volkswagen PCV valve class action lawsuit has been dismissed after the Alabama vehicle owner who sued failed to adequately plead her case.
Volkswagen Atlas owner Dagney Johnson Burt filed the lawsuit over oil leaks caused by the positive crankcase ventilation valve in the 2-liter engine.
The class action lawsuit alleges all 2018-2023 Volkswagen vehicles with 2.0L four cylinder gasoline engines are defective in the U.S.
According to the lawsuit, the PCV valve is also called an oil separator, and that component went bad in the plaintiff’s vehicle and a replacement valve would cost more than $2,100. The plaintiff contends oil leaked from the oil level sensors, upper timing covers and magnets.
The plaintiff wanted Volkswagen to cover the PCV repair cost but the request was denied.
The VW PCV valve oil leaks caused the plaintiff all kinds of problems. She complains she had to purchase oil between oil changes due to the leaking oil, and the oil made a mess and stained her driveway and surrounding streets. The plaintiff complains her homeowners association told her she was responsible for the oil stains on the parking areas and streets.
According to the class action, Volkswagen advertises the vehicles as safe and dependable when they allegedly are not. And VW allegedly knew the oil separators were defective before the vehicles were first sold, but covered up and concealed the defects hoping the PCV valve oil leaks wouldn’t begin until after the warranties expired.
The PCV valve oil leaks have also supposedly caused all affected Volkswagen vehicles in the U.S. to lose their resale values.
VW PCV Valve Oil Leak Lawsuit Dismissed
Volkswagen told the judge the plaintiff wanted her PCV valve oil leaks repaired for free even though the 4-year/50,000-mile warranty had expired on her VW Atlas.
The problem was her vehicle had 57,000 on it, and she “was refused a warranty repair because the mileage of her vehicle [was] 7,000 miles over the durational limit” of the warranty when she presented the vehicle to a VW dealer.
However, the lawsuit says the warranty terms should be ignored because the warranty is “unconscionable.” The plaintiff claims Volkswagen knew about PCV valve oil leaks before the plaintiff purchased her vehicle, and that’s enough to make the warranty unconscionable.
Judge R. David Proctor found there is “nothing inherently unconscionable about a warranty with a durational limit,” and even if VW knew about alleged oil separator problems, “[a] defendant’s knowledge of a latent defect at the time of sale [] does not salvage a claim for breach of express warranty where the warranty has expired before the defect manifests.”
“To hold that a manufacturer’s knowledge of potential failures renders such limitations unenforceable would thus ‘render meaningless time/mileage limitations in warranty coverage,’[] and would be contrary to the overwhelming weight of precedent enforcing such limitations.” — Judge Proctor
The VW PCV valve lawsuit also alleges the plaintiff’s vehicle wasn’t fit and safe for the road, meaning it was “unmerchantable or unfit for the ordinary purposes” of a vehicle. But the judge found her allegations are “nothing but conclusory” and do not support a claim.
“She has not alleged that the car was undriveable or unfit for the purpose for which it was intended, i.e., reliable transportation. Plaintiff had driven her vehicle more than 57,000 miles before discovering the Oil Separator Defect. She does not claim that her vehicle was inoperable or that she had it repaired, and she does not claim to have ever stopped driving it. Thus, she has failed to plausibly plead facts supporting her unmerchantability theory.” — Judge Proctor
The remaining claims in the VW PCV valve lawsuit didn’t perform any better, causing the judge to dismiss the entire class action.
The VW PCV valve oil leak lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (Southern Division): Dagney Johnson Burt v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., et al.
The plaintiff is represented by Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC.