General Motors has been served a new lawsuit that could soon become a national class-action lawsuit over bad C7 Corvette Grand Sport and Z06 wheels.
CarComplaints.com published the lawsuit information on Wednesday, which details the troubles Corvette Grand Sport and Z06 owners have with the aluminum-alloy wheels.
Owners have complained to the NHTSA that the wheels bend, warp, and even crack.
A cracked wheel poses a safety risk as it could puncture a tire while driving. To be clear, there is no recall for the Corvette for the complaint, but the NHTSA has documented the issue thus far.
One owner said he leased a 2018 Corvette model and took the vehicle to a shop to have them coated, but the shop took video upon his arrival that two wheels were bent already.
The dealership the owner leased the car from said his driving style was the likely cause and both wheels cost $7,500 to replace.
Eventually, GM paid the owner $1,200 as part of the out-of-pocket cost. However, the lawsuit argues this is a breach of the car’s 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.
The proposed class-action lawsuit argues GM knew about the wheel defects beforehand or else customers would not have purchased the sports car.
Although multiple customers have filed complaints with the NHTSA, one owner characterized the problem after just 1,000 miles on his new C7 Corvette Grand Sport. The owner said vibration suddenly occurred while driving around 55 mph and a dealership said all four wheels were bent and needed replacing.
GM Customer Care told the owner this issue was not covered under warranty.
The faulty wheel lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with Capstone Law named the firm to represent the plaintiff.
Another Source
May 8, 2019 — A Chevrolet Corvette bent wheel lawsuit alleges 2015 to present Z06 and 2017 to present Corvette Grand Sport cars have wheels that crack, bend, warp and eventually cost a small fortune to replace.
The proposed nationwide class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Anthony Nardizzi, who alleges he leased a 2018 Chevrolet Corvette in June 2018 from a California dealership.
He immediately took the car to a third-party company where a wheel finishing company called CalChrome picked up the wheels to have them coated.
CalChrome allegedly recorded a video that showed two wheels were bent, something the plaintiff claims cost him $7,500 to replace.
Nardizzi says he complained to the Chevy dealership where he bought the Corvette and asked them to cover the cost of repairs under the bumper-to-bumper warranty.
The dealership allegedly responded by saying the wheels were warped due to the way the plaintiff had been driving.
The plaintiff says he continued to complain to General Motors and the automaker finally agreed to pay $1,200 of the $7,500 he paid out-of-pocket.
According to the lawsuit, GM is breaching its 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty by blaming Corvette drivers for the cracked and bent wheels.
And considering he immediately took the new car to a third-party company, the plaintiff claims this is proof the wheel problem exists from the time the Corvettes are new.
The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Corvette Grand Sport cast aluminum alloy wheels are allegedly dangerous because they can puncture the tires once the wheels crack and break. In addition, the wheels are a definite danger to checking accounts as Corvette owners pay thousands to replace allegedly defective wheels with equally defective GM wheels.
According to the proposed class action, General Motors knew or should have known about the bad wheels before the plaintiff leased his Corvette, certainly based on internal data and numerous complaints filed by frustrated drivers.
The owner of a 2017 Corvette Grand Sport with less than 1,000 miles on it is just one of multiple Chevy customers who took the time to complain to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (Complaint appears as filed by the customer)
"Just noticed a vibration in the front end when travel on highway at speed 55+. bring the car to the dealership for inspection and the service manager inform me all 4 wheels has been bend and need to be replace.
File a case with GM customer care center and after 1 week, GM center called and told me this is not cover under the factory warranty.
Very disappoint and loosing trust in GM product related to quality, reliability and safety concern for the consumers."
The lawsuit alleges GM conceals the cast aluminum alloy wheel defects because Corvette owners wouldn't purchase the cars if the truth was known.
The Chevrolet Corvette cracked and bent wheel lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California - Nardizzi, et al., v. General Motors LLC.
