Disgruntled Subaru Forester, Outback, Legacy, Impreza and Crosstek owners whose cars burned more oil than usual can rest a little easier today. Top Class Actions reports that owners of the defective engines will be reimbursed by Subaru for expenses related to the defect and given a longer warranty.
The lawsuit alleged that defective piston rings caused them to burn extra oil, and that Subaru knew of the problem but didn’t disclose it to owners. The lawsuit, as quoted by Top Class Actions, alleges that Subaru “improperly denied many warranty repairs, and then, more recently, secretly changed the scope of its warranty coverage without telling affected drivers.”
Owners were paying for faulty piston ring related repairs and extra engine oil out-of-pocket, which sounds so annoying that I can’t even make a joke about it as Jalopnik’s token Mitsubishi-driving Internet troll. (My car may no longer be made soon, but at least it doesn’t smoke o—ah. Ah, I can’t. That sounds genuinely miserable, and I’m sorry if you’re stuck dealing with that.)
So, to make good with its owners, Subaru agreed to the following, per Top Class Actions:
- Increase the warranty length from 5 years or 60,000 miles length to an 8 years or 100,000 miles
- Pay 100 percent of vehicle owners’ costs for repairs, parts and labor, rental cars, towing and the cost of up to six quarts of oil per vehicle
- Provide a free oil consumption test and technical service bulletin repairs for owners or leasers of the defective vehicles.
According to Torque News, the affected FB engines are the 2.5-liter engines in the 2011-2014 Forester, 2013 Legacy and 2013 Outback and the 2.0-liter engines in the 2012-2013 Impreza and 2013 XV Crosstrek.
UPDATE [4/30/2018]: I periodically receive emails asking for help with this, and unfortunately, I’m not the right person to ask.
There is now a form you can fill out if you think your car was affected by this issue, per Top Class Actions:
On Apr. 12, 2016, the Subaru oil burning settlement is now open! Click here to file a Claim Form or visit www.OilConsumption.SettlementClass.com for details.
That latter link is Subaru’s own site with all the pertinent information about this lawsuit.
If filling out the form and reaching out to your local Subaru dealer doesn’t pan out, you may want to reach out to the firms who handled this class action lawsuit.
Photo credit: Newspress
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.
More on Subaru warranties from G/O Media’s partner:
- Subaru Extended Warranty
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