Between 2012 and 2018, motorists had noticed overconsumption of oil and premature wear of their engine, installed on around 400,000 vehicles in France.
The car manufacturer Renault was sentenced on Tuesday March 14 by the Versailles court to send documents to the victims of the case of defective engines on some of its vehicles, in the so-called “Motorgate” case, franceinfo learned. Justice gives reason to a group of more than 1,100 motorists, who had sued Renault in June 2022.
This “Motorgate” dates back to the years 2012 to 2018. Several motorists, owners of group cars equipped with the 1.2 TCE engine, had noticed overconsumption of oil, premature wear of the engine and for some an impromptu breakage which would have put them in danger. . In France, around 400,000 cars are fitted with this engine, the production of which was discontinued in 2018, but is still marketed on the second-hand network.
A planned criminal complaint
These thousands of owners of Renault Clio, Megane, Kadjar or Kangoo cars, gathered on a Facebook pagehad requested the communication of internal documents to the manufacturer. This request was deemed legitimate on Tuesday March 14 by the courts, which condemned Renault to transmit in particular the monitoring plans for its manufacturing and assembly plants, but also alerts sent to its mechanics, and compliance audits.
With these documents, the owners of Renault vehicles equipped with a 1.2 TCE engine and their lawyers want to demonstrate that the manufacturer was aware of the failures of its engines for many years, without ever having carried out a recall, and by negotiating compensation at the dropper. Following this court decision, the collective of owners plans to file a criminal complaint by the end of March 2023 for “deception” and “endangering the lives of others”.
Renault will “examine” the court decision
“With these documents, we will be able to demonstrate that Renault knew, that it took corrective measures without telling anyone, that it concealed the information”reacts to franceinfo Me Christophe Leguevaques the lawyer who defends motorists. “By the end of the month, we will communicate this first court decision, and we will file a criminal complaint on behalf of 1,600 consumers with the Nanterre court for deception and endangering the lives of others”he adds.
For its part, the Renault group reacted to franceinfo: “The court ordered that we release documents in addition to those we had already voluntarily released. We will now examine the terms of this order.”