Motorists will file a criminal complaint Monday, June 5 against Renault-Nissan. Their lawyer believes that they purchased vehicles with “a faulty engine in the sense that there is a design flaw that causes it to overuse oil”, which can cause engine failure.
Several customers who bought Renault, Dacia, but also Nissan cars, will file a criminal complaint against the Renault-Nissan group, before the Nanterre criminal court in Hauts-de-Seine on Monday June 5, said Maître Christophe Lèguevaques at franceinfo, Thursday June 1, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien / Today in France.
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The lawyer represents motorists who purchased these vehicles with a “engine flawed in the sense that there is a design flaw that causes it to consume too much oil”, explains Master Lèguevaques. Afterwards “oil will mix with gasoline”. All this goes “generate carbonaceous waste which will clump together in the valves and after 40 to 80,000 kilometers, one or two valves will break”he adds.
Generally, “It results in a loss of power at 130 km/h on the highway and all of a sudden your engine breaks” and the speed drops “at 50 or 60 km/h”. According to the lawyer, this event “is extremely distressing for the driver who does not understand what is happening to him trying to pull over to the side and avoid vehicles approaching from behind”.
Renault was aware of this defect according to the motorists’ lawyer
The engine in question is the TCE 1.2 which is found on hundreds of thousands of vehicles between 2012 and 2018. “We were able to demonstrate that Renault had known about this engine defect since 2015 and that Renault continues to deny”. This complaint will be filed for “deception”because “they sold to consumers vehicles equipped with an engine that could break at any time without telling them”explains the lawyer.
In all “there are more than 400,000 petrol vehicles concerned in Europe, including more than 120,000 in France”. This engine is found in particular on Renault type Mégane III and IV, Captur or even Clio but also on Dacia (Duster or Lodgy). At Nissan, this engine equips Qashqai or Pulsar.
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Drivers also feel “to have suffered an endangerment of the life of others”. The 1,789 plaintiffs registered in the procedure therefore claim “that a criminal investigation be opened to find out the whole truth about this practice, and that Renault be sanctioned” for’“to obtain suitable monetary compensation for those who have suffered this risk”, believes master Christophe Lèguevaques. Contacted, Renault has so far not responded to our requests.