The French manufacturer Renault is threatened with collective action from dozens of Renault, Nissan, Dacia and Mercedes owners and victims of breakdowns, their lawyer announced on Tuesday.
Cars equipped with 1.2 TCe (petrol) engines, manufactured by Renault between October 2012 and June 2016, are victims of overconsumption of oil, increasing both maintenance costs and pollution, and sometimes an engine failure between 65,000 and 125,000 kilometers, said lawyer Christophe Lèguevaques at a press conference.
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This specialist in collective actions is trying to bring together a few hundred affected customers online to force Renault to better compensate them.
About twenty have registered for the moment, but more than 4,500 of them are already in contact via a Facebook group, “
Renault / Nissan 1.2 TCe & DIG-T engine breakage
”.
133,000 vehicles equipped in France
Renault confirmed to have observed an excess consumption of oil on "
a small part of the models
". “
We did it on a case-by-case basis
,” said a spokesperson for the brand. "
If the customers were scrupulous about the maintenance, we had full support
." Produced in Valladolid (Spain) and Sunderland (United Kingdom) in 400,000 units, these engines fitted the entire Renault range (Clio, Mégane, Kangoo, among others) but also Dacia (Duster, Dokker, Lodgy), the Mercedes Citan or Nissan (1.2 DIG-T engine for the Juke, Qashqai 2 and Pulsar). 133,050 vehicles have been fitted with it in France, according to Renault.
"
The engine light on my Clio IV came on, sudden loss of power and the car suddenly stopped on the highway
", testifies a motorist quoted by the lawyer. “
The expertise is still in progress. Renault opposes poor maintenance of the vehicle and in particular the non-replacement of the spark plugs in 2020 at only ... 18,661 km
”. The automotive group "
knows the hidden defect of these engines and the dangerousness thus generated
", accuses the lawyer, but he "
made no systematic recall of the vehicles concerned to try to solve the problems
".
“
90% of customers who sent us requests received full or partial
coverage,” said Renault.
There was no global recall because the engine "
is not considered a safety element
".
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The consumer association UFC-Que Choisir had already launched the alert in 2019 on these engines, citing 400,000 vehicles concerned in France and other cases reported elsewhere in Europe.
In detail, Maître Christophe Lèguevaques intends to launch a summary and obtain information on these engines from the brand, before citing Renault in court "
with sufficient evidence to show that the brand's liability is engaged
".
This Tuesday, 26 applicants had already registered for this collective procedure.
The lawyer hopes to bring together 250 plaintiffs by March 7, before launching the proceedings.
