Yes, a consolidated class action lawsuit is underway against General Motors over catastrophic engine failures affecting hundreds of thousands of its most popular trucks and SUVs. The defect involves the 6.2-liter L87 V8 EcoTec3 engine found in 2019 through 2024 model year Chevy Silverado 1500s, Tahoes, Suburbans, GMC Sierras, Yukon models, and Cadillac Escalades—vehicles that owners expected to be reliable workhorses. Manufacturing defects in the engine’s connecting rods and crankshaft components have caused total engine failure in tens of thousands of vehicles, sometimes with catastrophic suddenness and often at disturbingly low mileage. A woman’s 2024 Chevy Silverado failed with only 1,200 miles on the odometer; another owner experienced complete engine seizure without warning while driving on the highway.
The consolidated complaint, filed in federal court on February 26, 2026, and consolidated with other cases on March 1, 2026, alleges that General Motors knew about these defects through massive numbers of field complaints—28,102 reported incidents in the United States alone—yet delayed issuing a recall until April 2025. Even after the recall, NHTSA opened a formal investigation when owners who had completed the recall’s prescribed fix reported continued engine failures. A second investigation followed to examine whether the problem extends beyond the original recall’s scope. The lawsuit seeks compensation for owners of affected vehicles, arguing that GM’s L87 engine contains a dangerous bearing defect that destroys engines without warning and that the company’s remedies are inadequate.
Table of Contents
- Which Vehicles Are Equipped with the Problematic L87 Engine?
- What Is the Manufacturing Defect, and How Does It Cause Engine Failure?
- How Many Complaints Did GM Receive Before Acting?
- What Is GM’s Recall Remedy, and Is It Adequate?
- What Happened After the Recall, and Why Did NHTSA Open Another Investigation?
- What Is the Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit, and What Are the Claims?
- What Should Owners Do Now, and What Is the Path Forward?
- Conclusion
Which Vehicles Are Equipped with the Problematic L87 Engine?
The L87 defect affects seven distinct vehicle lines across General Motors’ premium truck and SUV portfolio—exactly the models that owners rely on for towing, work, and family transportation. The affected vehicles include Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (all body styles), Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Sierra 1500, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, and Cadillac Escalade, spanning model years 2019 through 2024. These are high-value vehicles; a 2024 Chevy Silverado 1500 can cost upwards of $65,000 to $90,000 depending on trim and options. The L87 engine is a 6.2-liter V8 that produces around 420 horsepower and is typically found in higher trim levels and used by owners who expect performance and durability.
The scope of affected vehicles is immense. GM’s April 2025 recall (25V-274) identified 597,630 vehicles in the United States that need inspection and potential remedial work. However, a secondary NHTSA investigation expanded the scope to cover 286,051 additional vehicles from the 2019–2021 and 2024 model years that appear to have the same defect but fell outside the original recall’s date range. This means the total number of potentially affected vehicles could exceed 800,000 units. If you own any of these models and years with the L87 engine option, your vehicle may be at risk regardless of your current mileage or maintenance history.
What Is the Manufacturing Defect, and How Does It Cause Engine Failure?
The root cause of the L87 failures lies in manufacturing defects in the engine’s connecting rods and crankshaft—the heart of any engine’s rotating assembly. Specifically, GM identified sediment embedded on the connecting rods, oil gallery contamination, and crankshaft specification and finish problems as the culprits. These manufacturing flaws create a scenario where the engine’s critical bearings—the thin metal layers that allow the crankshaft to spin freely—cannot maintain proper lubrication. Without adequate lubrication between the crankshaft and its bearings, metal-on-metal friction rapidly escalates, generating heat and wear. The failure mechanism is swift and catastrophic.
As bearing lubrication breaks down, the engine transitions from normal operation to bearing failure and loss of propulsion in a matter of minutes—sometimes seconds. Owners report that their engines simply fail without warning: the vehicle stalls, won’t restart, and subsequent diagnostics reveal catastrophic internal engine damage that cannot be repaired, only replaced. The lawsuit alleges this is not a matter of owner neglect or poor maintenance; the defect manifests regardless of how carefully an owner maintains their vehicle. Among the 14,332 field complaints involving allegations of loss of propulsion, many owners had completed all scheduled maintenance and were following the manufacturer’s service intervals. Some experienced failure at 1,200 miles; others at 5,000 miles or 15,000 miles. The defect is indiscriminate, which is why it took 28,102 total field complaints before GM issued a recall.
How Many Complaints Did GM Receive Before Acting?
General Motors received 28,102 field complaints or incident reports related to L87 engine failures before issuing a recall in April 2025. Of those complaints, 14,332 specifically involved allegations of loss of propulsion—situations where the engine failed completely and left the owner stranded or unable to operate their vehicle. This threshold of complaints is extraordinary; manufacturers typically issue recalls for far fewer reported incidents. For context, some recent recalls have been triggered by single-digit complaint counts for safety issues, yet GM did not move to recall the L87 until the problem had metastasized across tens of thousands of vehicles.
What makes these numbers even more troubling is the timeline and the rate at which complaints were likely accumulating. Vehicles with defective L87 engines were failing with as little as 1,200 miles on the odometer, meaning problems appeared almost immediately after purchase or very early in ownership. This pattern should have been visible to GM months or even years before April 2025, yet the company continued to sell affected vehicles. The complaint in the class action points out that GM had the data, the customer reports, and the service records necessary to identify the defect pattern—dealerships were repairing or replacing dozens of failed engines under warranty—yet the company delayed issuing a recall. During that delay, additional owners purchased L87-equipped vehicles unaware of the risk, only to experience failure shortly after.
What Is GM’s Recall Remedy, and Is It Adequate?
General Motors’ April 2025 recall (25V-274) mandates a specific remedial process for the 597,630 affected vehicles. The remedy consists of four steps: first, dealerships perform a detailed inspection of the engine; second, if the engine passes inspection, GM installs a higher viscosity oil (thicker oil that provides better bearing protection); third, the dealership replaces the oil fill cap and oil filter; and fourth, owners receive an insert in their owner’s manual about the defect. The remedy essentially treats the symptom by improving lubrication through thicker oil and does not address the underlying manufacturing defects in the connecting rods and crankshaft. Here is the critical limitation: GM estimates that approximately 3 percent of the engines affected will require full engine replacement due to existing damage discovered during inspection. This means that roughly 17,929 engines—nearly 18,000—are expected to require complete replacement.
However, this estimate may prove optimistic given the NHTSA’s subsequent investigation. After the recall was issued, NHTSA received 36 reports from owners who had already completed the prescribed remedy and then experienced engine failure anyway. This post-recall failure rate raised immediate questions about whether the fix actually works. NHTSA opened a formal investigation to determine if the higher viscosity oil, cap, and filter replacement are sufficient to prevent future failures in vehicles that had initially passed inspection. The lawsuit and the NHTSA investigation both suggest that GM’s remedy may be treating a symptom rather than solving the underlying problem, and owners who complete the recall cannot be confident their vehicle is safe.
What Happened After the Recall, and Why Did NHTSA Open Another Investigation?
In what many experts view as the most damning evidence that GM’s recall fix is insufficient, NHTSA received 36 reports of engine failure from owners who had already completed the April 2025 recall procedure. These owners had taken their vehicles to dealerships, had the inspection completed, received the higher viscosity oil and new cap, and then experienced engine failure anyway—sometimes weeks or months later, sometimes within days. This post-recall failure rate contradicts the implicit promise of the recall: that the prescribed remedies would restore safety and reliability to these vehicles. NHTSA opened a formal investigation (designated RQ26001) to assess whether the remedial measures GM described are actually adequate to prevent future failures.
Simultaneously, NHTSA launched a second, broader investigation covering 286,051 vehicles from 2019–2021 and 2024 model years that were outside the original recall’s scope but exhibited the same defect pattern. This expanded investigation suggests that the initial recall may have missed significant numbers of affected vehicles. Together, these NHTSA actions represent a direct challenge to GM’s claim that the April 2025 recall has addressed the problem. The timeline is particularly significant: the lawsuits began in March 2026, and NHTSA’s investigations are ongoing as of June 2026, meaning that owners currently lack definitive, government-backed answers about whether their vehicles are actually safe even after completing GM’s prescribed recall work. This uncertainty has driven many owners to pursue the class action, seeking compensation for their losses and the diminished value of their vehicles.
What Is the Consolidated Class Action Lawsuit, and What Are the Claims?
The consolidated class action complaint, filed on February 26, 2026, and consolidated in federal court on March 1, 2026, is a 389-page document that alleges General Motors knowingly sold defective vehicles and failed to promptly recall them despite overwhelming field data. Hagens Berman was named interim co-lead counsel, and the lawsuit consolidates multiple individual complaints into a single action on behalf of all owners of the affected vehicles. The complaint claims that the L87 engine contains a dangerous bearing defect that causes total engine failure without warning signs and that GM knew about the defect through its own data systems, warranty claims, and customer complaints but failed to act until after 28,102 incidents had been reported. The federal court has already issued initial deadlines: GM filed its answer and defenses on or before March 30, 2026, and plaintiffs filed responses on May 29, 2026.
The case is in its early stages, meaning no settlement has been reached and no trial date has been set. Owners who believe their vehicles are affected should not expect immediate resolution, as class actions typically take months or years to reach settlement or judgment. However, the lawsuit has multiple angles of attack: breach of warranty, fraud, negligent failure to disclose, and violations of state consumer protection statutes. Each of these claims seeks to hold GM accountable for selling defective vehicles and failing to remedy the defect promptly.
What Should Owners Do Now, and What Is the Path Forward?
If you own a 2019–2024 model year Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, Yukon XL, or Cadillac Escalade equipped with the 6.2-liter L87 V8 engine, you have several critical steps to consider immediately. First, check whether your vehicle is included in the April 2025 recall by visiting NHTSA’s website (safercar.gov) or contacting your GM dealership directly. You can provide your vehicle’s VIN, and the dealership can confirm whether your specific vehicle is part of recall 25V-274. If your vehicle is covered, schedule an appointment for the recall service—the inspection, oil change, cap, and owner’s manual insert are performed at no cost to you under the recall program. However, completion of the recall does not eliminate your exposure entirely, given the 36 post-recall failures already reported and the ongoing NHTSA investigations.
Consider whether you are comfortable continuing to drive and rely upon a vehicle that has experienced engine failures even after the prescribed remedy, or whether you wish to pursue compensation through the class action lawsuit. You may also have the option to pursue a lemon law claim depending on your state’s specific requirements and your vehicle’s service history. Join the consolidated class action by documenting your experience and contacting Hagens Berman or other counsel handling the litigation. As the case progresses, class members will have opportunities to claim compensation either as part of a negotiated settlement or through a judgment if the case goes to trial. The path forward is uncertain, but the convergence of the massive complaint volume, the post-recall failures, and the NHTSA investigations suggests that courts and regulators take the defect very seriously.
Conclusion
The GM L87 Engine Defect Class Action represents one of the most significant recent manufacturing defects to affect high-volume consumer vehicles. Over 597,000 trucks and SUVs—many costing $70,000 or more—contain engines prone to catastrophic failure due to manufacturing defects in connecting rods and crankshaft components. General Motors received 28,102 field complaints before issuing a recall in April 2025, yet even after the recall, owners have reported continued failures.
The consolidated lawsuit, now underway with Hagens Berman as interim co-lead counsel, seeks compensation for affected owners and accountability from the manufacturer. If you own one of the affected vehicles, take action now: verify whether your vehicle is covered by the recall, complete the service if it is, and consider your options regarding compensation through the class action lawsuit. The case is in its early stages, meaning the outcome is not yet determined, but the evidence accumulated so far—thousands of complaints, post-recall failures, and NHTSA investigations—indicates that this defect will remain a significant issue in vehicle litigation and owner compensation for months or years to come. Do not delay in documenting your vehicle’s issues and asserting your rights as a consumer.
Sources
- GM 6.2L V8 L87 Engine Failure Class Action Lawsuit on OpenClassActions.com — lawsuit tracker entry, with the filings and the current posture.
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