Nearly 2,000 owners of Renault, Dacia, and Nissan cars are set to file a criminal complaint against Renault Group and Nissan on Monday before a French criminal court in Nanterre, the plaintiffs’ lawyer announced on Friday.
The complaint will be filed for “deception, endangering the lives of others, fraud, and deceptive commercial practices,” lawyer Christophe Lèguevaques said. “Today, there are almost 2,000 people (1,789). And as the complaints continue, we will be even more. It is no longer simply a face-to-face between a giant and an isolated person.”
Specifically, cars equipped with 1.2 litre TCE or DIG-T petrol engines, manufactured by Renault between October 2012 and June 2016, suffer from excessive oil consumption, leading to engine failure after 40,000-60,000 kilometres of use, often on the motorway, to the surprise of the motorists, the lawyer noted.
Consumer association UFC-Que Choisir already warned of this issue as far back as 2019. A joint action was launched by consumers in January 2022.
For its part, Renault insists that it consistently assesses all its vehicles and listens to complaints brought before it. It says that it has responded to complaints by consumers, which the plaintiffs reject, and that its vehicles are “safe and compliant with regulations.”
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Produced in Valladolid (Spain) and Sunderland (UK), the 400,000 affected engines can be found across the Renault range (Clio, Mégane, Kangoo, etc), but also in brands such as Dacia (Duster, Dokker, Lodgy), Mercedes (Citan), or Nissan (Juke 1.2 DIG-T, Qashqai 2, Pulsar).
In France alone, 133,050 vehicles are equipped with the suspect engines.
