Mazda Cylinder Heads Not in California Emissions Warranty Class Action

Mazda Motor of America, Inc. distributes some of its Mazda vehicles in California and so is required to provide a California Emissions Warranty for those vehicles that covers emissions-related parts—in particular, high-priced emissions-related parts. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Mazda does not cover combustion chamber cylinder heads under its California Emissions Warranty, even though the complaint says these are related to emissions and are high-priced parts.

The California Emissions Warranty requires that automakers offer coverage for defects “which cause the failure of a warranted part [or] which would cause the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic malfunction indicator light [MIL] to illuminate, for a period of three years or 50,000 miles, whichever occurs first[.]” For high-priced parts, the coverage period is longer, seven years or 70,000 miles. The warranted parts are those installed by the manufacturer and related to regulated emissions.

“Yet, in an effort to minimize its warranty costs,” the complaint alleges, “Mazda has unilaterally, wrongfully, and unlawfully excluded many parts, including but not limited to cylinder heads, from being covered under Mazda’s emissions warranty…”

How do we know these parts should be included? In a June 1990 list of “emissions-related” parts, the complaint claims, the California Air Resource Board (CARB) expressly included cylinder heads. The complaint also claims that when cylinder heads do not perform as they should, emissions increase and the vehicle’s MIL lights up. They are also high-priced parts, the complaint claims.

Still, Mazda has refused to treat cylinder heads as being among the warranted parts, the complaint alleges, and has required that vehicle owners and lessees pay for their own repairs of these items.

Two classes and two subclasses have been defined for this action:

• The California Class is all persons in California who have been owners or lessees of class vehicles and whose cylinder heads are not covered for seven years or 70,000 miles.
• The California Out-of-Pocket Subclass is all persons in California who have been owners or lessees of class vehicles and who have paid for repairs or parts pertaining to defective cylinder heads which occurred outside of the vehicle’s powertrain warranty period but before seven years or 70,000 miles.
• The Reg 177 Class is all persons who have been owners or lessees of class vehicles in a state which, in the year their vehicle was distributed, had adopted the California Emissions Warranty and whose cylinder heads are not covered for seven years or 70,000 miles.
• The Reg 177 Out-of-Pocket Subclass is all persons who have been owners or lessees of class vehicles in a state which, in the year their vehicle was distributed, had adopted the California Emissions Warranty and who have paid for repairs and parts pertaining to defective cylinder heads which occurred outside of the vehicle’s powertrain warranty period but before seven years or 70,000 miles.

The class vehicles are vehicles distributed by Mazda in California under the Mazda brand name.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: California Emissions Warranty, Emissions, Refusal to Cover Repairs, Warranty