Subaru Vehicles with Defective Denso Low-Pressure Fuel Pumps Class Action

Denso makes low-pressure fuel pumps that are installed in Subaru vehicles, including the 2019 Impreza, Ascent, Legacy, or Outback. The complaint alleges the Denso pumps can cause engines to fail to accelerate or shut down and vehicles to stall, putting the occupants in danger. Worst of all, a limited recall of the vehicles offers a “repair” that the complaint alleges causes even more damage to the fuel pump modules.

In Denso’s Part 573 Recall Report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the company admitted that the fuel pumps had a defective impeller: “An impeller in some low pressure fuel pumps may become deformed under certain conditions which could render the fuel pump inoperable…”

Denso says, if “an impeller is manufactured with a lower density, and contains a lower surface strength or is exposed to production solvent drying for a longer period of time, higher levels of surface cracking may occur which, when excessive fuel absorption occurs, may result in impeller deformation.” The deformed impeller may “create interference with the fuel pump body,” so that the fuel pump no longer works.

Denso has not offered a repair. Instead, it says, “The remedy program, if any, will be determined by vehicle manufacturers.”

Subaru issued its recall of fewer than 200,000 vehicles on April 16, 2020, some days before Denso made its recall filing. The complaint quotes Subaru’s description of the problem: “If the low pressure fuel pump becomes inoperative, the check engine warning light or malfunction indicator light may illuminate, and/or the engine may run rough. In the worst case, an inoperative fuel pump may result in the engine stalling without the ability to restart the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.”

The complaint alleges, first, that Subaru did not recall all of its vehicles that were equipped with the problematic fuel pump.

Second, it claims that the remedy is worse than ineffective: “[T]he Recall Repair process deviates from industry norms and carries a substantial risk of creating additional damage to the Vehicles’ fuel pump module.”

This is because, the complaint says, the company is not replacing the entire fuel pump module but only replacing the fuel pump motor: “This is an extremely delicate and difficult procedure with a high risk of damaging the entire fuel pump module, which can result in gas leaking out of the furl tank, creating hazardous conditions…”

The Nationwide Class for this action is all current and former owners and lessees of a 2019 Impreza, Ascent, Legacy, or Outback, made between June 2018 and February 2019 with a part number prefix of 42022, that was bought or leased in the fifty US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or any other US territory or possession.

The complaint also proposes two Multi-State Consumer Protection Classes, a Multi-State Strict Liability Class, a Multi-State Negligent Recall Class, and seven state classes. See the complaint linked below, pages 131-134, for details.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Defective Automobile, Fuel Pumps