General Motors may pay individual car owners as much as $800 for a class auction lawsuit on some vehicles 17 years old and covered under a class-action lawsuit, according to The Detroit News.
Most of the claims associated with the lawsuit were paid before GM went into bankruptcy in 2009. The carmaker agreed in 2008 to pay for as many as 35 million GM vehicles supplied with coolant linked to engine failures or cooling system problems.
General Motors began using “Dex-Cool” in 1995 model vehicles and received thousands of complaints from owners for engine and radiator problems. In 2003, a series of class-action lawsuits were filed.
According to the newspaper, 11,300 claims remain, with approved claims totaling $1.3 million for 6,685 owners and another 4,614 claims still awaiting review.
Under a proposed settlement, the “Dex-Cool” owners will get a $2.2 million claim as one of the many debtors.
The owners will get stock in new GM that will be sold for cash to cover the claims. It’s not clear how much the stock will cover of the claims.
The suit covers many vehicles from the 1995-2004 model years that GM long since stopped building, including the Pontiac Aztec, Grand Am and Grand Prix.
Article Last Updated: March 28, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
