Ever have an engine break down and disagree with the diagnosis? One trucking company had its warranty claim denied by Cummins twice and decided to take the engine manufacturer to court.
Engines can break down for a variety of reasons, which is why many vehicle owners opt for the extended warranty. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based SBS Transport did just that. However, that warranty did not hold up for two Cummins X15 engines.
In 2018, SBS Transport bought a Peterbilt equipped with a Cummins X15 engine. For nearly $6,000, a five-year/500,000-mile extended warranty was added to the engine. A second Peterbilt with the same warranty was bought a year later.
Within the life of the warranty, the “check engine” light came on in the first Peterbilt. A certified shop could not find out why the light came on, so it called Cummins for assistance.
The shop was told that excessive dirt and dust were the cause, which is not covered by the warranty.
SBS Transport took the truck to a Cummins facility, where broken piston rings were discovered. The lawsuit claims there was no evidence of maintenance failure that would cause excessive dirt and dust and that none of the typical reasons that cause dirt ingestion were present.
Cummins said a complete replacement was needed, costing about $50,000. After SBS Transport contested, a cheaper repair of about $30,000 was offered. Consequently, the truck was out of service for five months, resulting in about $120,000 in losses for the trucking company.
A similar situation happened with the second Peterbilt within a year.
According to the lawsuit, the two trucks operated primarily on paved roads, making dirt and dust ingestion rare. Furthermore, Paccar has repeatedly refuted Cummins’s dusted engine claims, as that would imply its components are to blame.
SBS Transport claims that Cummins has since changed the part numbers for piston rings on X15 engines, suggesting it was aware of premature failure and redesigned or altered the rings to prevent it.
“Rather than repair and rebuild Plaintiff’s X15 engines free of charge under the terms of Plaintiff’s extended warranty certificates, Cummins denied coverage on a pretextual basis, falsely claiming that Plaintiff’s engines failed because of excessive dirt and debris entering the engine during operation and claiming that this failure mode justified a denial of warranty coverage,” the lawsuit states.
Cummins moved to have the case thrown out.
The engine manufacturer argued that, even if dirt and dust were not the cause, SBS Transport offered no evidence of a defect covered by the warranty.
Therefore, the trucking company cannot prove breach of contract.
Specifically, the warranty covers defects in Cummins materials or factory workmanship. Although an expert ruled out dusting, he did not identify the actual cause, let alone that it was due to material or factory workmanship.
In June, SBS Transport notified the court that a settlement had been reached. Consequently, it will dismiss the case. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
While the trucking company filed for class certification, the court had not granted certification before the settlement. LL
Credit: Source link
