- Stellantis refuses to appear in court and forces the courts to take legal action
- AFESTEL denounces distraction strategies and smokescreens to avoid assuming responsibilities
10/03/2025
The pressure of those affected by the Puretech engines and the legal battle initiated in December 2024 are beginning to bear fruit. Thanks to out-of-court negotiations with Stellantis, AFESTEL has obtained reimbursements for breakdowns already paid by users for an amount exceeding 100,000 euros. It is expected to reach one million euros in reimbursements during this month. In the meantime, every week Afestel receives dozens of new cases of owners forced to pay for the breakdowns of their PureTech engine due to Stellantis’ refusal to admit responsibility.
On the other hand, those affected who have received notification of compensation from Stellantis must decide whether to accept the partial compensation or continue with the process to obtain compensation according to the actual depreciation of their vehicle, taking into account that each case is particular. The manufacturing defect of the engines is widely known, hence the value of the affected vehicles plummets in the second-hand market. In a great majority of cases the resale price is practically nil, which implies an enormous economic damage for the owners.
The judicial process is slow, with around 100 new lawsuits being filed every month in search of a quick and fair settlement that avoids the statute of limitations on the oldest cases. So far, about 50 lawsuits have already been heard. Stellantis has refused to appear before any of these proceedings, forcing those affected to continue with the judicial process with the usual expense of public resources and contravening the spirit of the new Law of Efficiency of Justice, which stresses the importance of resorting to conciliation as a means to avoid saturation of the courts and facilitate agreements.
So far, the strategy of the manufacturer of the more than 750,000 defective engines, Stellantis, seems clear: to gain time. To this end, the company is resorting to distraction strategies, creating smokescreens to avoid taking responsibility.