- They demand reimbursement of repair and maintenance costs.
- Hundreds of affected people walk through the streets of the capital in a slow march
- 750,000 users affected in Spain, 130,000 in Madrid
21/12/2024
Before 9:00 am this morning, the demonstrators called by AFESTEL (Association of Affected by Stellantis) began to arrive to make known the dramatic situation that thousands of families are living throughout the national territory. Many from Madrid, but also from outside the Community. Gathered in Doctor Esquerdo street in Madrid, the members of the board of AFESTEL set up an information point for those affected and citizens in general who want information on how to file a claim against Stellantis for the failed Puretech engines.
At around 9:45 a.m., with protest signs, whistles and loudspeakers mounted on the vans, almost a hundred vehicles began a slow march at all times, accompanied by the police, who ensured that the demonstration passed without incident up to the arrival point established at the Bernabéu Stadium. At this point, AFESTEL representatives again reminded the demonstrators of the need for those who are suffering from this failure to join the mass movement to put pressure on the multinational, and stressed that it is essential to keep all the invoices of the interventions carried out on the cars. The demonstration broke up at 1 p.m. in the Plaza de Lima.
The judicial route
In parallel to a calendar of demonstrations that began in Catalonia and ended today in Madrid, representatives of the victims of the failed Stellantis engines filed the first lawsuits against the factory a week ago in the courts of the city of Vigo, where the company is headquartered.
A judicial process was thus initiated with 112 conciliation claims, which should lead the French multinational to compensate these victims with a total compensation of one million one hundred and fifty thousand euros.
The engines of the fiasco: Puretech
Recall that this is a manufacturing anomaly of this type of engines used in brands such as Opel, Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Jeep and Toyota, which consists of a gradual degradation of the timing belt, resulting in high oil consumption, malfunction of the vacuum pump and other serious failures that lead to premature engine degradation. All this leads to costly repairs for the owners, since the dealers do not attend to the claims on the grounds that the warranty periods have expired or that the repairs have not been carried out at the brand’s own dealership.
WHAT IS AFESTEL?
The Association of Affected Stellantis (AFESTEL) currently represents more than 6,000 affected people, ready to go to court to defend their right to compensation, aware that the only way to force the company to find a solution to compensate for the economic loss is to act collectively..