Navistar Inc. has just been found guilty of fraud and has been ordered to pay over $30 million to just one trucking company. If other carriers chose to bring similar suits against them, Navistar could be looking at judgements totaling more than $2 billion.
After a long and contentious legal battle, a jury in Tennessee ruled in favor of Milan Supply Chain Solutions, a trucking company which bought 243 trucks with Maxxforce engines from Navistar between 2011 and 2012.
According to the lawsuit, Navistar’s Maxxforce 13L engines were plagued with issues. Indeed, Navistar has spent hundreds of millions of dollars replacing faulty parts. But according to the testimony of multiple former Navistar executives, many issues were known even before the engines were put on the market.
Jim Hebe, one former executive, testified that when it came to the Maxxforce engines, the company “did not test s—.” Internal emails showed that executives were told repeatedly that “we have no field testing.”
Maxxforce was Navistar’s first attempt at designing their own heavy-duty engine emissions system, and according to Milan’s lawsuit, Navistar knew that the engines had serious flaws, but sold them anyway so that customers would become a test fleet to benefit the next year’s engine. That plan didn’t work out, as Navistar had to change up their engine exhaust system entirely just a few years later.
Milan’s fraud case was based on the claim that since Navistar knew about and failed to disclose the engine’s serious flaws, they misled the carrier into buying trucks. Milan’s attorneys claimed that the company had lost over $35,000 per truck in trade-in values alone, due to the flaws in the engines and their components.
In response, one head Navistar executive testified that keeping known defects from customers was “normal business practice.”
In total, the jury ordered Navistar to pay $10,800,000 in actual damages and $20,000,000 in punitive damages. According to one Milan attorney, “It appeared the jury’s punitive damage verdict was a message to Navistar that it is not acceptable for the company to cover up important defects in the engines and the engines’ testing program in order to make a sale.”
In a statement, Navistar said that it “strongly disagrees with plaintiff counsel’s characterizations of Navistar’s conduct” and pointed to several other similar cases that were brought against it in six other states that it won in court. Navistar is also considering appealing the verdict.
If the ruling in the Milan case stands however, that could open up Navistar to other lawsuits.
It is unclear how many engines were purchased by the other companies who already brought lawsuits against Navistar, but in total 60,000 Maxxforce engines were sold to trucking companies. Even if a jury awards no punitive damages at all, and only awards actual damages of $35,000 in lost trade-in-value as it did in the Milan case, those 60,000 engines could turn in to a $2.1 billion hole in Navistar’s pocket.
If a jury were to award the other companies the same amount of actual and punitive damages per engine as it did to Milan ($126,748.97), Navistar could be ordered to pay around $7.6 billion.
Source: gobytrucknews, truckinginfo, businessinsider, thetrucker, prnewswire
Andrew H says
Those engines were junk, and guess the cat’s out of the bag that they indeed, were junk.
When I worked for Werner, didn’t take them long to sell those lemons off after 300k miles. Those Prostars fell right apart.
Thirty8 says
I endorse your comment driver!👍
troy says
I hope they go after cummins next for that pos isx 450 that had the exploding fuel pumps that wiped out the motors.
JoJo says
Which became a recall to replace the tappet. If there was damage to the pump, it would only be replaced IF it was still under warranty. If not, the customer was on the hook.
We performed about 60 of them in our shop 🙁 such crap. I’m glad I am slowly backing away from this game!
Thirty8 says
They need to add Detroit to the list for them detroit dd13,dd15 regen deadly motors to the list…….they are straight garbage!!!
Jose and Marisela C. Flores says
Does anybody know if there is a class action suit against Detroit dd15 manufacturer, we have a 2013 cascadian that bought one year ago and it’s been in the shop about 10 times with one thing going bad or another plus warranty not want to cover repairs, please if anybody can help please let us know so we can add our name to the list. Only getting 5 to 6 gpm on our truck.
Curtis says
there is no class action lawsuit. some trucks are just lemons. or previous owner abused the truck. or it was a fleet truck. it happens when you buy a used truck. even if you bought a new truck it could be a lemon or last until the next becoming of jesus.
Gary Nerison says
I bought a used 2012 prostar with 264000 miles and put 27000 miles on it and in 4 months paid around 17,000.00 in tows and repairs, put me out of business, and the dealer said I got a great buy, ya right, junk all the way
Dominique Ross says
This sounds like my horror story with the 2013 pro star it is the worse investment I have ever made in my life
Antonio J. Vergara says
True!!
Tim C says
Perhaps the jury should also include penalties against our beloved federal government, for forcing manufacturers to add unnecessary, unreliable, and ungodly expensive emmissions controls to heavy trucks. While we gripe about the mfgs, EPA is solely responsible for this fiasco……the jury ahould direct epa officials to be named as personally liable for damages as well.
Bob says
I agree. While company’s did not disclose potential problems with their engine systems, the EPA & California have forced the hands of many companies to send unsatisfactorily tested equipment on the road in an attempt to stay competitive. A pox on all their houses.
Daniel R. Bazinet says
Indeed, other parts of the world with less stringent environmental regulations certainly have seen a different side to these “unreliable” engines we’ve been forced to deal with. Up until 2010 Australia still had no DPF system on the exact motor Cummins sold over here, guys down under actually liked that engine while it was a Trainwreck in North America. All for what? A neglible change of harmful of emissions. I’d like to see the impact on the environment it has taken implement these systems. From casting extra material, mining Platinum etc for DPF filters, economic costs and down time. The extra trucks required to rescue loads from breakdowns, a now horrible used truck market. So much waste yet that it wouldn’t surprise me if we’ve done more damage.
William P McKechnie says
It is almost 100 % guaranteed that we’ve done more damage and raised the cost of everything while doing it!
Larry says
Thank the inventor of the internet, Al Gore. An inconvient truth. Death by PowerPoint.
Chris lee says
Amen
Nicolas says
And the funny part about particle filters is that, while they do remove the large soot particles, their post-regen emissions are ultra fine particles… Which we absolutely don’t know if they may be less or even potentially more harmful than the original stuff. Those extra fine particles may very well travel straight through the blood barriers in our lungs and no serious studies has yet been made about that. The EPA ’07 mandate may very well have worsened the health impacts of diesel engines.
Mattt says
Tim, you read my mind. In my eyes, there is no “bulletproof” new diesel engine in the USA thanks to the restrictions placed on the manufacturers and the industry by EPA and the likes of it. Guess Caterpillar was smart to exit the market when they did. I will not excuse Navistar, either. Thorough testing should have been conducted. It’s coming back to bite pretty hard.
Scott Rupert says
You nailed it, friend!
Jared Sundstrom says
Agreed, I actually have a 1975 International pickup and it can run just fine with almost half of the emissions garbage taken out, I’m sure it’s the same with these motors nowadays. They turn these potentially reliable powerhouses into underpowered, overcomplicated slugs that break all the time. The EPA needs to be held responsible for what they are doing as well.
Melissa Guidry says
Glad you said it…My thoughts exactly
Currley says
Add the cummins ISX 871 to the list. They are bankrupting owner operators.
Itshi says
Can Kenworth be sued for their Faulty Clean Power System which was a failure from the very beginning and now they won’t even recognize it. I spent thousands because of it.
Gerald Evans says
So, when is someone going to launch a class action lawsuit against Cummins for their ISX junk engine which goes into self destruct mode at the 650K Kilometer (400K miles) mark?
Jimmy Jones says
No way Navistar should have every sold those engine as they were but in a pre 2000 environment, this would have never happened. I blame the government just as much as I blame Navistar for this because every engine manufacturer struggled with the bullshit the government forced them to put on these truck engines and none of the first generation stuff worked. Not one manufacturer was successful with it first which means that people were test mules with that. I suspect the government was just fine (planned) with trucking companies taking the hit and being the test mules.
DAN says
I own the 2012 maxxforce and I was lucky to get a warranty in frame engine replacement rebuild it was a 30-page invoice with all the parts they had to replace it was still a nightmare and this court case proves what I’ve said all along you can fix it and you can fix it and you can fix it but at the end of the day if you’re a trucker you looking for trade value three years after you buy it so you can replace it with new equipment and these trucks you literally could not even give away when you were done with them even if they only had five hundred thousand miles on them so $35,000 us per truck Navistar is actually getting away easy because that doesn’t include them nightmares the bankruptcies I’m sure these some of these trucks families were torn apart and people lost their houses and cars and everything so hopefully the nightmare is drawing to a close and I’m from Canada where there’s another class action lawsuit going on for the same reason and I look forward to getting my check in the next year or so
doug says
Hell I bought 8- 2011 Maxxforce IHC’s in 2013 within a year sold, I lost so much money I sold 4 of the trucks for $24,000.00 after paying $ 70,000 each for them, I still have 4 that are worth NOTHING just taking up room at my lot.
Gmckelvin says
How do you get involved in a lawsuit against Navistar
Edwin COOKBEY says
I totally went bankrupt I had the truck been in the shop since we had it we have piles paperwork for repairs it’s so sad now they tell us that the truck cost $11,000 to get fixed I have never in my life seen something like this before everything I have lost
William Batezell says
How do we go about filing similar suits? We lost all kinds of money and our ass with a 2009 International Prostar with the shit motor and now a 2014 International Junkstar.
Jay says
Huh?? A normal person would learn his lesson the first time…what,now you are going to buy a 2018?
Bill says
Get behind a faulty paccar motor! Headaches and eye burning cannot be healthy for us breathing that crap all day out here.
George R Boyd says
How about Cummins, I have had every major component fail.. in under 200K
Just my repairs alone over 30K ISX15 = JUNK
Curtis says
the new x15’s love to split the block i heard
Frank Klima says
This is the same company that built the Ford 6.0 diesel in the mid 2000’s. It had numerous problems, especially injectors. Most were never fully fixed.
Pat K Anaheim CA says
I agree California air resources Board is full of lunatics we in the trucking industry need some rich person to sue the hell out of them and make it class-action and bankrupt California and illuminate CARB ….
Jay says
Mygosh!!! 2010 I remember calling a Navistar dealer in Chitown,I was ready to buy,I loved the look of the Pro star more than I did the Fugly Cascadia,for some reason I wasn t able to make it and the whole deal fell thru,I was upset at the time bc I was getting a 10k discount…looking back and in hindsight,I sure am happy I didn t buy it,it would ve broke me,I heard the horror stories of companies having to pay tow trucks,drivers not making any money bc they were at the shop….I don t even care for Navistar anymore,and it is sad,it was and still is a great company with a rich history,I hope they can survive it.
Charles Ball says
There is a International sitting on the side of the highway near my house that had a fire, the driver disconnected the trailer. I think the fire may have come out of the rear of the truck, like it had a stuck brake or something
Charles Ball says
Though, it could have been the exhaust system on fire, for all I know.
Teddy Saye says
This is squarely on the epa and it’s bs emissions regulations. It’s caused irrevocable harm to us truckers and the manufacturer of our equipment. Blame Obama and his EPA.
Craig says
It actually goes back further than Barack Obama it kind of goes Back to george bush Junior only barely winning the election And not fully replacing all of Clinton’s EPA staff after the EPA staff kept their jobs they just went full throttle on emissions Moving the Emissions schedule up the 03 emissions were meant for 06 those 07 standards weren’t supposed to come till 10 or 12 just left little time for development and trouble-shooting The manufactures pushing engines into vehicles that were completely designed or tested killed people literally who puts an untested motor in an ambulance the ford 6.0 went straight to ambulances of course in the manufacture’s started lying like Volkswagen and figuring out other ways to get them to pass I have stayed company driver I don’t want to liability these new trucks
Don M says
They need to put the people that passed these excessively restrictive EPA regulations on a guillotine, and cut their expletive-expletive heads off.
I can see a phase in of a tested working design change that reduces emissions, but when the government forces engine makers to rush to production with garbage like they have put out since late 2008, you end up with just what I predicted, reliability issues that were worse than what I imagined. The engines literally put some small operators out of business.
It is a criminal act that the government forced upon the engine makers, and the fault lies squarely with the government, but who gets left holding the bag?
Don’t forget Caterpillar flat out told the government that they couldn’t meet the regulations and stopped making on road diesel engines.
I’m all for clean air, but not when the standards are ushered in at such a rapid pace that it makes engines unreliable, and or greatly reduces the effective time to overhaul. This kind of thinking will decimate the industries that are forced into compliance.
Showtime says
There’s a reason Why I drive my 97 kenworth w900 everyday. I way be old.. but does it run good…
Jim says
What about all the problems with Navistars 6.0 seems like the folks that bought those should have a recourse also..one shouldn’t have to spend 4 to 5 grand on it after buying the vehicle to make it a better engine…which navistar should have did in the first place.
Doug says
What about the Nexus RV built on a International with Maxxforce engines
tv says
How could a individual go about filling a claim for damages.
Bought a used 2012 International truck with Maxforce engine.
Spent over 25,000 in repairs and 30,000 loss in business revenue.
Red says
I don’t get why in the world the EPA was allowed to enforce such restrictions and requirements for technology that wasn’t and still isn’t reliable. WTF? Honestly just think about every minute a poorly running emission plagued engine ran, all of the pollution coming out. Hell I’ve been following several trucks before that would absolutely burn my eyes so bad I had to pull off and let them get way on down the road! You’re telling me that’s better for me and the environment than a little bit of black smoke? BS! What about all those older wrecker trucks coming out to tow all the new trucks that broke down? Anyways I’d say internal combustion engines will be long gone within the next 50 years or maybe even sooner so all of this headache will have been for absolutely nothing! Wrap your head around that! It’s just crazy
Red says
The EPA should have to eat the bill for all emission-reducing equipment on trucks period. They don’t need to be on there in order for me to safely drive down the road so if they want it installed to help the environment, that’s fine, but they need to pay for every single thing that goes wrong including tows and downtime along with the actual parts to fix the junk. Why do I have to pay for it all? Or even the manufacturer? And I’m not just talking about the MaxxForce. They were junk all around, not just emissions issues but had actual engine reliability issues from brand new and should have been sued for letting them be sold to the public
Groo says
Everyone with half a brain knew that these trucks were going to be crap. Same as a 90hp emission restricted vette. None of the companies had a chance to get it right. Why is it a shock that they are crap?
Standard Man says
Just bought a 2014 International ProStar with an ISX 450. First thing I did was delete the EGR drill out the DPF to reduce back pressure and had the engine ECU remapped so that it didn’t make 25 PSI of boost at idle! They have to boost them at idle just to keep em running there is so much backpressure. I can run in California and pass a visual but not a sniff test…but if they sniff it and violate it I just don’t go back to California…but the truck instantly went from 5.7mpg overall to 7.5! Imagine that! Using less fuel and hopefully, like by buddy, I can coax 1 million miles out of her (she had 445,000 when i bought her) and even then I can do an in-frame and keep her going. Imagine all the throw away trucks that have caused SO MUCH more greenhouse gasses to be produced in manufACTURING MORE JUNK REPLACEMENTS. The independents like me can sneak by by defeating these pesky emissions but large fleets cannot. And I cannot go to a dealer for ANY engine issue at all. I have to go to independants. Pain in the ARSE! Until the EPA mandates VERY long-term emissions wanties they will be faced with masses of people like me who protest through action.
Jerry i says
How much was your delete and wherr can you get it done
David H says
Be careful deleting or messing with emissions. $100,000 fine to the up and $25,000 to the mechanic performing the emission modification and possible $25,000 to the owner of the vehicle.
Buy the maximum extended warranty as you can. If you don’t get any extended coverage shame on you. No matter what truck you purchase I would get as much coverage as you can. I work for a International dealer so I know all about the Maxxforce 13L and ISX issues. You can consider a full service lease with rental coverage. These engine are going to breakdown. I can say 2017 emissions are looking a lot better. We see a lot less repairs at this time vs. 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2004 emission changes. Good luck drivers. Again don’t forget to get the most engine and emission warranty coverage as possible. SCR catalyst cost about $8000 just for the part.
Gregory G Baron says
How do I join a class action lawsuit with a 2013 maxforce engine?? It should have never sold. Navistar is flawless, derelict in its consumer responsibility and criminal in all sspects.
6.5.2018
Rick Benson says
International Pro Star has ruined my life
Charis says
International Prostar is Evil and Navistar is the Devil. I’m bankrupt because of them
Joe Powers says
Navistar would not even help us ! Even as we filed for bankruptcy and turned in the trucks.
Tanya Radcliffe says
I need a lawyer had a 2008 maxforce that since we got it been in and out of the shop, paid roughly 30,000 in repairs still did not work right, but for only a week then back in the shop. Finally had to let go but now the finance company has put it on my credit. I have paid for the truck 2 or 3 times over with making payments and repairs I need help.
Johnny Bullard says
I have only 2 buses with Maxxforce 7 engines but I am already replacing turbos on one with less than 35000 miles. My other one is already offline with apparently the same problem also less than 35000 miles
Jay brown says
The company that sold me my prostar let me off of my repairs and debt. I had to file a lawsuit to light a fire under their ass but, they settled within 30 days. Now I’m in that class action against navistar in Chicago. Y’all need to get a lawyer. Most will do it on a contingency basis so there’s nothing more to lose.
David says
Need a lawyer have a 2014 prostar same issue lost money paid tows not able to work going into bankruptcy
Cedric says
We need to find out if the records show and fraudulent reports of the wages that were paid to the employees in West Point MS. They were well under paid to be working under Government contracts.
Tom says
Not sure buddy!I’m in the same boat and ithink it’s called the Titanic.
I would like to know also.the first two years I had this truck the dog filter was baked more than Cheech and Chong !!
Braxx says
I’m curious if anyone is experiencing burning eyes, nostrils, burning tongue, cloudy head, etc from a gas-like or acid-like taste in the newer international lt say 2018-2019? Mechanics cannot figure out where its coming from. No evidence of an exhaust leak anywhere… Thanks