Fruit of the merger between the old PSA and FCA groups, the Stellantis company inherited several complicated files. In particular on the French side, since it must now manage the anger of thousands of owners of Citroën, DS, Opel or Peugeot vehicles Including the 1.0 or 1.2 PureTech engine encounters serious reliability problems. In addition to suffering from an often premature degradation of its distribution belt, this three-cylinder petrol tends to consume oil excessively. The multinational is even targeted by at least two collective actions in justice in France, one very publicized, the other more discreet.
A controversial compensation platform
Since the beginning of the year, to try to get out of this crisis, Stellantis has launched a digital compensation platform which makes it possible to request a reimbursement of certain repairs. But this rather innovative tool has been the subject of strong criticism, in particular due to a response time often qualified as too long. According to the Stellantis communication Service, “it was voluntary because, listening to our first customers, we realized that our reimbursement conditions were perhaps deemed too restrictive”.
What are the new conditions to take advantage of a refund in the event of a breakdown of a 1.2 PureTech?
Several measures have therefore been taken to offer more flexibility:
- The incidents that occurred until December 31, 2024 are now taken into account while the company was initially limited to March 31, 2024, the date of entry into force of a special warranty increased to 10 years/175,000 km for certain problems of 1.2 PureTech. On the other hand, the period managed by this platform still starts on January 1, 2022.
- The duly stamped maintenance book can now be used to prove that monitoring the vehicle has been made according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, when it was necessary to provide the last three bills. But beware, in the first case, only the stamps of the Citroën, DS, Opel or Peugeot network operate, while invoices can come from another automotive professional.
- The family book is now accepted to justify that certain repair invoices are not necessarily on behalf of the owner, for example when a vehicle is used by grandchildren when it is still up to grandparents.
Soon, this compensation platform will also be extended to other countries than France and Spain, the only two regions to take advantage of this digital tool for the moment.
-Stellantis reveals rather flattering figures
The first acceptance letters would have left for April 15 and Stellantis took the opportunity to give some figures. He thus indicates that he had received 8,226 files for the moment and having processed 4,337, with an acceptance rate close to the 60 %. “For us, honestly, this is a good answer,” assures our interlocutor to the company’s communications department. “We received for example 10% of files which had nothing to do with PureTech, we even had a person who wanted us to reimburse him the costs of his Dacia Duster!” 12 % of refusals would also be linked to repairs made outside the network, while 5 % of them would come from the absence of monitoring of the maintenance plan. On this point, the multinational, however, claims to have shown a certain flexibility, especially when revisions could not be made in time because of the COVVID or a health problem. But there are still cases for which the lack of maintenance would be manifest, while it is however a crucial aspect to preserve the good health of a mechanics … A fortiori when it already has the reputation of being fragile at the base.
The association of victims of Puretech counterattack
Of course, at the Magazine Automobile, we take this official communication with a certain caution. The exact magnitude of the “scandal” of 1.2 Puretech remains difficult to know, and our reliability form still regularly receives testimonies from owners confronted with major problems with this engine or with its derivative, the 1.0 Puretech. The Victims of Puretech association was not long in starting a counter-offensive by asking for even much stronger measures:
- The official recognition of a vice hidden by Stellantis.
- A massive reminder of the vehicles concerned, with free replacement of defective parts.
- A clear, automatic and transparent national device for full repairs, without discriminatory conditions.
- Public apologies to consumers.
- Taking into account all the victims, whether they have passed through an approved or independent garage.
She also affirms that “this so-called” gesture “of Stellantis is not a repair measure, it is the beginning of an admission, torn off from high struggle by mobilizations, legal appeals and media pressure”. The showdown that this association leads with the multinational, in particular through the collective action in justice led by Maître Christophe Lèguevacques, is therefore far from over. He could still extend for many years before the courts. But he will still have already helped certain owners to be compensated, as well as the strong media coverage given to the problems of 1.2 Puretech, on our site as elsewhere.
The 1.5 BlueHDI channel still absent from the compensation platform
On the other hand, for the moment, Stellantis still does not give any date for the opening of his compensation platform to the numerous cases of breaking chain of the cam trees of the 1.5 BlueHDi, another often defective engine of the old PSA group. From the start, it had however been announced to us that the owners of this four-cylinder diesel would also be taken into account in a second stepand not only for the failures of his Adblue tank as is the case today. Even if the company cannot necessarily extinguish all the lights at the same time, it is therefore necessary to wish that this modification will not be long in … at the risk of seeing another fire gaining momentum: the association of the victims of the 1.5 BlueHDI channel also reflects on a collective action in its side.
