VIDEO – Defective Renault engines: motorists victims of a breakage testify

After Volkswagen’s dieselgate, is there a motorgate in the automotive sector? In any case, many users of cars from the Renault-Nissan-Dacia group complain that they bought a model with a defective engine. Like Hugo, who testifies in the TF1 report at the top of this article. This driver initially believed in a simple lack of oil when the signal indicating a low reserve came on on the dashboard of his Renault. But once the 58,000 kilometer mark was passed, the little problem turned out to be a much bigger problem.

“The car was slipping and couldn’t move forward”, describes Hugo. The motorist understands that he is the victim of an engine failure. And he would be far from being the only owner to be affected by such a failure.

On an Internet, a Facebook group of more than 4000 members also lists many similar stories. Among them, there is that of Agathe, owner of a Dacia Duster. “We were on the highway going on a family vacation. Suddenly, the Duster starts to decelerate completely. In less than a minute, you find yourself coming to a stop on the emergency lane.”, she tells TF1. “The children who find themselves on the other side of the fence, a great stressful moment for all of us …”.

In addition to Renault and Dacia cars, Nissan models and some Mercedes are also affected by these breakdowns. Because all these cars use the same defective Renault engine, installed between 2012 and 2016 in 400,000 vehicles. The French group claims to have compensated the majority of its customers who are victims of this problem.

For Hugo, for example, the manufacturer covered 60% of the repairs, or 4,400 euros. “I had to accept because I had no other means of transport and I needed my car”, he says. But according to Me Christophe Lèguevaques, these variable compensations granted on a case-by-case basis are far from sufficient. He is also considering collective action against Renault.

“Faced with Renault, all alone, which is an international giant, and you, you absolutely need your vehicle. What to do, if not accept the bad conditions that Renault is giving you? There, we are trying to reverse the situation by making so that there are many of us to be respected by Renault “, he explains. Christophe Lèguevaques, known for having defended the victims of the AZF, Levothyrox and chlordecone cases in the West Indies, now leaves himself two months to collect as many testimonies as possible.