Fallout from the period between 2007 and 2010 when Caterpillar supplied engines onto the US truck market, whose rejection by US truck buyers was part of the company’s reasoning for moving away from the truck business, continues in US courts.
The engines, compliant to US EPA 2007 emission rules proved to be difficult for many operators and some of them are now suing the engine maker for selling, what they call, defective engine emission control onto the US market.
It is important to point out the C 15 engine now being sold in Australia and used by Cat Trucks uses a completely different, and Australian designed, solution to bring exhaust emissions within ADR 80/03 guidelines.
The litigants in the US maintain Caterpillar were aware of problems with the US engines but kept on producing and selling them. The Caterpillar Regeneration System used in 2007 in the US proved to be unreliable and a large number of warranty repairs failed to improve the situation. This has led to series of class actions against Caterpillar in several states.
Caterpillar is reported, by Heavy Duty Trucking magazine, to be trying to get all of the cases consolidated into a single law suit in the federal court in Florida. A number of cases have already been settled by the engine maker out of court with different levels of compensation which have not been disclosed.