A settlement has been reached to put an end to a proposed class action filed in 2019 - and more than 1.5 million LG customers may be included.

Head over to our blog to read a breakdown of the settlement and what it may mean for consumers. 

A class action lawsuit has been filed against LG Electronics alleging a defect is causing some of its fridges to stop cooling.

The refrigerators at issue contain linear compressors, which were supposedly meant to make the fridges more reliable and durable. For many consumers, however, the refrigerators have stopped working within 36 months of use in what one news outlet calls a “pandemic of dying fridges.”

The lawsuit says that the cooling problem stems from a defect that’s causing the linear compressor – the part that’s responsible for cooling the refrigerator – to fail. When this happens, the fridge will start to warm and food will begin to spoil. Some consumers who had this problem have reportedly been forced to “live out of coolers” or prematurely replace their fridges.  

According to the lawsuit, the problem starts in the tubing of the evaporator, a part that works in conjunction with the linear compressor. The suit says that the tubing is “prone to corrosion and pitting” and that small holes can develop , which can cause leaks and allow air to enter. Because of this “air leakage,” the refrigerant that moves from the evaporator to the condenser generates excess pressure that puts stress on the compressor, according to the suit.

The compressor can’t take this additional pressure, the suit says, and begins to fail. It is usually the discharge valve in the compressor that is the first to go, as it is the weakest component.

Even if the fridges are serviced, they will likely fail again within two years because LG technicians are allegedly using the same defective parts in repairs. So, even though their refrigerators were “fixed,” several of the plaintiffs later noticed that food was again going bad and that their fridges weren’t keeping cool.

A class action lawsuit could help consumers get money back for repairs performed on their fridges and any food they lost because of the compressor issue. Further, a lawsuit could force LG to come up with a fix for the problem.

The class action lawsuit against LG features several of the “thousands of complaints” about the refrigerators failing. A sample of these complaints can be seen below [sic throughout]:

Yes; however, that class action ended in a settlement that only covered fridges purchased before January 29, 2014. Even with the settlement, LG has allegedly continued to sell the same defective fridges despite knowing about the issue with the compressors. That’s the reason for the new lawsuit – to help get compensation for those who purchased their fridges after January 2014.

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