High Court gives green light to group claim over alleged faults with Jaguar Land Rover vehicles

Following a hearing, a Group Litigation Order (GLO) was granted determining that JLR owners, represented by law firms Leigh Day and Milberg LLP, will be allowed to progress together as part of a single group claim against the car manufacturer.  

A DPF is a filtration device fitted into the exhaust systems of diesel vehicles. It collects soot and other pollutants, which are then meant to be burned off by a regeneration process which involves heating gases in the exhaust system.  

The claim alleges that defects with JLR vehicles purchased or leased between 2015 and 2023 have resulted in them being unable to burn off enough soot and other particulate matter in the DPF, leading to the system becoming prematurely clogged.

Clogged DPFs in diesel vehicles are considered to lead to a number of issues including engine damage, greater fuel consumption and more frequent servicing, as well as a decrease in environmental performance. DPF issues are also understood to sometimes trigger ‘limp mode’, which limits speed causing the immediate and often unexpected slowing down of the vehicle.

Vehicle owners say that the issues amount to a breach of contract, as well as a breach of guarantee over the vehicles’ warranties. It is also alleged that the issues are a breach of statutory duty by manufacturers in the failure to adequately inform owners of any restrictions impacting the vehicle.

The claim could be worth up to thousands of pounds for each claimant and relates to the following vehicles:

• Land Rover Discovery (L462) 

• Land Rover Discovery Sport (L550)

• Land Rover Velar (L560)

• Range Rover (L405)

• Range Rover Sport (L494)

• Range Rover Evoque (L538 and L551)

• Jaguar E-Pace (X540)

• Jaguar F-Pace (X761)

• Jaguar XE (X760)

• Jaguar XF (X260)

Leigh Day represents more than 15,000 claimants and is working with Milberg LLP, which represents tens of thousands of claimants, to ensure the effective management of the claim. 

Leigh Day client Stephen Catt, who experienced issues with his JLR vehicle, said:

“I experienced numerous issues with my vehicle, including it going into limp mode while travelling on the motorway. The sudden drop in speed put me in an unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation, and I had to wait months for a part to fix the issue all while worrying it might happen again. Having initially been delighted to buy the car, I eventually had to sell it to due to being worried about more issues occurring and any potential costs I might be hit with as a result.”

Leigh Day partner Oliver Holland said: