General Motors Falsely Claims ACDelco Parts are Made in the U.S.A., Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges General Motors has falsely claimed its ACDelco auto parts are made in the United States as a way to induce customers into paying a premium price for items they believe to be American-made. 

In truth, GM’s ACDelco auto parts are made in China, the 20-page lawsuit says, asserting that the sourcing of the automaker’s parts is a material consideration for consumers. 

At issue in the lawsuit is that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Made in USA” policy mandates that for a company to truthfully claim something is made in America, all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin, allowing for “only a de minimis, or negligible amount of foreign content.” In 2020, the suit says, the FTC revisited and reaffirmed this standard, known as the “All or Virtually All” standard, and concluded that consumers are likely to be deceived by an unqualified “Made in USA” claim for a product that incorporates more than a de minimis amount of foreign content. 

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff in October 2020 bought an ACDelco automatic transmission filter packaged in a box that stated “Made in USA.” Prior to making the purchase, the consumer considered the “Made in USA” claim of origin for the product and decided to buy it instead of another brand of transmission filter because it was supposedly made in America, the complaint says.

When the plaintiff opened the box to begin installing the transmission filter on his vehicle, the man was “outraged to discover that stamped onto the surface of the product was the phrase ‘Made in China,’” the suit alleges. According to the case, none of the other filter components were stamped with “Made in USA” or any other country of origin. 

“Defendant’s ‘Made in USA’ claim was false, misleading, and likely to deceive a reasonable consumer,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendant’s transmission filter was not made in the USA. The product that Plaintiff purchased was made in China. Thus, Defendant’s ‘Made in USA’ claims on its packaging are false under the FTC’s ‘All or Virtually All’ standard.” 

Further, even if the “Made in China” inscription on the plaintiff’s transmission filter applied to only the single plastic housing piece that bears the phrase, the “Made in USA” claim on the part’s packaging “still fails” under the FTC litmus test given it’s a main component of the filter, the complaint asserts. From the suit:

“The plastic piece is a significant piece of the filter and is one of the five components of the filter (i.e., it accounts for 20% of the transmission filter). The plastic piece attaches to the underside of the transmission, forms the top of the filter, and acts as a conduit and casing for transmission fluid into the filtering components of the filter as the fluid passes from the transmission through the filter and into the transmission fluid pan. As a result of its essential function and significance, it is not a negligible or de minimis component of the filter.”

Had the plaintiff and proposed class members known that ACDelco parts were not made in the United States as represented on their packaging, they would not have paid as much as they did, the case avers.

The suit looks to represent all consumers nationwide who bought an ACDelco product in packaging that displayed “Made in USA” for end use and not for resale, where all significant parts and processing that go into the product are not of U.S. origin.

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