Reliability PureTech 1.2 from Stellantis: customers will not accept it anymore (2023)

Stellantis’ 1.2 PureTech petrol engine was launched in 2012 and has won several awards for its economy and performance. For example, it was named engine of the year within its category in 2015 and 2018. But a powerful engine is not necessarily the epitome of reliability…

Since its launch, this engine, found in Citroën, Peugeot, DS and Opel models, has suffered from a certain fragility. For the design, the French engineers opted for a timing belt that is lubricated by the engine oil. This ensures less internal friction and therefore lower fuel consumption. However, this technical choice leads to excessive oil consumption and premature wear of the timing belt. Oil must therefore be topped up every 1,000 km to prevent mechanical problems and even a broken engine!

Collective front

But more than 15,000 affected customers are determined not to let this happen. They all want Stellantis to finally take this issue seriously. Despite a major recall in 2020 and a cautious acknowledgment of the engine’s questionable reliability by the auto group two years later, no compensation plan is on the agenda at the time of writing. A lack of action that will not be tolerated by the thousands of injured parties, who have united in a specific Facebook group and who are now also represented by a specialized lawyer.

A sign that the reliability of the original 1.2 PureTech petrol engine is indeed substandard: the French-Italian group has now replaced the problematic timing belt with a chain in the new 1.2 PureTech hybrid, which is found under the hood of the Citroën C5 AIrcross, Peugeot, among others. 3008 and Peugeot 5008.

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