Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Plants in Michigan
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that they were exposed to asbestos while working at Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator plants in Michigan. This page documents the Michigan portion of Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator’s multi-state operations. For the full corporate summary and plants in other states, see the Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator manufacturer page.
Product and Premises Description
Nash Motors (founded 1916 by Charles W. Nash in Kenosha Wisconsin by acquisition of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company) was through the first half of the 20th century one of the principal independent U.S. automobile manufacturers. In 1937 Nash merged with the Kelvinator refrigerator company to form Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, combining automobile production at Kenosha WI with major appliance manufacturing at Detroit MI and Grand Rapids MI. In 1954 Nash-Kelvinator merged with Hudson Motor Car Company to form American Motors Corporation (AMC), which was ultimately acquired by Chrysler in 1987.
Product-vector pathways Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation:
Asbestos brake linings on Nash and Nash-Kelvinator passenger-car brake shoes supplied by Bendix, Raybestos, Abex, and other OEM friction manufacturers
Asbestos clutch facings on Nash manual transmissions
Asbestos exhaust manifold gaskets and heat shields on Nash engines
Asbestos undercoating and body deadener on Nash vehicles
Asbestos insulation in Kelvinator refrigerators, freezers, and ranges
Premises-vector pathways at the Kenosha WI manufacturing complex — the historic Jeffery-Nash plant that continued as the AMC Kenosha assembly plant into the 1980s — and the Kelvinator appliance plants at Detroit MI and Grand Rapids MI:
Asbestos pipe covering on plant steam, process, and heating piping
Asbestos refractory in heat-treat furnaces and paint-bake ovens
Asbestos block insulation on plant boilers
Asbestos gaskets and packing at process equipment
Asbestos electrical insulation on plant motor and switchgear systems
Nash Motors and Nash-Kelvinator Corporation (and their successors in liability, including AMC and Chrysler) have been named as Manufacturer Defendants and Premises Defendants in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
Workers Exposed
UAW Local members at Nash Kenosha WI, Kelvinator Detroit MI, and Kelvinator Grand Rapids MI plants
Auto mechanics servicing Nash brake linings, clutches, and engine gaskets
Brake mechanics working Nash vehicle brake systems
Appliance workers at Kelvinator refrigerator, freezer, and range plants
Insulators (HFIAW Local members) on Nash-Kelvinator construction and turnaround crews
Construction-trade workforces on Nash-Kelvinator capital projects
If You Worked With Nash Vehicles or at a Nash-Kelvinator Plant
If you worked with Nash or Nash-Kelvinator brake linings, clutches, or engine gaskets during the asbestos era — or worked at the Nash Kenosha WI plant or a Kelvinator appliance plant — as an employee or as a dispatched contractor trade worker — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights.
Occupational and premises asbestos exposure like this is a leading cause of mesothelioma, often diagnosed decades later. If you or a family member worked here:
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Firsthand Accounts from the Trades
Did you work at Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator? Add your account.
Records show what a plant was. They don't show what the work was like. If you
were sent there — insulation, pipe, boilers, sheet metal, electrical, laborer — tell us what you
remember: which units or buildings, what you handled, what came down during an outage. Every account
helps another worker or a family understand where exposure happened, and where to look next.
About these accounts: they are personal recollections shared by
workers and their families — individual memory, not records, and not independently verified.
The site history and documented exposure record on this page come from public and regulatory sources.
These accounts sit alongside that record — they add to it, they don't change it.
What asbestos exposure pathways are associated with Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator?
Pathways in this report refer to commonly used asbestos-containing material systems at industrial facilities that may contribute to exposure practices, fiber transfer, and deposition. Activities include maintenance, repair, overhaul, and demolition across these systems.
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Facility History
Operations established during the high-use era of asbestos specification
O'Brien Law Firm · Attorneys with experience working in Michigan
General Equipment Walkthrough
Equipment systems documented or commonly present at Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator. Each link opens a research crosswalk on AsbestosIndex with manufacturer, trust-fund, and product history.
Equipment list drawn from public litigation records, EPA / state DNR filings, and facility-type defaults. Specific product identification depends on facility records and witness testimony.
Is Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Michigan Plant Asbestos Exposure documented in asbestos litigation records?
Yes. Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Michigan Plant Asbestos Exposure is documented in public asbestos litigation records, EPA NESHAP filings, OSHA inspection logs, and/or state regulatory databases. Workers at industrial facilities of this era routinely encountered asbestos-containing materials in pipe insulation, gaskets, packing, boiler block, refractory products, floor and ceiling tiles, and electrical components.
Which workers had the highest asbestos exposure at Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Michigan Plant Asbestos Exposure?
Trades with documented asbestos exposure at industrial facilities include pipefitters, insulators (laggers), boilermakers, millwrights, electricians, welders, sheet-metal workers, plumbers, carpenters, machinists, painters, and general laborers. Maintenance crews, refractory bricklayers, and shutdown contractors often had the most concentrated exposure during overhaul and tear-out work.
What asbestos products did workers handle at Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Michigan Plant Asbestos Exposure?
Asbestos-containing products commonly documented at industrial facilities of this era include thermal pipe lagging and block insulation (steam lines, valves, boilers), asbestos cement, refractory brick and burner-front gun-block, gaskets and braided packing (valves, pumps, flanges), boiler-tube insulation and lagging, vinyl asbestos floor tile, acoustic ceiling tile, and asbestos-containing transite board. Specific product manufacturers are catalogued at AsbestosIndex.
Is there a deadline to file an asbestos claim in Michigan?
Michigan law gives 3 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury asbestos lawsuit. Wrongful-death claims must be filed within 3 years from the date of death. The two deadlines run on separate tracks. The personal-injury clock starts at diagnosis, not at exposure — mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years.
Who else besides Nash Motors / Nash-Kelvinator — Michigan Plant Asbestos Exposure workers may have been exposed?
Yes. Spouses who laundered work clothing carrying asbestos fibers and children of workers who returned home covered in dust are recognized in Michigan asbestos litigation as eligible for secondary (household) exposure claims when they have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease. Wrongful-death claims may be filed by surviving family members.
Can workers file both a civil suit and trust-fund claims?
Yes — more than 60 asbestos bankruptcy trusts hold combined funds set aside specifically for victims of asbestos-related disease. Trust-fund claims and civil lawsuits run on separate tracks; both can be pursued in parallel. Each trust has its own filing requirements, exposure criteria, and processing timeline.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this site. References to companies, products, and facilities are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, court filings, and regulatory databases. Consult a licensed physician for medical guidance and a qualified attorney for legal advice regarding your specific situation.
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