Motorists in the Lower Mainland are being invited to join a class-action lawsuit, which alleges price fixing in the sale of auto parts.

The suit is being advanced by Klein Lawyers LLP.

The firm maintains that prices of vehicles sold between 2002 and 2010 were raised by thousands of dollars as a result actions by Japanese auto-parts suppliers.

Since 2013, the Canadian Competition Bureau has levied more than $56 million in fines involving the sale of auto parts.

In the most recent case in December 2014, Yamashita Rubber Co. pleaded guilty to bid rigging and was fined $4.5 million in Ontario Superior Court.

The Competition Bureau claimed that the Japanese parts supplier conspired with another supplier in selling antivibration components and systems to Honda Motor Co. for cars sold in Canada.

The largest fine, $30 million, was levied in 2013 against Yazaki Corporation in connection with the sale of motor-vehicle components to Honda and Toyota Manufacturing Canada Inc.

Another Japanese company, Denso Corporation, was fined $2.45 million for its role in rigging bids for the sale of parts to Toyota.

Other parts manufacturers that were fined in Canada include Panasonic Corp. ($4.7 million), NSK Ltd. ($4.5 million), JTEKT Corporation ($5 million), Yazaki Corporation ($30 million), and Furakawa Electric Co. ($5 million).