A driver holds a fuel pump as he refuels his automobile with diesel at a gas station in Guildford, U.K.
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Some of the world’s biggest carmakers manipulated diesel emissions tests because they “would rather cheat than comply with the law”, lawyers for over 1.6 million claimants told London’s High Court on Monday, at the start of a huge trial.
Adecade on from Volkswagen’s‘dieselgate’ scandal, which cost the German automaker billions of euros, the claimants are suing rival manufacturers in one of the largest masslawsuitsin English legal history.
Owners ofdieselvehicles made by Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Nissan, Renaultand the Stellantis-ownedbrands Peugeot and Citroenbetween 2012 and 2017 allege the companies cheatedemissionstests.
The manufacturers areaccusedof usingunlawful”defeat devices”, whichdetected when vehicles were being tested and ensurednitrogen oxide (NOx)emissionswere kept within legal limitsunder test conditions.
The claimants’ lawyers say NOxemissionswere far higherwhen the cars were on the road– in some cases up to 12 times test limits – causing harm to the environment and entitling consumers to compensation.
The manufacturers, however, say the claims are fundamentally flawedand argue there are justified reasons why systems to controlemissionsare calibrated to work differently in certain conditions.
Theyalso reject any similarity with the scandal that erupted in 2015, when VW admitted using defeat devices, and which has hung over the motor industry ever since.
‘Defeat devices’ trial begins
The trial, which will conclude next year with a judgment expected in mid-2026,will focus on a sample of20dieselvehicles produced by the five manufacturers, who are being sued by nearly 850,000of theclaimants.
The High Court willdetermine whetherthose sample vehicles containedprohibited defeat devices, with any damagesowed tobe decided at a further trial next year.
The court’s ruling will also be binding onanother 800,000 or sosimilar claims against other manufacturers including Stellantis-owned Vauxhall/Opel and BMW.
It is not the first time London’s High Court has been asked to decide on defeat devices, having ruled against VW in 2020. VWsettled those claimswithout any admission of liability in 2022.
VWhas hadto pay more than 32 billion euros ($37 billion) in vehicle refits, fines and legal costs, while former Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn faced criminal charges, though his trial wassuspended on health grounds earlierthis month.
The scandal has stretched beyond VW to other manufacturers and suppliers, some of whom have paid fines and reached settlements in the United States and elsewhere to resolve investigations intodieselvehicleemissions.
Tom de la Mare, one of the claimants’ lawyers, said manufacturers across the industry made “a conscious decision” to prioritise customer convenience over preventing pollution.
He described thecarmakers’ approach as being that “we would rather cheat than comply with the law”.
Automakers reject ‘long shadow’ of VW scandal
The manufacturers at the centre of the trial, though, reject that and say the claimants have been distracted by the “long shadow” of VW’s troubles.
Renault’s lawyer Alexander Antelme said in court filings that the claimants were working on the “false assumption that the features of ‘VWdieselgate’ applied across the entire automotive industry”.
Thecarmakersalso stress that lower NOx levels often mean higher amounts of other pollutants are emitted and that there are good engineering or safety reasons for regulatingemissions.
All methods ofemissionscontrol involve “trade-offs between differentemissionsand the need for thedieselengine to operate properly and safely”, Antelme argued.
The current group of claimshas previously been valued by the claimants’ lawyersat around 6 billion pounds ($7.97 billion).
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