German carmakers Volkswagen came under fire Monday following revelations they helped finance experiments that saw humans and monkeys exposed to toxic diesel fumes that have been linked to asthma, lung diseases and heart attacks.
The disclosures sparked widespread outrage, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel who strongly condemned the latest controversy to hit the nation’s powerful but scandal-tainted auto industry.
The consumer protection organization in Switzerland, SKS filed a claim for nearly 6,000 Volkswagen car owners seeking damages from the carmaker and AMAG the Swiss car dealer, for the emissions scandal. The claim was handed over to the Zurich commercial court.
SKS said it was assuming damages amounted on average to 15 per cent of the initial retail price of the vehicles concerned and that, together with insurance companies supporting the legal action, it wanted to give Swiss-based car owners the possibility to enforce their rights without disproportionate financial risk.
Volkswagen on Friday said it was setting aside another 2.5 billion euros to deal with the fallout from the "dieselgate" scandal in the United States as its efforts to recall tainted cars there proved to be more "complex" than expected.
The latest provisions bring the total sum set aside by VW to deal with fines and costs over the diesel scandal to €25.1bn.
The EU consumer authorities and the European Commission on September 7 sent a joint letter to the CEO of Volkswagen urging the group to swiftly repair all cars affected by the “dieselgate” scandal, the Commission said, adding this is part of a coordinated action by EU consumer authorities to make sure that the Volkswagen group respects consumer law in the aftermath of the scandal and is proactive towards the consumers concerned.
After a two-year avalanche of revelations – from diesel emissions manipulation to claims of cartel collusion – German politicians will give car executives an unusually chilly reception in Berlin on Wednesday.
At an emergency “diesel summit” increasingly jittery federal politicians and leaders of car-building states – Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Baden Württemberg – will read auto executives the riot act over their handling of a scandal with growing political and economic consequences.
German newspaper Spiegel cited documents submitted by VW and another by Daimler, purportedly revealing that Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW are being investigated by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office on suspected antitrust collusion over decades on technology relating to exhaust gas measures on diesel vehicles.
The report shows that the companies have been secretly meeting in various working groups since the 1990s, where they agreed on technologies, costs, suppliers and even how to work on emissions from diesel engines.
The European Union plans to launch legal action against Italy for failing to properly police allegations of emissions-test cheating by Fiat Chrysler following the Volkswagen scandal, EU sources said.
EU regulators say Italy has failed to convince them that the so-called defeat devices used to modulate emissions on its vehicles outside of narrow testing conditions are justified. "The Commission decided today to send a letter of formal notice asking Italy to respond to concerns about insufficient action taken regarding the emission control strategies employed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group (FCA)," a statement said.
French investigators will probe Renault over suspected "cheating" in emissions tests of diesel motors, the Paris prosecutors office said today.
Renault shares fell sharply on the news, which comes about two months after the government passed to the prosecutor the findings of an investigation by its consumer fraud agency.
Renault insisted its engines complied "with French and European regulations". "Renault vehicles are all and have always been homologated in accordance with the laws and regulations. They are compliant with the applicable standards. "Renault vehicles are not equipped with cheating software affecting anti-pollution systems."
