Some of the world’s biggest carmakers are facing a pivotal trial at London’s High Court on Monday, with lawyers representing 1.6 million claimants accusing them of cheating diesel emissions tests, a decade on from Volkswagen’s ‘dieselgate’ scandal.
In one of the largest mass lawsuits in English legal history, owners of diesel vehicles made by Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Nissan, Renault and the Stellantis-owned brands Peugeot and Citroen allege the companies used unlawful ‘defeat devices’.
These devices detected when vehicles were being tested and ensured emissions were kept within legal limits, but did not do so when the cars were on the road, the claimants’ lawyers say.
The manufacturers, however, say the claims are fundamentally flawed and reject any similarity with the scandal that erupted in 2015, which cost Volkswagen billions of euros in fines and compensation.
Mercedes-Benz said its emission control systems were legally and technically justified.
