Volkswagen Settles US Emissions Lawsuit Just Before Trial

New York, Washington: Volkswagen AG’s US unit agreed to settle a lawsuit over the company’s marketing of clean-emissions vehicles, resolving a fight over consumer fraud claims days before it was scheduled to go to trial.

The suit was dismissed on Friday by Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce D. White on agreement of the parties, according to a copy of the filing provided by Michael Melkersen, lawyer for plaintiff David Doar, owner of a 2014 Jetta. The trial was to begin February 26. Volkswagen Group of America Inc is based in Herndon, Virginia.

Reuters reported the news Friday. Volkswagen declined to comment.

The trial was one of three scheduled for the first half of this year over claims that Volkswagen deceived customers with the rigging of emissions controls to perform differently when being tested than they do on the road. Melkersen has other cases filed in the same Fairfax County court.

Volkswagen has incurred about $30 billion (Dh110.19 billion) in expenses since admitting in 2015 that it installed software on about 11 million diesel cars that allowed the vehicles to detect when they were being tested in laboratory conditions, seeking to boost sales of “clean diesel” automobiles that would conform to more strict emissions standards and appeal to consumers with environmental concerns. Two of its executives were sent to prison.

Nazi comparison

The carmaker had sought to delay the consumer-fraud trials because of comments made by Melkersen, including remarks in a Netflix documentary where he compared emissions testing on monkeys to the Nazi use of poison gas in the Second World War. Through an intermediary, Volkswagen funded research on the effects of the vehicles’ emissions on laboratory monkeys, according to a segment on the first episode of the Netflix series ‘Dirty Money’.

Volkswagen said it couldn’t defend the consumer-fraud lawsuits “in an atmosphere in which pretrial publicity has connected it directly with Hitler and the Holocaust and other horrors counsel has alleged.”

Toyota, Hyundai recall roughly 110,000 vehicles

Toyota and Hyundai have recalled roughly a combined 110,000 trucks and sport utility vehicles, including the 2018 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia, and the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport. In its recall announced Saturday, Hyundai says some of Santa Fe vehicles are at risk for the steering wheel breaking away from the steering column. Roughly 43,900 vehicles are included in Hyundai’s recall.

Toyota recalled roughly 64,900 Tundras and Sequoias, saying these vehicles are at risk for having their electronic stability control systems shutting down unexpectedly. Both car makers will notify impacted owners of the recalled vehicles starting in March, and if necessary, will repair the vehicles at no cost.

— AP

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