The Federal Trade Commission in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, has sought a court order requiring Volkswagen to compensate American consumers who bought or leased an affected vehicle between late 2008 and late 2015, as well as an injunction to prevent Volkswagen from engaging in this type of conduct again.
The complaint alleges that during this seven-year period Volkswagen deceived consumers by selling or leasing more than 550,000 diesel cars based on false claims that the cars were low-emission, environmentally friendly, met emissions standards and would maintain a high resale value. The cars sold for an average price of approximately $28,000.
"For years Volkswagen's ads touted the company's 'Clean Diesel' cars even though it now appears Volkswagen rigged the cars with devices designed to defeat emissions tests," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement.
"Our lawsuit seeks compensation for the consumers who bought affected cars based on Volkswagen's deceptive and unfair practices."
According to the FTC's complaint, Volkswagen promoted its supposedly "clean" cars through a high-profile marketing campaign that included Super Bowl ads, online social media campaigns, and print advertising, often targeting "environmentally-conscious" consumers.
Contrary to its claims of clean cars, the FTC's complaint states that Volkswagen's vehicles emit up to 4,000 percent more than the legal limit of NOx a dangerous pollutant that contributes to environmental harms and respiratory ailments.
The FTC has also charged that Volkswagen provided the means and instrumentalities for others to deceive consumers, besides installing the emissions defeat devices was an unfair practice.
The affected vehicles include 2009 through 2015 Volkswagen TDI diesel models of Jettas, Passats, and Touareg SUVs, as well as TDI Audi models. The suggested sale prices for the affected vehicles ranged from approximately $22,000 for the least-expensive Volkswagen model with a 2.0-liter engine to approximately $125,000 for the most-expensive Audi model with 3.0-liter engine.
A Volkswagen spokesman said FTC complaint has been received and the company "continues to co-operate" with all regulators.
In January, the Justice Department sued VW for up to $46 billion for violating environmental laws.
The scam hit carmaker is also facing more than 500 civil law suits relating to emission levels, as well as suits from some US states.
A federal court judge has given Volkswagen a deadline of 21 April to come up with a plan to fix 600,000 cars that emit illegal levels of pollution. [singaporenews.net]
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