The suits didn’t specifically say he knew about the emissions-cheating software. The evidence paints the most detailed picture yet about how the deception unfolded and who was responsible.
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The New York suit stated that current CEO Matthias Muller, then head of project of management at Audi, and Winterkorn became aware in July 2006 of the effect of undersized urea tanks on the ability to comply with emissions standards. The suit stops short of accusing Mueller of having specific knowledge of the device. The Environmental Protection Agency’s subsequent disclosure of the cheating sparked probes across the globe and forced Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn to resign.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office said Tuesday earlier settlements did not resolve any of the claims for civil penalties states can bring against the company.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) said during a press conference that the cover-up of the emissions cheating was “approved and orchestrated at the highest levels of the company”.
VW said Tuesday in a statement that the latest allegations “are essentially not new” and that “it is regrettable that some states have made a decision to sue for environmental claims now, notwithstanding their prior support of this ongoing federal-state collaborative process”. “It does not bear scrutiny”.
The legal action comes after the German automaker agreed to spend up to $15.3 billion to other settle consumer and government lawsuits.
The logos of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen at a VW dealership in the Queens borough of New York, September 21, 2015. The Justice Department is also pursuing a criminal investigation.
Schneiderman said “clean and green” was the center of VW Group’s false-marketing efforts in the U.S., including a Super Bowl ad highlighting its diesel vehicles’ environmental friendliness, in one of the most-watched television commercials in the U.S., Schneiderman said called the scam “appalling”.
Volkswagen executives in subsequent years discussed the development and use of defeat devices to dupe emissions tests, including a direct report to Mr. Winterkorn, the CEO; heads of Audi’s powertrain development; and other Volkswagen division heads and employees below them, the lawsuit alleged.
More product launches are planned, and the brand will probably focus on its turbocharged gasoline engines instead of diesels, probably until they add more hybrids on the market. But the solution increased pollution to impermissible levels.
The defeat devices took the form of computer software created to ensure that a vehicle’s emissions system performed properly only during emissions testing. The defeat device was euphemistically labeled the “acoustic function”.
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The New York suit alleges that in March 2014, VW learned that a lab at West Virginia University had conducted real-world tests on two diesel cars, finding the cars had emissions five to 35 times the legally allowable limits. It claimed that in 2006 he decided not to equip certain Audi vehicles with the parts needed to meet United States environmental standards.
