Volkswagen Targeted by Federal Trade Commission Lawsuit

by Steph Willems

Published: March 29th, 2016

volkswagen targeted by federal trade commission lawsuit

It wasn’t so clean, was it?

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Volkswagen on March 29, claiming the automaker’s “Clean Diesel” ad campaign was a deception that tricked buyers into purchasing its supposedly eco-friendly vehicles.

By filing the complaint against Volkswagen, the FTC (which can’t levy fines) would be able to seek compensation for buyers via a federal court order.

“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.”

The lawsuit is the latest in a biblically long list of legal action being taken against the company in the wake of the scandal.

The court order concerns diesel Volkswagens sold in the U.S. between late 2008 and late 2015, a total of nearly 600,000 vehicles.

According to the FTC, the now-notorious “Clean Diesel” ad campaign pushed vehicles by claiming they were low emission, environmentally friendly and would hold a high resale value.

In its promotional materials, Volkswagen claimed that its diesel engines reduced nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 90 percent, when in reality they belched them out at up to 4,000 percent of the legal limit. The automaker’s claim of being compliant with emissions regulations in all states also figures into the FTC’s lawsuit.

The vote that led the FTC to file suit was a unanimous one.

Volkswagen continues to hunt for an acceptable fix for all of the defeat device-rigged diesels, and was recently allowed an extension to a court-ordered deadline. It has until April 21 to unveil a plan on how it will fix, or possibly buy back, the recalled vehicles.

#Diesel #Environment #FederalTradeCommission #Government #Green #Lawsuit #Legal #Volkswagen #VW #VwEmissionsScandal

Steph Willems

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SCE to AUX on Mar 29, 2016

"biblically long list of legal action" -- nice phrase As I mentioned in another thread on this subject, I've become convinced they're merely spending their 1-month hiatus getting a legal/financial settlement in order. They are probably communicating through back channels to assure it is approved when presented. There won't be a technical fix. And I don't think CA will let these cars stay on the road.

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- Tedward on Mar 29, 2016
  
  If that looks like it's going to happen (refusing registrations) I'm going to buy stock in Orville redenbacher. It will be a sh!t show on a scale we have rarely seen. It all depends on how politically insulated the regulators feel, and on how much involvement the elected politicians have on their management. Be prepared for an outright declaration of war by nada.
  
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Anonymous on Mar 29, 2016

This angle I hadn't thought about before. To date I've only considered making owners (including dealers) whole again. I wonder how many countries have laws concerning deceptive advertising? Volkswagen is in more trouble than I thought, and I thought they were in enough trouble to bankrupt before this suit. Consumers should still be able to bring individual suits regardless of what the FTC does. Nice correct usage of caps in the word "biblically." Too often mis-capitalized, it is only used with a capital letter when makng direct reference to the Biblical document itself.

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