VW taken to court in New York, Massachusetts and Maryland

In the weeks after the scandal went public, Volkswagen’s top US executive Michael Horn denied that top executives were involved and said the use of the defeat devices appeared to be the work of a “couple of software engineers”.

Volkswagen in June agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle USA emissions-cheating claims with environmental regulators and consumers affecting 475,000 vehicles with two-liter diesel engines.

New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Protection and Maryland’s Department of the Environment provided important assistance with the investigation, according to officials.

The actions make allegations about the involvement of VW engineers and executives.

Volkswagen’s “top brass” stand accused of “defrauding” thousands of people in new lawsuits from NY and two other states alleging a “widespread conspiracy”.

An image taken from a document filed in court Tuesday includes an example of the advertising Volkswagen executives used to sell the idea of “clean” diesel technology to USA consumers.

“They fought to prevent new models from being tested, and once tipped off, Volkswagen employees actually undertook to destroy incriminating documents”. “Volkswagen must get its act in gear and pay the price for breaking some of the most stringent laws in the country protecting the waters, lands and lungs of Marylanders in the Chesapeake Bay region”. It’s been said that former CEO Martin Winterkorn-who resigned shortly after knowledge the cheating became public-was aware of the cheating, but other VW Group executives have remained relatively unscathed.

The emissions-cheating scandal began in earnest in late 2006, when Volkswagen, facing engineering challenges, adapted technology Audi had developed to address other emissions problems and installed the defeat-device software on hundreds of thousands of Jetta, Golf and other cars, the lawsuit alleged. “There is no credible evidence to support the allegation regarding Matthias Müller”, Jeannine Ginivan said in an emailed statement.

The lawsuit announced Tuesday says internal documents show senior executives at Volkswagen and Audi “discussed, planned and coordinated the response to the diesel scandal as it unfolded for Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche in the United States”.

In March 2014, VW learned that West Virginia University had conducted testing that found real-world testing on two VW diesel cars had emissions five to 35 times legally allowable limits, the suits alleged.

The German automaker said “legal risks predominately arising in North America” would add another US$2.4 billion to a bill that already totalled US$17.8 billion based on today’s currency exchange rates.

At a press conference, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called the work a “willful and systemic scheme” that stretched “up to the highest levels of these companies”.

Volkswagen said it is cooperating with US
authorities on a “national resolution” of all remaining environmental issues.