GM Faces New Lawsuit Over Chevy Cruze Diesel Emissions

General Motors’ Chevrolet division is facing a new class action lawsuit alleging it deceived consumers into paying more for diesel Chevy Cruze Turbo vehicles installed with emissions-cheating software.

The proposed class action lawsuit filed earlier this week accuses GM of deceptively marketing the vehicles as “GM’s cleanest diesel engine ever” even though the car maker was allegedly aware that the vehicles produce illegally high levels of pollution.

The class action names six lead plaintiffs across country: Oscar Zamora of California, Brandon Stone of Arizona, Jason Silveus of Florida, Jason Counts of Michigan, Thomas Hayduk of New York, and Joshua Hurst of Ohio.

According to the Chevy Cruze diesel emissions lawsuit, the Cruze Turbo Diesel is advertised as a “clean diesel” with emissions below EPA standards and sold for an additional $2,000 or more compared to similar non-diesel models.

Like Volkswagen vehicles that were found to contain emissions-cheating software, the Chevy Cruze diesel emissions lawsuit claims that the software inside the Chevy Cruze allows it to turn on emission controls during laboratory testing, but turn off the controls during real world driving.

The class action lawsuit claims the Chevy Cruze diesel engine emits far more pollution on the road than in lab tests and that these vehicles exceed federal and state standards for nitrogen oxide emission by 1.8 to 13.8 times.

“Testing also reveals that GM intentionally defeats emissions controls,” the lawsuit states. “The drastic change in emission controls at high and low speeds is indicative of the use of a defeat device. This contrast demonstrates that GM has programmed its emission systems to reduce effectiveness or turn off altogether when the vehicle is on the road.”

The lawsuit also says plaintiffs tested the Chevy Cruze diesel cars using a portable emissions measurement system and found that in some cases the vehicle failed to meet U.S. emissions standards.

“Diesel emissions fraud didn’t stop with Volkswagen or Mercedes,” Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, said in a statement. “GM has proven that it too placed greed and profits ahead of thousands of owners who paid premium prices for what they thought were clean diesel cars.”

The Chevy Cruze diesel emissions further purports that GM’s recall of Chevy Cruze and Opel Zafira vehicles in Germany after an environmental group issued a report indicating excessive nitrogen oxygen emissions is evidence that the U.S. vehicles include the same deceptive diesel emissions issues.

The 308-page, June 22 complaint cites a German environmental group’s report that GM’s Opel brand uses a device that disables some pollution controls under some speeds and temperatures.

Opel and GM have repeatedly denied they use any illegal software or any emissions defeat device and say their diesel engines are compliant. GM and Opel said the allegations made by the group were based on “misleading oversimplifications and misinterpretations of the complicated interrelationships of a modern emissions control system of a diesel engine.”

GM stopped producing diesel Chevy Cruzes in the U.S. in January, just a few months after the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal broke, the lawsuit notes. GM is now making a new version of the Chevy Cruze but not in a diesel model.

The Chevy Cruze plaintiffs are seeking buybacks, reimbursement for the $2,000 or more premium customers paid over the gasoline Cruze model and compensation based on any “fix” and extended warranties that aren’t used. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.

The plaintiffs are represented by Steve W. Berman, Christopher R. Pitoun, and Lee M. Gordon of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP; Christopher A. Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP; Robert C. Hilliard of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP; and James E. Cecchi of Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello, P.C.

The Chevy Cruze Diesel Emissions Class Action Lawsuit is Oscar Zamora, et al. v. General Motors LLC., Case No. 2:16-cv-04501, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On July 6, 2016, the Chevy Cruz Diesel Emissions class action lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed.