Audi Hit With Another Gas Engine Emissions-Cheating Class Action

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A second class action lawsuit filed on Nov. 16 accuses automobile manufacturers Audi of America LLC and Audi AG of false advertising and deceptive practices.

The complaint alleges that several diesel and gas-powered Audi vehicles have higher emissions and lower gas mileage than Audi claims, and Audi intentionally deceived customers about these facts.

The Audi emissions deceptive marketing class action lawsuit recites that Volkswagen is the owner of Audi, and last year both companies admitted to “using defeat device software to activate emissions controls when diesel cars were being smog tested and deactivate those controls during normal, on-road driving.”

As TopClassActions.com has reported, a settlement has been approved in the class action against Volkswagen and Audi for that diesel engine emission software.

Separate from that scandal, the complaint asserts that Audi “has been hiding its use of a completely different defeat device on at least its 3.0-liter Gasoline Q5, Q7, A6 and A8 models equipped with automatic transmissions.”

The software detects when the vehicle is being tested, and shifts the car into a higher gear than normal, which reduces CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, according to the Audi class action lawsuit.

The result is that these Audi gasoline-powered vehicles get less miles per gallon and have higher emissions than Audi advertises, the lawsuit states.

In fact, the complaint asserts that the Audi vehicles “emitted 10-40 times the legal limits for NOx [emissions] because the emission controls were turned off.”

Last week, a separate class action lawsuit was filed against Audi alleging similar facts. That class action also claims that several Audi models were “surreptitiously equipped with a ‘defeat device’ designed to” cheat during testing.

In addition, that complaint contends that “Audi executives encouraged use of the devices in gas-powered vehicles as recently as May, eight months after the diesel cheating was publicly disclosed.”

Here, plaintiff Keith Greenfield states that he leased a 2015 Audi A8L in Massachusetts for 36 months, and still has the vehicle.

Plaintiff Paul Sherry asserts that he purchased a 2014 Audi A6 in Massachusetts and still owns the vehicle. Both plaintiffs claim that they would not have paid as much as they did for those vehicles had they known the truth about Audi’s emissions and gas mileage.

The Audi deceptive practices lawsuit requests the court certify a separate Class of current or former owners and/or lessees of affected Audi vehicles for each U.S. state as well as the District of Columbia.

The class action seeks restitution and treble damages under state consumer protection laws, as well as an injunction that would stop Audi from its deceptive advertising and requiring the company to engage in a corrective advertising campaign.

Plaintiffs Greenfield and Sherry are represented by Kristen A Johnson, Steve W. Berman, Sean R. Matt, and Thomas E. Loeser of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Christian A. Jenkins of Minnillo & Jenkins Co. LPA, and Jeffrey S. Goldberg and Todd B. Naylor of Goldenberg Schneider LPA.

The Audi Emissions Deceptive Practices Class Action Lawsuit is Keith Greenfield, et al. v. Audi of America LLC, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-12304, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.