Audi Class Action Claims Gas Engine Vehicles Cheat Emissions

Audi of America LLC is facing a proposed class action lawsuit over installing devices used to cheat emissions standards, this time involving its luxury brand vehicles with gasoline engines.

Last year, the automaker and its parent company Volkswagen admitted to equipping millions of its diesel-powered cars sold around the world with emissions “defeat devices” that reduced nitrogen oxide during emissions testing but allowed it to rise to as much as 40 times permissible levels in normal driving conditions.

According to lead plaintiff Elliot Stokar, Audi’s emissions test cheating was not limited to just diesel vehicles, but also included at least six models of Audi 3.0-liter gasoline engines.

Stoker, who brought the class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 100,000 vehicle owners nationwide, says his 2007 Audi A8 was also equipped with software designed to beat emissions tests.

“The vehicle he purchased was, upon information and belief, surreptitiously equipped with a ‘defeat device’ designed to limit emissions and increase fuel efficiency when the vehicle was being subjected to regulatory emissions and fuel efficiency testing, but not during regular use,” the Audi class action lawsuit states.

The lawsuit cites a media report that Audi installed the cheating devices on gasoline-powered cars, including the Audi A6, A8, Q5, and Q7 vehicles to hide the true emissions of climate-warming gas carbon dioxide since February 2013 and possibly earlier.

“Audi executives encouraged use of the devices in gas-powered vehicles as recently as May, eight months after the diesel cheating was publicly disclosed,” according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Illinois federal court.

Stokar claims he “overpaid to purchase vehicles incapable of providing the balance of performance, efficiency, and cleanliness that Audi represented them to offer.”

“Throughout the yearlong Dieselgate scandal, Audi chose to continue to deceive consumers across the country with yet another emissions-cheating device installed in even more of its vehicles,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman. “This kind of flagrant disregard for federal environmental regulations and consumers’ expectations is unacceptable, and we intend to hold Audi to the law on behalf of those who overpaid for Audi’s noncompliant, polluting cars.”

Stokar is seeking unspecified damages including restitution from Audi’s sales and profit.

The Audi emissions class action lawsuit comes two weeks after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer gave his final approval to Volkswagen’s $14.7 billion settlement covering 480,000 diesel cars with 2.0-liter engines.

Judge Breyer gave the final approval to the settlement that mandates Volkswagen establish a fund of least $10 billion to buy back affected consumers’ cars.

The embattled German automaker was also ordered to invest $2 billion over the next decade to support projects involving zero emission vehicles, along with $2.7 billion in order to address the effects of the emissions defeat devices.

The settlement approval comes a little over a year after the California Air Resources Board (CARB) reportedly discovered the software, following a lawsuit filed last year against Volkswagen by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Stokar is represented by Steven Berman, Thomas Loeser, and Elizabeth Fegan of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Christian Jenkins of Minnillo & Jenkins Co. LPA, and Jeffrey Goldenberg and Todd Naylor of Goldenberg Schneider LPA.

The Audi Emissions Cheating Class Action Lawsuit is Stokar v. Audi of America LLC and Audi AG, Case No. 1:16-cv-10456, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

UPDATE: On Dec. 11, 2017, Audi and its parent company Volkswagen sought dismissal of claims that some of their gasoline engines are equipped with an emissions testing defeat device similar to those found in certain diesel engines.