The Federal Trade Commission sued auto giant Volkswagen Tuesday for false advertising after it was found to be cheating on its diesel engine emissions testing last year.
“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 the commission’s Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “Our lawsuit seeks compensation for the consumers who bought affected cars based on Volkswagen’s deceptive and unfair practices.”
The trade commission wants “permanent injunctive relief, rescission, restitution, the refund of monies paid, disgorgement of ill-gotten monies and other equitable relief” after consumers suffered billions of dollars in injury, according to the lawsuit.
The company came under fire last year after the Environmental Protection Agency found the company was intentionally trying to avoid complying with strict emission rules for its fleet of diesel cars. A major class-action lawsuit is now before a federal court in California, along with growing litigation in a number of countries around the world.
The trade commission suit underscores that consumers had bought the diesel cars with the understanding that the vehicles were in full compliance with the law and were indeed “clean” diesel vehicles.
The company installed software in the vehicles that turned off emission controls when the car was driving, and only turned them on when the software sensed the cars were being tested.
Last week, a federal judge gave the company and regulators an extra month to come up with a plan on how they will get the nearly 600,000 vehicles into compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Environmental groups took the opportunity Tuesday to slam the company’s “fake ‘clean diesel’ campaign.”
“Greenwashing is never OK, but when it puts the health and safety of our families at risk, there must be consequences,” sais Kathryn Phillips, Sierra Club’s California director. California regulators had joined forces with the EPA in outlining the company’s violations last year.
“The Federal Trade Commission is right for filing this lawsuit,” Phillips said.
