Reminiscent of the behaviour Volkswagen was caught out for, we are now asking the question: “Are BMW cheating emissions testing?” A US lawsuit says they are, which has been launched against the German automotive giant over what is being alleged as “misleading” practices.
The legal case launched says that BMW allegedly failed to disclose “emission manipulations”, and the result is that the vehicles cannot perform without wrongfully manipulating emission controls.
It’s all very familiar of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal we are currently representing victims for.
The models reportedly affected include BMW X5s manufactured between 2009 and 2013 – across the period of the Volkswagen “dieselgate” scandal – as well as the BMW 330d model sold between 2009 and 2011.
The lawsuit alleges that:
“The vehicles’ promised power, fuel economy, and efficiency are obtained only by turning off or turning down emission controls when the software in these vehicles senses that they’re not in an emissions testing environment.”
Allegations that cheating has occurred in order to ensure vehicles still perform to the expectations of the consumer, in terms of power and fuel efficiency, are very reminiscent of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Although the reasons for VW’s cheating hasn’t been categorically confirmed, we know that reducing NOx emissions often involves decreased efficiency and reducing power. In order to pass tests and still ensure their vehicles perform to the expectations of the consumer, it appears that cheating was the chosen option.
In America, it isn’t illegal to have software that manipulates emissions output, so long as it’s declared and is not designed to cheat emissions regulations. It’s thought that BMW has not declared any such software, which the lawsuit alleges is misleading on the basis that they believe such software exists.
Shares have typically fallen off the back of the news, and BMW say they have done nothing wrong.
In a statement from a BMW spokesperson they said:
“As a matter of principle, BMW Group vehicles are not manipulated and comply with all respective legal requirements.”
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