Software update for VW Golf
According to the consumer center of the federal association VW has deliberately cheated his customers.
Braunschweig It is an extraordinary procedure. Nearly 470,000 Volkswagen stand behind the model claim of the Verbraucherzentrale-Bundesverband (VZBV) and the ADAC. which is now being heard by the Higher Regional Court of Brunswick. It is about the claims for damages of VW-Customers who see themselves damaged because of the exhaust gas manipulation of diesel cars. The expected rush is so great that the court dodges into the town hall. 400 square meters accommodate 400 process participants, journalists and spectators.
Legal history is written in Braunschweig, which is already clear at the start of the trial. The VZBV is taking advantage of a new opportunity for consumers to appeal that was created by lawmakers just last year. On November 1, 2018, the new law came into force. The same day, the consumer association filed a model claim against VW.
The lawsuit seeks to clarify the basis for claims for damages that consumers might be entitled to against the carmaker. It concerns the vehicles of the brands VW, VW commercial vehicles, Audi, Skoda and Seat, which have an engine of the EA 189 series. There was software in the engine that detected whether the car was on the test bench or the road. Only in the laboratory were the limit values for toxic nitrogen oxides complied with, but significantly exceeded in real operation.
The VZBV is of the opinion that the Volkswagen Group is its customers through the use of manipulation software intentionally mischievously damaged and cheated. The diesel vehicles should not have been sold at all. The car maker owes the buyers therefore damages. VW vehemently denies that. From the point of view of the company there is no damage to the customers. The vehicles were always technically safe and unrestricted suitable for use in road traffic.
Whether the VZBV in the end enforces his claim is uncertain. In addition to the model procedure, there are already tens of thousands of individual actions. The decisions show no uniform picture, a supreme court decision is pending. VW claims to be predominantly successful, consumer advocates claim the opposite. However, VW compares with numerous claimants. These comparisons ensure that customers withdraw their complaints and statistics falls.
Whether there will be money for those involved in the model suit will only be decided in a few years’ time. And even a judgment in the interests of consumers would only be a stage victory: To determine the amount of damage, each affected person must individually complain again.
More: At VW Chief Justice Manfred Döss the defense of VW in the diesel affair comes together. The new procedure makes him a life task.