Foreign
THE European Union’s (EU) highest court is to rule on Tuesday on the right to compensation for the owners of diesel cars equipped with defeat devices.
The ruling relates to the case of a German-based owner of a Mercedes vehicle fitted with a so-called temperature window.
This device decreases the exhaust gas recirculation rate when outside temperatures are low, leading to an increase in nitrogen oxide emissions.
Environmental organisations see temperature windows as an instrument to help make car emissions appear lower under test conditions than they were in real road traffic.
Car manufacturers argued that the device was necessary to protect the engine.
Since it was revealed over seven years ago that Volkswagen had equipped its diesel engine EA189 with software.
The software which lowered emissions in test conditions, different automakers face claims over allegedly wrong emissions data.
So far car owners are only entitled to compensation if manufacturers have intentionally deceived buyers, as is the case with Volkswagen’s EA189 engine.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is set to decide whether the owners of other cars equipped with inadmissible exhaust technology can claim damages if the manufacturers have acted negligently but not intentionally.
The court’s advocate general argued in an opinion last year that the hurdles to claiming damages should be lowered.
Judges frequently follow the assessments of the court’s jurists but are not obliged to do so.
If the Luxembourg-based court was to rule in favour of car owners, manufacturers would face a new wave of compensation claims. (dpa/NAN)
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Tags: diesel cars
