OREANDA-NEWS. The High Court in Braunschweig on Monday began a class action lawsuit against Volkswagen over a “diesel scandal.” As reported by the German news agency, about 470 thousand car owners in Germany joined it.

Their interests are represented by the Federal Union of Consumer Protection Societies (VZBV) together with the All-German Automobile Club (ADAC). "In our opinion, Volkswagen tricked customers and therefore should be held accountable", said VZBV head Klaus Muller. The company believes that "no damage was caused to customers, since all cars are used and safe".

According to local experts, a case may take years. VZBV and ADAC filed a complaint on November 1, 2018. The plaintiffs want to prove that the concern "through manipulation of software intentionally harm customers". A collective complaint could be joined by everyone who purchased, starting in November 2008, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or Seat diesel cars with EA189 engines that were subject to recall. The lawsuit was filed on more than 200 pages.

This is Germany's first collective complaint against Volkswagen related to the "diesel scandal." In September 2015, the concern admitted to manipulating exhaust emissions. As it turned out, his cars were equipped with software that allowed him to underestimate the levels of harmful substances in exhaust gases. Thanks to this system, everything looked so that the exhaust fully met the accepted standards. In reality, they exceeded the established limit level of air pollution by several times.

In 2017, the MyRight Consumer Rights Organization filed a class action lawsuit against the Braunschweig Land Court on behalf of more than 15,000 owners of diesel cars manufactured by Volkswagen (VW), Deutsche Welle reports. The plaintiffs believed that they had suffered losses as a result of the diesel scandal, and demanded that the concern buy the vehicles from them at the original price. The total amount claimed was EUR 357 million.