Australia Takes Volkswagen to Court for Emissions Falsification

Car manufacturer Volkswagen in Australia is facing federal court proceedings for covering up information about its vehicles’ emissions to consumers who thought the cars they were buying were environmentally friendly will have to fight federal court proceedings in Australia,

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched the case accusing Volkswagen in engaging in misleading conduct between 2011 and 2015 by intentionally selling more than 57,000 cars with on-board “defeat” software which did not accurately measure toxic emission outputs.

The software "caused the vehicles to produce lower nitrogen oxide emissions when subjected to test conditions in a laboratory, but switched to a different mode under normal, on-road driving conditions, resulting in significantly higher emissions being produced by the vehicles," the ACCC said in a statement.

The court cases involve ten Volkswagen models, including some of its biggest sellers. The ACCC is demanding that Volkswagen pay fines and publically declare their misconduct and carry out corrective advertising in relation to the software.

Volkswagen has said that it plans to give affected vehicle owners corrective software and has so far allocated around $US17 billion for a global recall program.

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“These allegations involve extraordinary conduct of a serious and deliberate nature by a global corporation … We expect higher standards of behaviour from all companies that supply to Australian consumers,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.

In Australia, the company already faces a number of private class action suits in the country’s federal court. Volkswagen has been in hot water internationally over the emissions scandal. Around 11 million diesel vehicles are estimated to have the misleading software installed.

U.S. investigators found in Sept. 2015, that Volkswagen had the same “defeat” software installed in around 500,000 vehicles and could face billions of dollars in fines. More than 500 lawsuits have been filed against the company in California alone. In June, Germany was looking to investigate Volkswagen for allegations that an employee destroyed evidence in relation to the emission scandal.