Carmakers score major victory in UK dieselgate emissions trial
Mercedes, Ford, Peugeot-Citroen, Renault and Nissan denied their systems were designed to evade emissions tests
The High Court in London on Friday ruled largely in favour of five major carmakers accused of installing devices in diesel cars to cheat clean-air laws, as the dieselgate saga rumbles on.
"The Court rejected most of the principal allegations advanced against the manufacturers whose vehicles were examined" in the latest dieselgate trial, Justice Sara Cockerill said in a statement.
Mercedes, Ford, Peugeot-Citroen, Renault and Nissan had all denied their systems were designed to circumvent emissions tests for the air pollutant nitrogen oxides.
The dieselgate scandal erupted in September 2015, when German automaker Volkswagen admitted to fitting millions of vehicles with software to make engines appear less polluting in regulatory tests than in real driving conditions.
It caused waves in the global car industry, ensnaring several other top carmakers and leading to legal action in multiple countries including France, South Korea and the United States.
To date, Volkswagen has paid more than 32 billion euros ($36.5 billion) in penalties over the scandal, mostly in the United States.
While the UK court favoured the carmakers, Cockerill added that they would still face a second trial in October to determine a level of damages.
This is because the Court made "adverse findings in relation to certain specific strategies", including a coolant device in Mercedes cars and a strategy used in some Peugeot-Citroen cars, the judge added.
Claims in the trial were brought on behalf of 1.6 million motorists against 14 carmakers, including Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, Vauxhall-Opel and BMW, among others.
Ahead of Friday's verdict, lawyers for the claimants said the accused risked paying out billions of pounds (dollars) in compensation.
The case had centred around whether a sample of cars made by the five carmakers had installed "prohibited defeat devices" which reduced the effectiveness of the vehicles' emissions-control systems outside regulatory testing conditions, resulting in higher emissions of nitrogen oxides during normal vehicle use.
"We welcome that the English High Court of Justice ruled very largely in favour of Mercedes-Benz," the company said in a statement.
The Court "considers only one out of four of the sample vehicles as non-compliant in one functionality... (which was) remedied" via a software update, Mercedes added.
Ford said it supports the decision that shows it "did not use prohibited defeat devices in our vehicles".
Cockerill said "it was not enough for the claimants simply to establish that the challenged strategies reduced the effectiveness of emissions-control systems outside the relevant testing conditions".
"The Court also found that if an alternative approach were taken to the meaning of 'defeat device' most of the allegations would still fail," she added.