It was in September 2015 that it became known about one of the most significant cases in the automotive industry. Since then, everything has changed, in particular, it led to the appearance of the electric car and its more “environmental” advantages.

After eight years, if the case is “settled” in several countries, including the United States, where the Volkswagen group, the main initiator of this case, had to pay several hundred million dollars in fines.

In Europe, some owners of cars equipped with unauthorized emissions control software are still in the midst of legal battles. In Germany, they can now apply compensation from manufacturers after the historic decision of the German courts.

Compensation 5 and 15% of the purchase price

The verdict of the Federal Court of Germany (BGH) should trigger a wave of compensation claims against car manufacturers, and not only the Volkswagen concern.

“The manufacturer of the vehicle must prove that, at the time of issuing the certificate of conformity, he had neither the intention nor the negligence to make the vehicle non-compliant with the requirements of the European Union legislation”– said the court.

German courts have so far refused to compensate consumers, arguing that it was not intentional damage caused to car buyers, but rather negligence on the part of the manufacturers.

However, last March the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in favor of motorists, finding that negligence is now sufficient to claim damages. In its ruling on Monday, The federal court set this amount at 5 to 15% of the purchase price of the car.

Millions of cars were affected

We will remind you that the “thermal window” system allows you to control the cleaning of exhaust gases of diesel cars according to the outside temperature. The nitrogen oxides (NOx) filtration system is reduced or switched off when the temperature is below 15 degrees or above 33 degrees. The builders claimed that this was necessary to protect the engine.

For their part, environmental organizations consider this software a way to get around the rules to present lower pollutant emissions during testing than in real driving conditions.

In the dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen admitted to rigging 11 million cars to artificially lower nitrogen oxide emissions. Mercedes was also affected by the case, as were several brands from the former FCA and PSA groups.

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