Class Action Claims Audi, like VW, Cheated Fuel, Emissions Testing

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A class action filed in Illinois against Audi of America, LLC claims the company deceived consumers by covertly equipping some cars with a “defeat device” designed to “limit emissions and increase fuel efficiency” while the vehicles underwent testing, but not during regular use. As a result, the lawsuit argues, consumers “overpaid to purchase vehicles incapable of providing the balance of performance, efficiency, and cleanliness that Audi represented them to offer.”

The 36-page complaint alleges the actual emissions and fuel efficiency of certain Audi vehicles are entirely different than what the company represented on the cars’ “Monroney Sticker,” a label that lists certain vehicle specifications required to be displayed on the window of new cars in the U.S. Specifically, the plaintiff claims cars equipped with the AL 551 transmission, which includes Audi’s A6, A8, and Q5 models, come with the defeat device. Reports say the device can detect when an equipped car is in a testing bay, at which point it command’s the vehicle’s transmission to operate in a “low rev” mode where it shifts into the next higher gear sooner than it would during regular use. When the vehicle is on the road for regular use, the defeat device deactivates and lets the car operate at higher revolutions per minute, which boosts the cars’ power and acceleration but also forces the engine to consumer more fuel and emit more carbon dioxide.

This class action comes in the wake of the scandal in which Volkswagen, Audi’s parent company, for years illegally played up the emissions of their “clean diesel” vehicles, cars that were equipped with a defeat device. Unlike Volkswagen, however, Audi allegedly manipulated emissions and fuel efficiency levels for standard gasoline vehicles with a different type of defeat device that the lawsuit claims is very difficult to detect.

The lawsuit includes a proposed nationwide class made up of anyone who owns an affected Audi vehicle in the U.S., as well as subclasses for Audi owners in all 50 states.