Volkswagen Hit With False Advertising Lawsuit Over Clean Diesel Claims In US

The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen Group Of America, claiming that Volkswagen’s ‘clean diesel’ advertising claims were misleading.

The lawsuit, filed by the Federal Trade Commission in the District Court of San Francisco refutes claims made by Volkswagen that its vehicles were “were low-emission, environmentally friendly, met emissions standards and would maintain a high resale value” 

Using Volkswagen’s high-profile advertising campaigns, which ran from 2009, until as recently as last year, the Federal Trade Commission seeks to prove that Volkswagen continued to mislead consumers, even as evidence that its vehicles weren’t as clean as claimed began to mount.

Volkswagen Group of America has received the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint, but has responded with a statement saying that its first priority is to find a solution for the diesel emission issue in the US - something it has until April 21 to do.

In this latest lawsuit the Federal Trade Commission is seeking compensation for each of the 580,000 diesel Volkswagen owners in the USA, with vehicles fitted with an diesel emissions defeat device.

Currently Volkswagen faces over 500 separate civil lawsuits in the USA alone as result of its diesel emissions deception and non-compliance affecting four-cylinder and V6 diesel engines.

MORE: Volkswagen | Emissions | Diesel