Dieselgate

Dieselgate: one scandal, unequal justice

In September 2015, the world learned that the Volkswagen group had misled its customers for years. Its cars emitted far more nitrogen oxide (NOx) than promised, thanks to software that artificially lowered emission readings during testing. The fraud harmed consumers’ rights, public health and the environment across the EU and beyond.

What this means in practice for consumers?

Consumers bought cars believing they were cleaner than they really were, paying for promises that were never kept. Yet years later, most European Dieselgate victims have still not received any compensation. Volkswagen has even claimed that customers suffered no loss or damage, a position that is both misleading and unacceptable.

Courts confirm Volkswagen’s wrongdoing

Since 2016, Euroconsumers’ members Test-Achats/Test-Aankoop (Belgium), OCU (Spain), Altroconsumo (Italy) and DECO PROteste (Portugal) have pursued class actions against Volkswagen, with major results:

Spain, January 2021: the Commercial Court found that Volkswagen used unfair commercial practices and ordered it to pay €3,000 to each affected consumer, around €16 million in total. Volkswagen appealed.
Italy, July 2021: Altroconsumo won its class action, with Volkswagen ordered to pay €3,300 plus interest to each of more than 63,000 consumers, over €200 million in total, the largest class action victory in Europe to date.
EU level, July 2022: the European Court of Justice ruled that the software Volkswagen used to alter emissions was an illegal defeat device.

Compensation for some, not for all

Volkswagen settled out of court with German consumers through the consumer organisation VZBV, and with around 91,000 British consumers for about €225 million. Consumers in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal, who suffered the same harm, have been left out.

Euroconsumers has repeatedly sought dialogue. It wrote to Volkswagen’s Board on multiple occasions, reached out to major investors BlackRock and DWS Group to ask whether they supported Volkswagen’s refusal to compensate all European consumers, and wrote again after the British settlement and the ECJ ruling. In November 2022, Test-Achats summoned Volkswagen before a Belgian court for conciliation, with the board and CEO ordered to appear in person. Volkswagen sent its lawyers instead, with a clear message: it had no intention of compensating Belgian consumers. The Belgian case is therefore continuing through the courts.

Our call

Volkswagen has benefited greatly from the EU Single Market, yet refuses to respect one of its core principles: equal treatment for all consumers. Euroconsumers will not rest until Volkswagen takes responsibility and compensates every European consumer affected by Dieselgate. It is the only way to close this chapter.