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S. Korean Audi owners file class action suit against Volkswagen

October 22, 2015

The sign of German car company Audi is attached on the engine of a TDI, a turbo diesel model, in Berlin, Germany. Volkswagen AG’s upmarket Audi brand said 2.1 million of its vehicles are among those with the engines affected by the emissions-rigging scandal. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — A group of South Koreans who drive Volkswagen’s luxury brand, Audi, have filed a class action suit against the German automaker to retract their contracts after it admitted to cheating on U.S. emission tests, industry sources said Thursday.

A total of 101 Audi owners filed the suit with a Seoul district court against Volkswagen Group, Audi Volkswagen Korea and local dealers to demand their purchasing contracts of cars in question be annulled and they be given a full refund.

“If Volkswagen Group did not cheat on its emission tests, consumers would not have paid a large sum of money to buy the cars that failed to pass the tests,” the plaintiffs said.

Among the cars owned by the plaintiffs are the A4, the A5, the A6 2.0 TDI, the Q3 and the Q5 2.0 TDI equipped with EA 189 diesel engines, which are embroiled in the fake test scandal.

Some Audi owners have joined Volkswagen users to sue the German automaker following the scandal, but it is the first time that Audi drivers have filed their own suit at home and abroad.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that Volkswagen used software that activates emission controls only when the car is going through official testing to fake test results and pass strict emissions standards.

The world’s No. 1 carmaker admitted to the accusation and decided to recall about 500,000 vehicles in the United States alone. It also admitted that more than 10 million cars sold globally might be equipped with the “defeat device.”

Since the scandal surfaced, 266 people have filed lawsuits against Volkswagen Group, Audi Volkswagen Korea and local dealers with the Seoul Central District Court.

Market experts presume that about 120,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles might have been manipulated in South Korea by the same software found by the U.S. environment regulators and be subject to a recall.