NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (UPI) — A new class-action lawsuit claims Audi used emission defeat devices in at least six of its V6 gasoline engines, expanding Volkswagen’s emissions fraud woes.
A complaint filed in federal court in Illinois on behalf of 100,000 customers claims the automaker used CO2 go-around software in its Audi A6, A8, Q5 and Q7 vehicles, among others, AutoWeek reported.
Investigators are looking in to the issue in both the U.S. and Germany, the New York Times reported.
The examiners are looking in to why certain Audi luxury cars and sport utility vehicles behave differently during tests than they did on road testing.
Already, VW is in deep for programming 11 million diesel cars across the globe to provide artificially low emission levels, then lying about it to U.S. regulators for more than a year after officials noticed the issue.
VW has already agreed to pay $16.5 billion to settle lawsuits brought by owners and dealers across the United States. The company could face further consequences if it turns out the emissions fraud was even more extensive than previously thought.
Volkswagen issued a statement Saturday, confirming a report published in Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that some Audis with automatic transmissions behaved differently during testing.
VW and Audi representatives acknowledged regulators are looking at why some models shifted differently during testing, but said there was no deliberate attempt to cheat emissions rules.
“In the testing situation,” Audi said in its statement Saturday, “dynamic shift programs can lead to incorrect readings and results that cannot be reproduced.”
