You may have heard about Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal, in which the automaker installed software to manipulate the emissions readings in its “clean diesel” models during tests. With lawsuits against Volkswagen on the rise, West Virginia is the first state to sue the company.
The vehicles are said to create as much as forty times the amount of pollution allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency while on the road. West Virginia claims that the automaker has violated the state’s consumer protection law by falsely advertising their clean diesel models to be environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient, and high performance. Over 2,500 affected vehicles are registered in the state.
Individual customers paid as much as $6,855 in premiums for the “clean diesel” vehicles, completely unaware of the cheating software. The lawsuit was filed in the Kanawha County Circuit Court by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
