Huge recall of Volkswagen diesels is imminent in Germany

Last week there was still success for Volkswagen in a German lawsuit, now it’s a slightly different story. Environmental organization DUH filed a lawsuit against the KBA (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt), the German equivalent of the RDW. According to DUH, the KBA should not have approved the EA189 diesel engines modified by Volkswagen in response to the diesel scandal. The KBA gave Volkswagen permission to put the cars with these TDI engines back on the road after a software update. Despite the update, those engines would still emit more nitrogen than allowed, says DUH. The judge has now ruled that the approval should indeed not have been given Reuters.

This specific DUH case only focused on a Volkswagen Golf Plus with such an engine that received the software update, but DUH says it intends to broaden the case now. This undoubtedly means that they are now focusing on all Volkswagens with these engines, but DUH is also targeting similar developments with cars from Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Volkswagen can still appeal this case and according to Bloomberg the manufacturer is therefore not yet concerned about ‘major consequences in the short term’. However, should this case – as DUH hopes – mean that the entire series of diesel cars treated in this way should not have been allowed on the road, a recall campaign for millions of cars is imminent in Germany. Because it concerns a German case against the German KBA, this ruling has no direct consequences for the Netherlands.