Owners of diesel-powered vehicles equipped with unauthorized exhaust gas control software can claim damages from manufacturers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Tuesday March 21 in a file likely to concern a very large number of motorists.
The technique known as “thermal windows” makes it possible to control the purification of exhaust gases from diesel vehicles according to the outside temperature. The buyer of a vehicle equipped with such a device “has a right to repair from the manufacturer” automobile when said device has caused damage to that purchaser, according to a decision of the CJEU.
European justice was to rule on an appeal filed against the manufacturer Mercedes, but the software has been used by a large number of manufacturers since the “Dieselgate” affair, in 2015. In response to the rigged emissions scandal, the engine software of the diesel vehicles in question had been adapted and had incorporated a device that cut off the purification of exhaust gases and the reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions when the temperatures are too low and above a certain altitude.
After several administrative courts, European justice had, in July 2022, in a separate decision, deemed this practice illegal in most cases. The German court of Ravensburg had, for its part, asked the CJEU to examine the right of owners of vehicles equipped with the device of “thermal window” to claim reparations.
The Court considers that “Member States are required to provide that the purchaser of such a vehicle benefits from a right to compensation from its manufacturer”. It specifies that it is up to the German courts to calculate the amount of compensation that may be due. NOx is believed to be responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths worldwide each year.