French motorists going to get repairs from Volkswagen?
It is the hope of the association for the defense of consumers CLCV (Consumption, housing and living environment) which, according to our information, filed in mid-September, a few days before the prescription, a group action against Volkswagen, in the context of the “dieselgate” affair.
This legal process has been permitted in France since 2014 by the Hamon law.
A first procedural hearing will take place this Thursday at the Tribunal de grande instance (TGI) of Soissons (Aisne), in the department where the headquarters of Volkswagen France is located.
In total, 11 million diesel vehicles produced between 2008 and 2015 by the German manufacturer and sold around the world (under the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda brands) were equipped with fraudulent software, of which nearly one million in France.
Objective: to reduce polluting emissions during approval tests.
Following the disclosure of the scandal in September 2015, in the middle of the Frankfurt Motor Show, several hundred thousand owners of these vehicles obtained repair, with varying degrees of speed.
Renault, PSA and Fiat-Chrysler also concerned
As of 2017 in the United States, Volkswagen has paid nearly $ 10 billion in compensation to 480,000 customers.
In Australia, it was not until September 2019 that the Wolfsburg firm disbursed Australian $ 127 million (€ 79 million) for 100,000 cars concerned.
At the start of 2020, it was Canada's turn: a Canadian $ 196.5 million (€ 135 million) fine for 130,000 cars;
in addition to the $ 2.4 billion (€ 1.6 billion) in compensation paid in 2016. In Germany, a collective action led by the German Consumers' Defense Federation (VZBV) enabled 260,000 individuals to reach € 830 million in compensation.
Currently, around ten group actions are still underway in the European Union, affected by 8.5 million vehicles.
In France, the only recourse until then for the motorists concerned was to join the pan-European collective action launched by the Dutch foundation Diesel Emissions Justice (DEJF), created in July 2019. This action has been accessible in our country from the beginning. of the year.
Dutch law allows, in terms of collective reparation, to extend a binding settlement to all EU states.
VIDEO. New antipollution tests implemented one year after Dieselgate
A report published on September 18 by the European Bureau of Consumers' Unions (BEUC) criticizes Volkswagen's refusal to initiate any new negotiations, other than those already concluded.
Hence the initiative of the CLCV of this unique 100% French group action, led by ten complainants.
“The procedure will undoubtedly take several years, warns François Carlier, the general delegate of the association.
But if it ever results in a conviction, the French individuals concerned will have a year to make themselves known.
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Volkswagen is not the only manufacturer involved in this massive fraud case.
Renault, PSA and Fiat-Chrysler have also allegedly used devices intended to rig the results of homologation tests.
"With VW, the other three manufacturers are still the subject of a pending judicial investigation for aggravated deception," recalls the lawyer of the CLCV, Maître Charles Constantin-Vallet.
Opened in 2017, the criminal investigation was entrusted to the judges of the public health department of the Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI) of Paris.
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For its part, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) must deliver, probably before the end of the year, a judgment on the Volkswagen case.
Will it follow the requisitions of the Advocate General?
Last April, he had confirmed the fraud.
“If Volkswagen is condemned, continues François Carlier, and a fortiori Renault, PSA and Fiat-Chrysler, then our group action will have every chance of succeeding.
“Contacted, Volkswagen did not wish to speak.