About Mercedes

The Claim

Broadly speaking, it is alleged that various car manufacturers, including Mercedes, used illegal 'defeat devices' in their diesel vehicles to cheat the tests undertaken by regulators when the vehicles emissions levels were being tested. Tens of thousands of consumers signed up and joined the Group Litigation Order (Class Action Lawsuit in the US) that was taken against VW and VW settled out of court without any admission. The terms and conditions of the settlement were made confidential. It did take approximately 4 years though before consumers received their payments.

The Argument

Broadly speaking, it is alleged that various car manufacturers, including Mercedes, used illegal 'defeat devices' in their diesel vehicles to cheat the tests undertaken by regulators when the vehicles emissions levels were being tested. Tens of thousands of consumers signed up and joined the Group Litigation Order (Class Action Lawsuit in the US) that was taken against VW and VW settled out of court without any admission. The terms and conditions of the settlement were made confidential. It did take approximately 4 years though before consumers received their payments.

The bare bones of the argument being:

1. You might not have purchased the vehicle had you known about the vehicles true emissions.
2. It is likely that you paid more for the vehicle than you otherwise would have. A more 'environmentally friendly' car would likely have carried a premium price regardless of whether it was purchased new or second-hand.
3. Even if your vehicle had been fixed in order to rectify the emissions issue, it is likely that the end result would have meant worse fuel efficiency and / or worse performance which in turn lowers the vehicle's value.

You may be able to claim damages for these things.

Mercedes will of course disagree, for example, VW argued that consumers hadn't suffered any financial loss. It will be for the courts to decide who is right, but despite their arguments in May 2022 VW settled out of court.

What Mercedes Models are affected by the diesel claims?

There were four engine designs put into Mercedes cars and vans that were affected by the diesel claims and these were the OM626, OM642, OM651 and OM622 models. These engines were placed into a wide range of vehicles including:

What's next for the Mercedes diesel claims?

To date, the VW Group is the only manufacturer to have faced court proceedings.

While claims have been or are waiting to be launched against a number of other manufacturers, including Mercedes, that has not happened yet so it’s not too late to join the claim. Bear in mind though, these are not small nor simple cases and the VW claimants waited up to around 4 years for those who joined early on.

Nonetheless, consumers are being asked to register their interest in potential claims now in the anticipation that many other manufacturers, like Mercedes, will eventually be subject to a similar Group Litigation Order for vehicles affected by diesel emissions issues.

Disclaimer: Finally, a word of caution. It would be prudent to make the point that whilst the VW claim was ultimately successful, this is not to say that the claims that follow against companies like Mercedes will be.

Confidence is high that any claim brought will be sucessful.