Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings held a joint press conference announcing a $150 million settlement with Mercedes Benz for equipping their diesel cars with software designed to cheat emissions testing, similar to the Volkswagen settlement that rocked the car industry in 2016.
The settlement will see $120 million distributed to all fifty states whose attorneys general participated in the legal action, with $30 million suspended pending consumer relief actions by the company. Connecticut will receive nearly $5 million in compensation for the 3,181 vehicles affected by the software.
The settlement pertains to Mercedes Benz diesel vehicles manufactured between the years 2008 and 2016. Affected owners will receive $2,000 and the opportunity to have their vehicles updated with the correct technology.
“The defeat devices enabled vehicles to exceed legal limits of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, a harmful pollutant that causes respiratory illness and contributes to the formation of smog. Mercedes engaged in this conduct to achieve design and performance goals, such as increased fuel efficiency and reduced maintenance, that it was unable to meet while complying with applicable emission standards,” the press release from the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office said.
Tong said the deception was purposeful, designed to get around emissions tests, and that the cooperation among multiple companies in producing and installing the software has “overtones of anti-trust.”
“This is just the latest in these major, industry-wide emissions cheating scandals and we’re cracking down on all of them,” Tong said. “Emissions are a real problem for Connecticut because Connecticut sits at the end of America’s tailpipe.”
“Their customers bought these cars and paid a premium because they wanted fuel-efficient diesel vehicles and they overpaid and that’s a real cost because they didn’t get what they were supposed to get,” Tong continued. “It hurts when a small group of big, dominant manufacturers collude in the way they did with this emissions cheating technology because that then hurts other competitors who then have to raise prices to compete or maybe go out of business or suffer because they can’t compete and that ultimately raises prices on consumers.”
“Consumers deserve to know exactly what they are purchasing, and they should be able to reasonably assume that any new car they buy is in compliance with all laws and regulations,” said Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli in the press release. “This deception was unfair to consumers and a clear violation of public trust.”
The 2016 settlement with Volkswagen — which included vehicle brands like Porsche and Audi and cost the company a purported $14.7 billion – found widespread cheating of state emission standards for 590,000 diesel vehicles. The federal government secured a plea deal for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and entry of goods by false statement. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “The major excess pollutant at issue in this case is oxides of nitrogen and is a serious health concern.”
The Mercedes settlement also comes on the heels of a settlement reached between 35 states and car makers Kia and Hyundai for failing to equip their vehicles with “industry -standard anti-theft technology,” which contributed to a wave of car thefts in Connecticut and across the country during the COVID pandemic, highlighted in a documentary filmed in Bridgeport that interviewed and followed the “Kia Boyz” as they stole cars and drove them dangerously around the city.
Under the terms of the settlement, Kia and Hyundai provided $4.5 million in customer restitution and $4.5 million to states to defray the costs of investigation.
Connecticut received roughly $197,000 from the settlement for a purported 93,393 impacted vehicles sold in the state.
Tong said during the Mercedes settlement press conference that the inclusion of all fifty state attorneys general shows that states can continue to work together despite dysfunction in Washington D.C.
“This is a fifty-state attorney general coalition,” Tong said. “It underscores how well states continue to work together even in this moment when things in Washington are so volatile and people are having a difficult time discharging their responsibilities in Washington, states are getting it done, attorneys general are getting it done.”
“Truth in advertising is not optional,” Jennings said. “Clean air is not optional. The law is not optional. We will not tolerate those who behave otherwise.”
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