A Seattle law firm that specializes in suing automakers has filed a class-action lawsuit against General Motors, accusing the company of programming some of its heavy-duty pickup trucks to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
News of the lawsuit was enough to send the company’s shares down almost 2 percent on Thursday. It is the latest sign of the intense scrutiny of the methods that automakers have devised to meet stringent diesel-emissions regulations, an issue that has led to major legal cases against Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler.
General Motors denied the allegations. “These claims are baseless and we will vigorously defend ourselves,” it said in a statement.
It was unclear whether environmental regulators would open investigations into G.M. and the emissions-control technology used in its diesel trucks.
The suit accuses the company of using software that helps the diesel versions of Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and GMC Sierra 2500HD heavy-duty pickup trucks with Duramax engines meet emissions requirements.
The software was used in about 705,000 trucks sold from 2011 to 2016, the suit says. It argues G.M. deceived customers by marketing the vehicles as “clean” diesel trucks and seeks to force the company to buy the vehicles back and compensate owners for economic losses.
According to the suit, the trucks conform to emissions standards when they are being driven at steady speeds and when outdoor temperatures range from 68 to 86 degrees — the conditions used for some of the emissions testing such trucks undergo.
Absent those conditions, the vehicles emit four to five times the pollutants than are allowed, the suit says. It alleges that G.M. intentionally programmed the vehicles’ emissions controls to pass emissions tests and to then scale back those controls in real-world conditions to improve power and fuel-economy.
In response to the suit, G.M. said heavy-duty trucks with its Duramax diesel engine complied with all emissions regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, which plays an influential role in vehicle emissions.
The E.P.A. did not respond to requests for comment on the suit. The California agency is reviewing the lawsuit, a spokesman said. He declined further comment.
The suit was filed by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a law firm that specializes in class actions and that previously filed a diesel-emissions suit against G.M. related to the Chevrolet Cruze compact and another against Fiat Chrysler; those suits are pending. A similar suit filed by the firm against Mercedes-Benz was dismissed. Hagens Berman has also filed liability claims unrelated to emissions against Ford Motor, Kia Motors, Tesla and others.
John German, a senior fellow at the International Council on Clean Transportation in Ann Arbor, Mich., said he had reviewed some details of the lawsuit and was not sure if G.M.’s emissions controls amounted to a so-called illegal defeat device. “There’s not enough information to say right now,” he said.
Read more of the original article at The New York Times.
