Why Much of the Car Industry Is Under Scrutiny for Cheating

More than two years after Volkswagen AG admitted to engineering its diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests, much of the automotive industry is now under scrutiny for trying to deceive drivers and regulators. Ford became the latest company to become embroiled in the issue, with drivers in a U.S. lawsuit claiming some 500,000 Super Duty pickup trucks were rigged to beat emissions tests. German automakers have been accused of operating a two-decade technology “cartel” to impose a premium on consumers while stifling innovation, including pollution controls. Emissions-rigging claims are multiplying in U.S. courts and regulators in Europe have continued to push new cases. Among other things, Volkswagen, BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG bowed to a demand by German authorities to recall 5 million diesel cars.

Ford Motor Co. was sued for allegedly installing so-called defeat devices in its 250 and 350 Super Duty pickup trucks dating back to 2011. Attorneys for drivers argue that the pickup trucks spew 50 times the legal limit of the pollutant nitrogen oxide and that defeat devices they likened to VW’s were used to cheat emissions tests. The lawsuit points to seven years of false advertising, including claims that the trucks lead their class in fuel economy and had been tested for real world driving conditions. The suit claims Ford worked with the world’s largest auto-parts supplier, Germany’s Robert Bosch GMBH, to mask the vehicles’ flaws. Bosch faces similar accusations in cases against VW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors Co.