Mercedes-Benz and a car supplier Robert Bosch has agreed to pay about $6 million to settle an Arizona lawsuit over diesel advertising claims, the state said Friday.
Under the proposed settlement, Mercedes will pay $2.8 million in consumer restitution, and each eligible consumer in Arizona will receive up to $625 per vehicle, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said. The German automaker will pay a $2.7 million fine, while Bosch will pay a $525,000 fine, the state said.
“Arizona requires truth in advertising to help consumers make the most informed decisions,” Brnovich said.
Mercedes denied the allegations and made no admissions, but said that “with the settlement, the company takes another step towards resolving the various diesel lawsuits … and avoids further costs of litigation and lengthy litigation.”
In 2020, the German automaker agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle a U.S. government investigation into cheating on diesel emissions and claims by 250,000 U.S. car owners.
The settlement included an $875 million civil penalty levied under the Clean Air Act and $546 million to eliminate polluting vehicles and offset excess emissions.
The Justice Department’s investigation into Mercedes’ emissions problem remains open, and environmental and consumer protection investigations are ongoing in several US states, the company said in its annual report in March.
Mercedes, then known as Daimler AG, agreed to pay 250,000 owners up to $3,290 each in 2020 to fix polluting cars.
Diesel cars have come under heavy scrutiny in the US after the Volkswagen Group admitted in 2015 to installing secret cheating software on 580,000 US cars. VW paid more than $30 billion to settle investigations and buy back cars.
https://www.autonews.com/regulation-safety/mercedes-bosch-pay-about-6m-resolve-arizona-diesel-ad-lawsuit
