The purpose of this MA thesis is to present a legal analysis of the Dieselgate case with an emphasis on the purchaser’s rights. In this case the purchasers bought vehicles with manipulated fitted software (a defeat device). The car industry giant Volkswagen manipulating the diesel engine emission results gave name to the affair in question. Volkswagen intentionally installed defeat devices on close to half a million vehicles to ensure ostensible reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions during regulatory laboratory testing, while in real-world driving the vehicles emitted forty times the permitted level. Becoming one of the biggest affairs in the history of automotive industry, Dieselgate will change vehicle manufacturing, distribution, sale and especially institutional supervision of vehicle manufacturing in the long term.
In addition to the warranty claim the purchaser of the vehicle with disputable software can also claim reimbursement of damages they have sustained due to failure to satisfy the sales contract. This is owing to the fact that vehicles with disputable software certainly constitute vehicles with factual defect, since the actual features of the vehicle differ from the ones prescribed and agreed upon in the sales contract. Instead of the warranty claim against the seller the purchaser of the vehicle can exercise their rights under the manufacturer’s and seller’s liability for faultless operating of products.
Most purchasers of the vehicles with test-rigging software in European legal area probably won’t start a legal action, since the average duration of judicial proceedings is long while the legal costs are high in comparison to the amount of compensation. The purchasers of the disputed vehicles would undoubtedly have better chances of success in collective action for damages since the defendant would be more likely to seek less costly settlement due to the preventive function of this type of action.
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