High Court Clears Major Carmakers of Emissions Cheating in Landmark Ruling

A High Court judge has ruled that vehicles from several major car manufacturers did not contain the illegal software devices that were alleged to help them cheat on emissions tests. The decision, handed down by Lady Justice Cockerill, comes after a ten-week trial that examined 20 sample vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Nissan.

Ford, and Peugeot-Citroën. The ruling rejected most of the claims brought by roughly 880,000 motorists who argued they were misled about the emissions performance of their diesel cars.

" She noted that for a device to be considered a defeat device, there must be clear evidence that the software was designed to detect when the car was being tested and alter emissions accordingly. While two exceptions were identified, one in a Mercedes model, which was removed in 2015, and another in certain Peugeot-Citroën vehicles, the court concluded that the majority of the challenged systems were legitimate.

Mercedes welcomed the ruling but signaled it may appeal the finding on its single non-compliant vehicle.

The case is part of a broader legal battle stemming from the 2015 Dieselgate scandal, when Volkswagen admitted to using defeat devices in millions of cars worldwide. That scandal has cost VW billions in fines and compensation, including payments to 91,000 UK motorists. A separate report cited during the trial linked excess nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles to tens of thousands of premature deaths and asthma cases across Europe.

The fight is not over, however: a follow-up trial is set for October to determine potential damages for any actionable breaches, and the broader litigation includes claims against other automakers such as BMW, Toyota, and Volvo.