Dieselskandal: Landgericht Ingolstadt verurteilt Audi

The owner of the Audi A6 3.0l TDI not only receives the purchase price back, but also 3,200 EUR in interest.

The Ingolstadt Regional Court once again sided with the consumer and ordered Audi AG to take back an Audi A6 3.0l TDI with the “Euro 5” emissions standard due to intentional immoral damage (judgment of November 30, 2020, case number 53 O 448/19).

Like many Audi models, the vehicle was equipped with a manipulated engine. The owner can now hand in the fraudulent diesel and receive a payment of 44,798.91 EURIn addition, the court awarded the plaintiff Late payment interest of just under 3,200 EUR to.

The damage already existed at the time of conclusion of the purchase contract.

The damage suffered by the person concerned already existed when the purchase contract was concluded, which represented an "unwanted obligation" for him. When purchasing a car, a customer can expect that the vehicle's registration for road traffic and classification in the specified emissions class are carried out in accordance with the law and not based on manipulated engine software.

The court judged the conduct of those responsible at Audi to be immoral. Firstly, at the time the engine was developed and installed, the tension between the goal of keeping carbon dioxide emissions as low as possible and limiting nitrogen oxide emissions was generally known and should have given rise to a very detailed examination.

On the other hand, at that time the European legislator had issued a ban on illegal defeat devices and therefore drew particular attention to this problem. Because of this warning effect, those responsible at Audi should have expected that such a device would be used. Since they did not intervene and issued the certificate of conformity or did not prevent it from being issued, they too can be held at least partially responsible for intent through omission, the judgment states.

In the court's opinion, it is irrelevant whether the plaintiff's vehicle is equipped with an EA897 evo engine or an EA896 engine, as the vehicle is affected by a recall by the Federal Motor Transport Authority.