A newly filed class action lawsuit accuses Audi of using defeat devices in at least six of its V6 gasoline-engined vehicles. In a complaint filed in federal court in Illinois on behalf of more than 100,000 consumers, automotive class-action specialist Hagens Berman alleges the automaker employed defeat devices in the gasoline 3.0-liter Audi A6, A8, Q5 and Q7 vehicles in addition to others.

The suit comes days after the German weekly Welt am Sonntag reported Audi had employed software that monitored driving modes to detect when vehicles were being tested for emisssions, and modified CO2 output accordingly by varying the operation of the automatic transmission. The report also claimed that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been aware of these devices in Audi vehicles for several months, suggesting that they had been discovered in mid-2016 at the latest.

"Throughout the yearlong Dieselgate scandal, Audi chose to continue to deceive consumers across the country with yet another emissions-cheating device installed in even more of its vehicles,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman. “This kind of flagrant disregard for federal environmental regulations and consumers’ expectations is unacceptable, and we intend to hold Audi to the law on behalf of those who overpaid for Audi’s noncompliant, polluting cars."

The lawsuit comes a few weeks after the 2.0-liter TDI buyback and compensation program received final approval from the U.S. District Court that had been overseeing negotiations between the automaker and U.S. agencies and plaintiff groups, and amid negotiations over the fate of some 85,000 3.0-liter TDI vehicles.

The latter issue, placed on the back burner amid 2.0-liter settlement negotiations, now approaches a turning point amid reports that at least 21,000 older VW Touareg and Audi Q7 vehicles could face a buyback program as they may be too difficult and expensive to fix. The VW Group has not commented substantively on the 3.0-liter TDI issue, citing ongoing negotiations with federal agencies, though last week Audi added over $600 million to funds aimed at addressing the 3.0-liter TDI issue lending weight to the possibility of a significant compensation program that could include buybacks.

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