Mercedes-Benz and auto supplier Robert Bosch agreed to pay about $6 million to resolve Arizona’s lawsuit over diesel promoting claims, the state said on Friday.
Under the proposed settlement, Mercedes pays $2.8 million in consumer restitution, and every qualifying Arizona consumer will receive as much as $625 per vehicle, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said. The German automaker pays $2.7 million in penalties, and Bosch pays $525,000 in penalties, the state said.
“Arizona demands truth in promoting to help consumers in making probably the most informed decisions for themselves,” Brnovich said.
Mercedes denied the allegations and made no admissions but said “with the settlement, the corporate takes one other step toward resolution of assorted diesel proceedings… and avoids further costs of litigation and lengthy court actions.”
In 2020, the German automaker agreed to pay $2.2 billion to resolve a U.S. government diesel emissions cheating investigation and claims from 250,000 U.S. vehicle owners.
The settlement included an $875 million civil penalty levied under the Clean Air Act and $546 million to repair the polluting vehicles and offset excess emissions.
A Justice Department investigation into the Mercedes emissions issue stays open and quite a few U.S. states have ongoing environmental and consumer protection investigations, the corporate said in its annual report in March.
Mercedes — which was then often called Daimler AG — agreed in 2020 to pay 250,000 owners as much as $3,290 each to get polluting vehicles repaired.
Diesel vehicles have come under harsh scrutiny within the U.S. since Volkswagen Group admitted in 2015 to installing secret cheating software on 580,000 U.S. vehicles. VW paid greater than $30 billion to resolve investigations and buy back vehicles.
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