It is estimated that 105,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles equipped with the illegal emissions-cheating software were imported and sold in Canada. The software acts like a secret on/off switch for legal compliance by turning the cars’ pollution control equipment on in the laboratory, but off when driven on the open road.
These cars are capable of emitting up to 35 times the legal level of nitrogen oxides — known to cause adverse, even fatal, effects on the respiratory systems of humans and animals, and damage to vegetation — into the air. To top things off, recent research from the US Federal Bank of Reserve suggested links between emissions-cheating VW cars and low birth weight and acute asthma attacks in children.
We’re helping our clients challenge the Minister of Environment and Climate Change’s refusal to investigate and hold all those involved accountable for their importation, marketing, approval and sale of diesel cars equipped with the illegal emissions-cheating software in Canada.