Jaguar Land Rover latest manufacturer to face claims for emissions ‘cheat device’

Law firm Leigh Day has announced that it is investigating claims against the luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover over claims their vehicles have been fitted with emissions cheat devices. Lawyers representing UK-based vehicle owners claim that cheat devices fixed to the premium car brands’ diesel vehicles have cheated owners and had a significant effect on the climate.

Leigh Day is the first law firm to include the British luxury brands in its portfolio of group claims against motor manufacturers who stand accused of using cheat devices to pass emissions tests.

Leigh Day is currently representing nearly 40,000 drivers of Mercedes, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Porsche, Vauxhall, Citroen and Peugeot vehicles.

There are believed to be 365,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles potentially affected by emissions cheat devices whose owners could be eligible to join the group claim.

The potentially affected models, all diesel, identified so far are:

• Jaguar XE
• Jaguar XF
• Land Rover Discovery Sport
• Land Rover Discovery
• Range Rover Sport
• Land Rover Evoque
• Other Jaguar and Land Rover diesel vehicles may also be affected.

Since 2016 a variety of tests have been conducted on the JLR vehicles by German, and UK regulators, and by NGOs, the results of which frequently demonstrated that NOx emissions exceeded the relevant limits.

A Jaguar XE 2.0 was found by the German VW Commission Enquiry in April 2016 to be producing NOx at nine times the threshold value in an on the road test. In the same report, a Range Rover 3.0 produced 11 times the threshold value during on the road testing.

Also in 2016, the UK Department of Transport found higher than permitted NOx emissions in hot track testing for the Jaguar XE, the Land Rover Freelander and Range Rover Sport

A September 2017 White Paper by the International Council on Clean Transportation (‘ICCT’) aggregated publicly available on road emissions test data. The ICCT identified Land Rover as the worst performing manufacturer.

Last year the European Court of Justice ruled that diesel emission defeat devices cannot be justified by the argument that they “contribute to preventing the ageing or clogging-up of the engine”.

Car manufacturers had admitted that engine control units were programmed to shut off at certain temperatures, but said such practices were fully compliant with the law.

The Leigh Day claim is being run on a no win-no fee basis.

Leigh Day partner Oliver Holland is leading the group claim against Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

Oliver Holland said:

“Evidence in the public domain clearly shows that diesel engines in some Jaguar Land Rover models were fitted with emissions cheat devices so that customers have not been driving around in the low-emissions vehicles they thought they were.

“Instead, these owners have been cheated, and Britain’s roads and surrounding areas have been polluted with NOx emissions way beyond the levels that motor manufacturers have stated, to maintain profit and avoid regulation essential to our health and the health of the planet.”