Parents and campaign groups are calling for diesel cars across the industry to be investigated and recalled because of fears they are cheating diesel emissions tests as the biggest ever class action in the UK begins today. More than 1.8 million motorists are involved in the legal action – the biggest UK group claim ever.
The news comes as YouGov polling shows that nearly two thirds (63%) of British adults do not trust car manufacturers to tell the truth about the health and environmental impacts of their cars. Pressure is growing on Government to force car manufacturers to withdraw models which are found to contain illegal “defeat devices”, as polling shows that 69% of adults say it is unacceptable that there may still be cars in the UK with this emissions defeat technology.
The three-month trial which is being led by Leigh Day will decide whether a range of diesel vehicles made by the five lead manufacturers contained defeat devices, designed to alter a vehicle’s performance during test conditions, circumventing the intended emission control levels.
Analysis by the International Council on Clean Transportation, who helped to uncover the original scandal in 2015, and the TRUE Initiative estimated that up to 6.9 million vehicles in the UK have emissions so high as to indicate the likely presence of illegal emissions technology. 
Jemima Hartshorn, the founder of Mums for Lungs said:
“It is shocking that a decade after Dieselgate first broke, families are still breathing dirty air from cars that were clearly exceeding legal emission levels. Every child, every parent, every person has the right to breathe clean air — yet car companies choose profit over people’s health. 
This court case is a critical moment for justice and accountability. The government must act now to recall these cars and to stop children getting sick from their fumes.”
Across the EU and UK, it is estimated that 24,000,000 sick days will have been taken as a result of the impacts of illegal diesel defeat devices in vehicles, with an economic impact across the continent of £1.04 trillion (€1.2 trillion). [3]
In a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mums for Lungs, ClientEarth and Asthma + Lung UK are calling on the UK government to ensure car manufacturers investigate and recall cars
(Pic: Mums for Lungs/Crispin Hughes)
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