In order to end a legal dispute involving promises made in diesel advertising, the German manufacturer Mercedes Benz and auto supplier Robert Bosch LLC have agreed to pay a combined amount of roughly $6 million, the U.S. state of Arizona announced on Friday.
According to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Mercedes Benz will pay $2.8 million in consumer restitution as part of the proposed settlement, and each eligible Arizonan will receive up to $625 per vehicle.
To help people make the best judgments for themselves, Arizona requires truth in advertising, he added.
Mercedes Benz, which rejected the accusations and made no admissions, will also make a payment of $2.7 million in fines, and Robert Bosch LLC, which similarly stated that it had not accepted any wrongdoing or guilt, will make a payment of $525,000 in fines, according to Arizona.
“With the settlement, the company takes another step toward resolution of various diesel proceedings… and avoids further costs of litigation and lengthy court actions,” Mercedes Benz said in a statement.
Bosch confirmed the settlement related to the engine control units for certain Mercedes diesel vehicles.
In 2020, Mercedes Benz 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 includes a $546 million fund to repair the polluting vehicles and offset excess emissions, as well as an $875 million civil penalty assessed under the Clean Air Act.
According to the company’s annual report from March, several US states are still looking into consumer and environmental protection issues, and the Justice Department is still looking into the Mercedes emissions issue.
In 2020, Mercedes Benz, then known as Daimler AG, agreed to pay up to $3,290 per owner for 250,000 owners to have their polluting vehicles fixed.
Since Volkswagen AG acknowledged in 2015 installing covert cheating software on 580,000 U.S. vehicles, diesel automobiles have come under intense scrutiny in the U.S.
In order to end investigations and purchase back vehicles, VW spent more than $30 billion.
This month, earlier Bosch agreed to pay $25 million to resolve California’s probe into its role in the diesel emissions scandals at Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
In August, the U.S. business of Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis, was sentenced after pleading guilty to criminal conspiracy and paid nearly $300 million to resolve a multi-year U.S. Justice Department diesel-emissions fraud probe.