Audi owner tells of exhaust fumes battle as ‘emissions cheat’ legal case begins

THE owner of an Audi A4 claimed he had to hold his breath every time he opened the doors of his “emissions cheat” vehicle because of the overpowering smell of exhaust fumes.

Haresh Kainth, a software engineer, will next week join the first stage of a legal battle against Volkwagen, which has been billed as the largest consumer action in UK history.

It follows the “dieselgate” scandal when the German carmaker admitted that 11million of its vehicles worldwide were fitted with “defeat devices” to beat emissions controls.

Lawyers will apply for a Group Litigation Order to allow owners of diesel cars made by the VW group – which in- cludes VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda – to have their claims managed together.

Mr Kainth, from Bristol, described how he purchased his Audi in 2014 but began to notice the odd “delayed response” when turning the vehicle and a strange smell from the boot.

Audi recommended a software update to iron out the issues but soon afterwards, he was driving up the A1 from Peterborough to York when all the lights on his dashboard went on and flashed before the power failed.

Mr Kainth managed to steer the rapidly slowing car into a lay-by but the problems continued. He returned the vehicle in 2017 but still experiences headaches from the exhaust exposure.

Aman Johal, director of Your Lawyers, one of the firms involved in the case, urged victims to come forward before the deadline in November.

Commenting in January, VW said: “The instigation of legal proceedings in England is premature. We have implemented technical measures in approximately 820,000 vehicles in the UK and in over 6million vehicles in Europe, with the majority of customers in question fully satisfied.”