Volkswagen diesel scandal threatens to ensnare Bosch

SAN FRANCISCO: Volkswagen AG’s cheating scandal threatened to further ensnare Europe’s biggest supplier of auto parts after US lawyers claimed Robert Bosch GmbH began playing a key role in developing technology to hoodwink emissions tests as early as the late 1990s.

Bosch was an “active participant in a massive, decade-long conspiracy with VW,” according to an amended court filing from attorneys representing vehicle owners. The case’s focus is shifting to Bosch after VW negotiated a preliminary US settlement that doesn’t include the German supplier. Bosch declined on Thursday to comment on the latest allegations.

The move against Bosch — already a defendant in the VW lawsuit in San Francisco — is the latest sign of the pressure remaining on multiple fronts in the scandal, even after VW’s $15.3 billion deal with US authorities last month. Volkswagen still faces criminal probes, efforts by car owners in Europe to get US Justice Department documents to buttress their own civil suits and a sales ban on many VW models in South Korea.

“We don’t know the exact details of what happened at this point, but what’s clear is that the fallout involves companies beyond VW,” said Marc-Rene Tonn, an industry analyst at Warburg Research in Hamburg. “The fallout from the VW diesel cheating is complex and broad, and it’ll continue for a long while yet.”

Bosch, which isn’t part of VW’s US settlement, doesn’t see the need to put more money aside for legal costs, leaving its provisions for such issues at 650 million euros ($735 million), spokesman Rene Ziegler said on Thursday.