Bosch allegedly sought VW cover for defeat device in 2008

Detroit

ROBERT Bosch GmbH demanded eight years ago that Volkswagen AG (VW) indemnify it for using the emissions-cheating defeat device that it helped the carmaker create for its diesel engines, US car owners said in a new version of their lawsuit against both companies.

Bosch is accused in the lawsuit of conspiring with VW to develop technology that enabled diesel vehicles to evade pollution-control tests. After seeking legal protection from VW for its use of the device in the US, the German car-parts supplier continued to participate in the conspiracy to hide the cheating from regulators, car owners said in a court filing citing a 2008 letter from Bosch to VW.

"Plaintiffs do not have a full record of what unfolded in response to Bosch's June 2, 2008, letter," according to the filing. "However, it is indisputable that Bosch continued to develop and sell to Volkswagen hundreds of thousands of the defeat devices for US vehicles" even after it acknowledged in writing that using th…