Law firm PGMBM is preparing a group legal claim on behalf of owners of some Mercedes vehicles, over claims customers were misled about the emissions their vehicles produced. 

The firm says the alleged issue affected 500,000 diesel vehicles, sold between 2007 and 2018. 

Two other law firms, Leigh Day and Slater and Gordon, are also investigating potential group claims against Mercedes-Benz over emissions. These claims would relate to BlueTec and AdBlue vehicles respectively.

The latest action comes a year after Daimler AG was fined more than £700m by German prosecutors in 2019 over the diesel emissions scandal.

Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has dismissed the claims and says it will "vigorously defend" any group actions in court. 

The car maker is suspected of installing something known as a “defeat device” in its vehicles, which would allow cars to pass testing by showing a lower reading.

The device detects when the car is being tested and limits the amount of nitrogen oxide emissions the vehicle produces.

In 2017, Mercedes-Benz dealers began to apply software upgrades to “several hundred thousand” diesel vehicles in a bid to cut nitrogen oxide emissions on three million vehicles.

PGMBM says anyone that has leased or owned a Mercedes diesel car or van, that was first registered between 2007 and 2018, may be eligible to join the action.

Lawyers are “optimistic” that they will be able to recover £10,000 or more per vehicle if the action is successful.