BRUSSELS -- Owners of vehicles equipped with so-called defeat devices have a right to compensation from the vehicle manufacturer, an adviser to the top EU court said on Thursday in a case brought against Mercedes-Benz.
Defeat devices are mechanisms or software that can change vehicle emissions levels, leading to disputes over whether manufacturers use them to mask the true pollution levels of their vehicles.
Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to using software to cheat U.S. emissions tests on some diesel engines.
Judges of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) are not bound by advice from their advocates general but follow them in the majority of cases.