Dyson threatened with legal action over allegations of cheating

European home appliance manufacturer BSH Hausgeräte has threatened to sue British vacuum cleaner maker Dyson in the UK over allegations it manipulated energy-efficiency tests akin to the Volkswagen scandal.

Last week Dyson billionaire founder Sir James Dyson launched an action against the German manufacturer alleging it had used 'intelligent sensor technology' in vacuum cleaners which allows machines made by Bosch and Siemens to use more power.

Sir James Dyson said: 'Bosch has installed control electronics into some of its machines to wrongfully increase energy consumption when in use - to cheat the EU energy label. Their behaviour is akin to that seen in the Volkswagen scandal.

'It seems that industry is rife with manufacturers engineering to find their way around tests, rather than engineering better, more efficient technology. This behaviour is seriously misleading customers.'

In what appears to be an ongoing game of law suit tennis, BSH has now 'strenuously rejected these allegations which are unfounded and untrue' and threatened its own action.

BSH CEO Karsten Ottenberg said: 'We have long since been aware that James Dyson has a history of taking a very aggressive approach against his competitors and has a desire to be in the public eye.'

'With his completely unfounded accusations of cheating in the past week he has now overstepped the mark, which is why we will now initiate legal steps against Dyson,' he added.

A statement from BSH added that 'all BSH vacuum cleaners are tested in accordance with the requirements of the corresponding EU Energy Label and Ecodesign Directives and meet these in full.'

BSH went on to refute Sir Dyson's claims that its machines use more power: 'The sensors control the vacuum cleaner motor fully automatically in order to prevent a loss of performance and guarantee optimum cleaning for the consumer. This innovative sensor-based technology thus significantly reduces the cleaning time.'

The potential legal action by BSH follows its successful challenge in the German courts in last year where it proved that Dyson had advertised incorrect values on the energy label for its appliances, which were subsequently changed by the British company across Europe.

Matthew Rogers is an editorial assistant at Solicitors Journal matthew.rogers@solicitorsjournal.co.uk

Copyright & permissions