BMW North America has become the latest automaker accused in a lawsuit of selling diesel cars whose emissions systems falsely show them to be environmentally friendly.

In a case reminiscent of Volkswagen's “dieselgate” scandal, BMW is accused in a class action of equipping its diesel-powered vehicles with software that would mask illegally high levels of emissions while the car is undergoing tests. The suit claims BMW conspired with co-defendants Robert Bosch GmbH, and Robert Bosch LLC to create the emissions software. The suit says this collusion is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

According to the complaint, independent testing by the plaintiffs' law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, revealed that highway emissions on BMW diesel cars can reach 20 times the government standard and city conditions as high as 27 times the standard. Three named plaintiffs—Garner Rickman of Hayden, Colorado; Ziwen Li of Ocala, Florida; and Gary Reising of Chalfont, Pennsylvania—are representatives of a class of persons who bought or leased a 2009-2013 BMW X5 or 2009-2011 BMW 335d vehicle.

The BMW suit follows a road traveled by Volkswagen in 2015 when the Environmental Protection Agency accused it of equipping thousands of diesel-powered cars with software that permitted them to pass emissions tests thanks to emissions controls that were activated only during laboratory emissions tests. Thousands of civil suits followed, and in October 2016 Volkswagen reached a $14.7 billion settlement that called for a combination of buybacks and repairs of effected vehicles.

“At these levels, these cars aren't just dirty—they don't meet standards to be legally driven on U.S. streets and no one would have bought these cars if BMW had told the truth,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Seattle-based Hagens Berman.

“Why did BMW go out of its way to tout the environmental friendliness of these cars? Because it knew that doing so would accelerate sales. BMW knows that a certain segment of car buyers care about their vehicle's impact on the environment. Instead of making good on those promises of protecting the environment, BMW chose to join the likes of Volkswagen and so many others, to build an illegal emissions-cheating system,” Berman said in a statement. Berman is set to represent the plaintiffs along with James Cecchi of Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello in Roseland, New Jersey.

After the Volkswagen suit was filed, similar cases were brought against Mercedes-Benz, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Ford Motor Co.

The BMW suit seeks damages, injunctive relief to end the sale of the affected X5 and 335d models, and equitable relief for BMW's misconduct related to the design, manufacture, marketing, sale and lease of its illegally polluting cars.

Bosch played a critical role in working with Volkswagen to develop the defeat device, providing rise to a strong inference that it also played a key role in implementing BMW's emission strategy, the latest suit states. Personnel in both companies employed code language to refer to the emissions defeat device—it was known as “akustikfunktion,” which is German for acoustic function, according to the BMW suit.

Bosch also provided the emissions-defeat devices in Mercedes-Benz, GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler vehicles, the suit claims. On information in belief, Bosch worked with BMW to develop the defeat device as well, according to the suit.

A BMW spokeswoman, Rebecca Kiehne, said in a statement, “We do not comment on active litigation, but we are thoroughly studying the suit to understand what is alleged. As a matter of principle, BMW Group vehicles are not manipulated and comply with all respective legal requirements.”

A spokeswoman for Bosch, Alissa Cleland, said in a statement, “Bosch takes the allegations of manipulation of the diesel software very seriously. It is a well-known fact that these allegations remain the subject of investigations and civil litigation involving Bosch. Bosch is cooperating with the continuing investigations in various jurisdictions, and is defending its interests in the litigation. As a matter of policy, and due to the sensitive legal nature of these matters, Bosch will not comment further concerning matters under investigation and in litigation.”