2023-09-15 09:02:45
The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is threatening Mercedes with the shutdown of thousands of diesel cars because of emissions manipulation. A number of engines installed in vehicles with the Euro 6 emissions standard have “inadmissible defeat devices,” according to a letter from the KBA to the German group dated July 5th. The German Environmental Aid (DUH) published the letter on Friday; “Spiegel” and Bayerischer Rundfunk had previously reported on it.
The engines of the OM 642 series in question were already in the authorities’ sights and Mercedes had to make improvements. This was “reviewed” and “approved” by the KBA, the letter states. However, in further investigations, other software strategies were assessed as “critical or impermissible shutdown devices”. The authority lists their function in detail in the further letter.
The KBA called on Mercedes to inform them by the end of July how the problems might be solved, otherwise there would be a risk of an “operational ban” – the decommissioning of the vehicles. According to “Spiegel”, the company requested an extension of the deadline and a meeting with KBA representatives is scheduled for the end of September. The manufacturer would then be able to suggest software updates for which the vehicles would have to be brought into the workshop.
Since the diesel scandal became known, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared a number of engine functions to be inadmissible. With shutdown devices, the engine’s exhaust gas cleaning system is switched off. According to the ECJ, this is only permitted if it can be proven that the engine might otherwise be damaged.
The DUH, which sued once morest the use of defeat devices and was proven right by the European judiciary, criticizes the fact that almost ten million diesel cars with illegal software settings are still on the road in Germany. The KBA letter to Mercedes was leaked to the environmental organization by a “whistleblower”.
The activists accuse the German Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and the KBA of “conspiratorial collaboration” with the car companies and argue, among other things, that information relevant to consumers, such as the emissions manipulation mentioned in the letter to Mercedes, is being kept under wraps. In June, the ECJ ruled in a landmark ruling that drivers of diesel vehicles with exhaust gas manipulation are entitled to compensation.
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