Emission scandal. He also cheated on Mercedes, exceeded the limits by 500% and there are thousands of euros in the game – FonTech

Emission scandals became the number one topic in the automotive industry after the discovery of unfair practices at Volkswagen and continued with accusations from more and more manufacturers. According to the latest findings, Mercedes from the Daimler AG Group is also involved in the group of cars that have deliberately manipulated the emissions of their vehicles.

Mercedes was caught in the scam

An automotive software expert has revealed that selected cars from the Stuttgart manufacturer have exceeded emission limits by up to 500%. This was reported by the German organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which confirmed that Daimler AG should have used illegal interfering devices in one of the Mercedes models to reduce the efficiency of exhaust gas cleaning with SCR catalysts. The group has so far denied this action.

The German organization DUH estimates that Mercedes should have influenced vehicle emissions in real traffic in this way with up to 8 unknown jamming devices. In fact, there could have been more such facilities, believes DUH National Director Jürgen Resch. The organization will now demand that the affected diesel engines with jamming devices be withdrawn from the market until a remedy is found.

“Felix Domke’s expert opinion finally proves that Daimler is guilty. For the first time, it shows us how companies manage to comply with the legal limits in a test laboratory, while during real use in road traffic, it literally floods our cities with harmful nitrogen oxides.

Exhaust gas cleaning is not handled here because it is necessary for physical reasons or for engine protection purposes. The reason is as simple as it is cynical: it is about maximizing profits at the expense of the environment and the health of the urban population. ” says Jürgen Resch, national director of DUH.

An expert in the VW case proved that Mercedes deliberately manipulated vehicle emissions

The evidence against Mercedes in the latest emission scandal was thoroughly documented by automotive software expert Felix Domke on behalf of the American law firm Milberg, who also acted as a forensic expert in the case of the VW emission scandal. In some cases, the interfering devices were even controlled by the specific age of the vehicle, from which the limit value of their activation then depended.

“Detected interfering devices are activated in driving situations that are common in road traffic conditions. Even in such cases, at least one interfering device almost always actively prevents the reduction of emissions, even if it is not physically necessary or necessary to protect the engine.

This significantly reduces the amount of AdBlue injected that is necessary to neutralize the nitrogen oxides in the SCR catalyst; similarly, the exhaust gas recirculation rate is reduced. As a result, commonly efficient exhaust gas cleaning hardware often only works at a fraction of its potential capacity, and the vehicle emits unnecessarily large amounts of nitrogen oxides. ” says expert Felix Domke.

In 2 out of 8 recorded cases, the interfering devices start to control the so-called “Aging factor” already at around 1% of the vehicle life. In practice, this means that it was sufficient for the vehicle to have traveled several thousand kilometers and for the interfering device to change the limit value at which it was switched on.

In another case, the operation of the jamming device thus changed by about 20% after the vehicle had aged. During the emission control, the affected vehicles then showed values ​​that met the limits set by law, but during normal driving in traffic, they actually emitted up to 500% more emissions.

“Car manufacturers’ claims that driving conditions lead to high emissions of road pollutants are absurd in this regard.” explains environmental and transport expert Axel Friedrich.

As further stated in the DUH press release, 2 illegal fault devices are connected to the EGR system for exhaust gas recirculation, but “There is no credible physical reason for the existence of any of them”. The German organization DUH also substantiated its findings with measurements from the Institute for Emission Control, according to which such jammers were installed mainly in the E350T model with the Euro 6 standard.

Merdeces was able to respond promptly to this cause by releasing a software update that removed interfering devices, which had a positive effect on emissions in real traffic. The emissions then reached the statutory limit.

The owners are entitled to damages

At present, measurements have focused on only one specific Mercedes model, but experts do not, on the basis of the evidence obtained in this case, rule out the possibility that the carmaker may have affected emissions in the same or a similar way in other models.

The owners of the mentioned model should thus check whether their emission scandal concerns the manufacturer. According to Glenn Phillips, managing partner of the international law firm Milberg, owners of such vehicles are entitled to compensation.

Mercedes responded

The FonTech.sk editorial staff asked Mercedes-Benz AG for a response. In its reply, the company confirmed that the nač outlined calibrations are known ’, but in its defense highlighted the decision of the Federal Office for Motor Transport (KBA), which has publicly confirmed that such functions are prí permissible ’.

“In our view, these devices should not be considered as unacceptable interfering devices in the interaction and overall context of a very complex emission control system,” responded to a question from the Mercedes editorial office.

The company also responded to the results of previous lawsuits, according to which the courts ruled in favor of the Daimler AG Group in up to 95% of similar cases. However, the company did not mention specific cases.

“At the level of regional courts, there are more than 15,500 decisions dismissing actions in favor of the company, only in about 900 cases the decision was against the company,“Mercedes pointed out in response to FonTech.sk and added that”there are now about 900 decisions in our favor and only three against us in the higher regional courts“.

Mercedes was also to be upheld by the Federal Court of Justice, which, according to the companyruled that the allegedly inadmissible interfering device in the engine control unit did not in itself give rise to a claim for damages“. According to this statement, the carmaker does not seem to plan to compensate the owners of the affected model in the emission scandal, as stated by the law firm Milberg.

Mercedes did not provide further information on the new emission problem, nor did it answer our editorial office to the question of whether the interfering device, as stated by DUH, could be used in other models of the brand and for how long it could be used.