This manufacturer under threat of a new dieselgate!

Dieselgate is still in everyone’s memory. A case which has shaken things up enormously in the automobile market, notably accelerating the transition to all-electric. Today, another manufacturer is in the crosshairs of German justice.

And rapport of the German Federal Transport Authority (KBA)previously kept secret, was made public by the German environmental association German Environmental Aid (DUH). It is in the latter that we learn that the German manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz, would have installed “stopping devices” on some of its anti-pollution systems present on diesel engines.

A case that does not date from yesterday

In reality, this matter is not new. It is at the end of 2021 that the automotive expert Felix Domkethen mandated by the law firm Milberg, had accused the brand with the star of marketing diesel vehicles which did not comply with current anti-pollution standards. According to him, Mercedes-Benz would have used nearly eight fraudulent schemes to reduce emissions nitrogen oxide (NOx). The famous NOx which was already at the heart of the enormous affair of dieselgate the Volkswagen.

Tests had been carried out on a station wagon from the brand with the star. More precisely a Classe E 350 BlueTEC 4Matic Break of 2016. The results during the emissions test were not at all those of the official results. To get around the rule, Mercedes would have installed eight software acting on the there is EGR and the catalyst to distort the results.

The response of the German authorities

In view of these first tests, the German government, through the federal transport authority, wanted to carry out its own tests to validate or not the results obtained by Felix Domke.

It’s a anonymous whistleblower who would have sent the results to the German environmental association (DUH). In this letter, we learn that the Federal Transport Authority (KBA) allegedly found in Mercedes vehicles three stopping devices which, depending on the outside temperature, affected whether or not the anti-pollution systems. The emissions of the vehicles concerned would therefore be well above the authorized limit and would no longer meet the standard. Euro 6.

An ultimatum given to Mercedes

It’s quite simple, the German federal transport authority gives Mercedes-Benz a choice. Either the manufacturer applies corrective actions on the engines concerned, or vehicles equipped with these engines will be removed purely and simply prohibited to traffic. According to ReutersMercedes would already be in the process of carrying out software updates to solve the problem.

German KBA report on Mercedes-Benz