The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is threatening Mercedes with the decommissioning of thousands of diesel cars due to emissions manipulation. A number of engines installed in vehicles with the Euro 6 emissions standard have “inadmissible shutdown devices,” according to a letter from the KBA to the Stuttgart group dated July 5th. The German environmental aid
published this Write
on Friday, previously had “THE MIRROR” and the Bayerischer Rundfunk 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 deadline for solving the problem is running
The KBA is calling on Mercedes to communicate how the problems can be solved by the end of July, otherwise there is a risk of an “operational ban” – the vehicles being decommissioned. 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.
A Mercedes spokesman said on Friday that the company assumes that software updates for the cars have already been developed and are available in the field. He confirmed that the Federal Motor Transport Authority had served the company with a notice of hearing in July and that the hearing process was ongoing. “We are cooperating fully with the KBA,” he emphasized.
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 could otherwise be damaged.
German environmental aid criticizes secrecy
The DUH, which sued against the use of defeat devices and was proven right by the European judiciary, criticizes the fact that Germany There are still almost ten million diesel cars on the road with illegal software settings. The letter from the Federal Motor Transport Authority to Mercedes was leaked to the environmental organization by a “whistleblower”.
The activists accuse Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (53, FDP) and the KBA of “conspiratorial collaboration” with the car companies and criticize the fact that information relevant to consumers, such as the emissions manipulation mentioned in the letter to Mercedes, is being kept under wraps. In June, the European Court of Justice ruled in a landmark ruling that drivers of diesel vehicles with exhaust gas manipulation are entitled to compensation.