Daimler
In total, there are five national judgments against the Swabian vehicle manufacturer, but they are not yet legally binding.
Munich, Düsseldorf When Anja Hillmer bought her Mercedes-C class two years ago, she had no idea what was wrong. Although the diesel scandal at that time for some time headlines, but that was VW, not Mercedes. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche assured the public: “We are not being cheated, we have not manipulated exhaust emissions.”
Hillmer, however, may not believe that promise. Your diesel car from the house Daimler In real road operation, there are significantly more harmful nitrogen oxides than specified by the manufacturer. The problem for Hillmer, as the city of Hamburg in late 2017 first bans imposed. The Airbus engineer lives in Lüneburg but regularly drives to work by car.
“I wanted to get rid of the car and offered it on the internet. But even though I set the selling price low, there was no one interested, “recalls Hillmer. So she decided to sue the carmaker. “I’m not prepared to accept a loss of value of many thousands of euros, which Daimler has to answer for,” says Hillmer.
Daimler should pay
Before the district court of Stuttgart, the plaintiff now booked a stage win over Daimler. The judges condemned the vehicle manufacturer to repurchase the used car for 27,990 euros used for a small compensation for 25.108 euros.
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“The court considers the so-called thermal windows in the exhaust gas cleaning of diesel engines as inadmissible defeat devices,” said lawyer Thorsten Krause of the law firm KAP, which represents Hillmer in the lawsuit against Daimler. Krause speaks of a “clear sign” and expects that now many more diesel owners will complain against Daimler.
The law firm KAP alone already represents 450 clients.
Exhaust gas affair: According to the report, Daimler has to pay damages to diesel buyers
In addition to Hillmer, two other plaintiffs were able to prevail against Daimler at the Stuttgart district court last Thursday. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had first reported about it. All in all, there are five judgments against the Swabian vehicle manufacturer nationwide, but they are not yet final.
Daimler can “not understand” these court decisions, as a company spokesman explains. The result: The Mercedes manufacturer appeals in all cases. Daimler also emphasizes that customer complaints were rejected in 48 similar cases. Even the chambers of the Landgericht Stuttgart are at odds. In fact, in the Swabian metropolis also dismissal judgments were made.
Supreme Court decisions are still pending.
As crystal clear as VW, the situation at Daimler in the diesel affair is therefore not. While the Wolfsburg have admitted systematic fraud in several million cases and were sentenced to billions in penalties, Daimler insists on having always behaved in accordance with the law. The Swabians emphasize that in Mercedes vehicles no inadmissible defeat devices were installed.
If certain outside temperatures are exceeded or undercut (“thermal window”), the exhaust gas cleaning can be throttled to protect the engine from harmful deposits. From the perspective of Daimler, this is sometimes necessary and completely legal. Last but not least, the three court rulings of last week are increasingly sowing doubts about this interpretation.
One thing is certain: The pressure on the Stuttgart premium manufacturer in the diesel affair is increasing, the clean image of the brand with the star has long been scratched. The Stuttgart public prosecutor investigates several Daimler employees for suspected fraud. The Federal Motor Transport Authority also wants to have discovered several inadmissible defeat devices on Mercedes models and last year ordered the recall of around 700,000 vehicles throughout Europe. A good 280,000 of these diesel cars are located in Germany.
Also against this decision, Daimler defends itself and has appealed. At the same time, the Group is trying to use software updates to improve the nitrogen oxide levels of several million diesel passenger cars as part of “voluntary service measures”. The goal: to save the publicly battered diesel technology. However, every verdict per diesel claimant like Anja Hillmer is a hindrance.