Volkswagen and Mercedes are in the sights of the authorities, the transporters T6 and Vito threatens an official recall. For the Porsche Macan threatens the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt even the withdrawal of the type approval.
Volkswagen
VW T6
Friday, 16.02.2018
13:18 clock
For a long time, the federal government and the auto companies had a harmonious relationship. Politics needed the job engine and the tax revenue, but it stopped the car makers from annoying environmental regulations and controls. But these days, the relationship is extremely strained: Reason is the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig next Thursday on the driving restrictions for diesel vehicles. Berlin wants the auto companies to develop hardware upgrades for all models that are currently on the road, but companies are refusing so far. (Read the whole story here in the new MIRROR.)
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Against this background, the Federal Government is increasing the pressure on car companies and, according to SPIEGEL information on exhaust gas manipulation, is dealing with a new wave of recalls. The prelude should be the Federal Motor Vehicle Office (KBA) at Daimler. For next week, it plans an official recall of vehicles of the Mercedes van Vito. As the SPIEGEL reported in its current issue, the authority has apparently come up with a new manipulation technique: The engine control should be programmed so that the injection of urea (“AdBlue”) is reduced in the SCR catalyst, so that the cleaning liquid not before The next service interval must be refilled.
The result: In many driving situations, the car appears, despite existing exhaust gas purification from more nitrogen oxides. It is supposed to be an illegal defeat device, according to ministry circles. In addition, one believes there to find this type of manipulation elsewhere. Daimler contradicts on request: “A causal relationship between service interval and AdBlue consumption does not exist,” said a spokesman and threatens the KBA with “all legal means” should the authority actually charge the allegation of an illegal defeat device.
Repurchase of thousands of vehicles threatens
The VW Group threatens further annoyance: Compared with company representatives, the possibility was brought into the game, the Porsche SUV Macan to withdraw the type approval. Up to five questionable software functions have found the examiners of the KBA in the car. If the approval expired, the Stuttgart manufacturer would have to buy back thousands of cars. VW holds against it, one would work with the KBA on solutions.
In addition, according to information from the SPIEGEL another vehicle of the Wolfsburg Group in the sights of the authorities: the legendary Transporter T6 VW. When consumption of the car and thus the output of carbon dioxide the regulatory authorities have been given too low values, which VW disputes. If the allegations, the company would probably buy back the car, the tax authorities could demand a lost vehicle tax.
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According to SPIEGEL information, measurements on the nitrogen oxide concentration in the government district are also available for the first time. Three measuring probes had placed the Greens approximately in the Dorotheenstraße, where many deputy offices are located. One of them was well above the limit with 45 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter of air, with two more just below. Green traffic expert Oliver Krischer calls therefore, the former Minister of Transport Dobrindt should be assigned a room right on this street by the federal administration: “As a member of Parliament, he must have the right to breathe at least a little of the dirt itself, for which he is responsible by his inaction as Minister of Transport,” he told the SPIEGEL.
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