US investigators apparently find cheating software: Daimler should have tricked in diesel emissions tests

02/19/2018

US investigators apparently find cheating software Daimler is said to have tricked in diesel emissions tests

DPA

How clean are you really? US investigators are said to have found in diesel vehicles from Daimler fraudulent software

Daimler threatens to get deeper into the maelstrom of the diesel exhaust scandal. For example, the Stuttgart-based carmaker has also installed special software for controlling pollutants in its diesel vehicles, reports Bild am Sonntag (BamS) with reference to confidential documents from US investigation files.

According to the report, Daimler had several software functions at its disposal in order to pass the usual US emissions tests. A function called “Bit 15” was programmed so that the exhaust aftertreatment after 26 kilometers have left the clean mode.

The US investigators came across yet another suspicious feature that is in the vehicle control system. This so-called “slipguard” recognizes whether the vehicle is on a test bench based on speed or acceleration values. In various e-mails even Daimler engineers doubted that these software functions were legal.

Daimler engineers should have expressed doubts very early

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche had always rejected exhaust gas trains as at Volkswagen. According to the “BamS”, however, the documents also reveal that Daimler employees doubted that they would be able to comply with the US road test limits even before the VW diesel scandal. Internal measurements later revealed devastating results. Mercedes models would have exceeded the nitrogen oxide limits by more than ten times in road operation.

At the request of the newspaper, the group did not comment on the software. Daimler will not comment on “details of the ongoing investigation”, as the group has agreed with the US Department of Justice “absolute confidentiality,” says a spokesman for the “BAMS”. “We have been fully cooperating for more than two years and provide full transparency,” added the spokesman.

The spokesman said: “The authorities are aware of the documents and there has been no charges.”

rei / AFP / Reuters

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