Mercedes-Benz Owner Daimler AG May Have Rigged Emissions Tests

[harrybarracuda]

Mercedes-Benz Owner Daimler AG May Have Rigged Emissions Tests

Tom McKay
Yesterday 5:50pm


Daimler AG, the automaker which produces the Mercedes-Benz line of luxury vehicles, is facing growing scrutiny after US investigators reportedly found that it installed software to cheat diesel emissions tests on cars, Bloomberg and Reuters reported.


The allegations closely align with a scandal that overtook Volkswagen in 2015 when it admitted to installing software on over 580,000 U.S. vehicles that, per Reuters, allowed them to emit up to 40 times the legally permitted emissions standard. Daimler has already admitted significant consequences may arise following reports in Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper that ongoing US and German investigations are determining whether multiple functions in the software could be used to cheat tests, and that Daimler’s own employees questioned their legality.


Daimler spokesman Joerg Howe told Bloomberg via email that the documents Bild am Sonntag based its reporting on had “selectively been released in order to harm Daimler and its 290,000 employees” and that “The authorities know about the documents and no complaint has been filed.”


According to Bloomberg, available evidence indicates the company may have been playing fast and loose with software functions that injected diesel exhaust fluid, which helps break down some nitrous oxide emissions, into the car’s exhaust system:


One was designed to help a tank of AdBlue fluid, which helps eliminate harmful exhaust gases, last for the entire period between a car’s servicing checkups. Another, called Slipguard, could recognize if a car was on a test stand and regulate the dosage of AdBlue, the newspaper reported


Bloomberg added that throughout 2017, Daimler AG raised the amount it has cumulatively saved up to “cover potential obligations from sales transactions, warranties and legal proceedings” to over $17 billion (14 billion euros), an implicit recognition of the danger of the ongoing investigations into its cars as well as class action suits.


Volkswagen has since surpassed a $30 billion tab for its own scandal, including fines, vehicle buybacks, and cash payouts. The incident also triggered calls throughout Germany to impose further restrictions on diesel vehicles or ban them entirely—as the disaster showed the “high-performance, low-emissions, low-polluting affordable diesel car was always an illusion,” per the New Yorker.


[Reuters/Bloomberg]


https://gizmodo.com/mercedes-benz-ow...emi-1823142545

[taxexile]

they (all the cheating german car manufacturers) introduced a "cheating algorithm" in engine management software designed to defeat emission tests conducted by governments. when the car is run under laboratory test conditions, emissions are controlled and kept low to within the legal limits of the country doing the testing.

when the software detects the car is being driven under normal road conditions, the power is increased, along with the emissions

the german motor industry wields an enormous amount of power in brussels , they lobbied brussels to change the law on these cheating devices so that they are perfectly legal in eu countries.

eu law, which previously outlawed these devices, was amended, at the behest of the german manufacturers extensive lobbying to "allow engine management devices when they are deemed necessary for the correct running of the engine"

german manufacturers deemed them necessary for correct engine running.

this blatant manipulation of existing legislation effectively means that eu purchasers of german diesel cars cannot take legal action against them, and they are not liable to buy back the polluting cars or pay the compensation to owners, which has already been paid out to american owners of the cars.

read up on nox pollution and the cancers and deaths it causes.

also look up the testing the germans did that involved gassing monkeys in glass cages.

the germans run the eu for their own benefit, brexit cannot come soon enough to rid ourselves of their foul influence.

[VocalNeal]

Governments should not have static predictable tests in laboratories. Although even if they had road tests from say MIRA the vehicle would know it was at MIRA , with GPS , and still be clever.

Clever is clever and the world's governments better accept this and come up with ways to get around it and test vehicles in real life situations.

Adblue works for large trucks as they don't have much choice but to use diesel engines.

[harrybarracuda]

Ban the lot. Electric vehicles are the future.

[Cujo]

Ban the lot. Electric vehicles are the future.

That will require the generation of a lot of electricity. Nuclear?

[david44]

Are your emissions under control. this is a question for all of us ?

[wasabi]

Mercedes busted, whatever next.
Ill stick with honest Asian Toyota.

[harrybarracuda]

That will require the generation of a lot of electricity. Nuclear?

Green mate. All green.