The diesel scandal has already cost the car manufacturer dearly.
(Photo: imago images/Rüdiger Wölk)
Munich The car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is once again threatened with trouble with the authorities in the diesel scandal. As the group confirms, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) served the DAX group with a so-called “hearing” on July 5th. Accordingly, Mercedes is accused of using three presumably illegal defeat devices in E-Class 350 Blue TEC sedans with Euro 6 engines, as “Spiegel” and “BR” reported on Friday.
In one case, the exhaust gas purification of the diesel engine should only work within a certain outside temperature range. The European Court of Justice has declared such “thermal windows” to be fundamentally inadmissible. Mercedes has now been asked to take appropriate “remedial action”.
Mercedes has been offering its customers a software update for the affected E-Class brand since 2019. However, this is done on a voluntary basis and may not be comprehensive enough for the KBA. The authorities now have the option of forcing Mercedes to make a mandatory recall in a further step. If this were not done, there would be a risk that the vehicles would be shut down in the worst case scenario. However, this is very unlikely.
It is still unclear how many vehicles could be affected. The E-Class is one of the group’s best-selling models in Germany.
“We are cooperating fully with the KBA,” said the car manufacturer, but emphasized that the hearing process was still ongoing. We have to wait for the final decision. Mercedes assumes that the company’s engineers have already developed software updates for the affected E-Class models in order to be able to revise any illegal “functionalities”.
Mercedes and the diesel scandal: 20,000 lawsuits still pending in Germany
The financial damage to the group should therefore be limited in the event of a recall. Overall, the diesel scandal has already cost Mercedes dearly.
A few years ago, the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office imposed a fine of 870 million euros. In the USA, Mercedes reached an out-of-court settlement with Customs and Border Protection and various environmental authorities. The comparison cost the equivalent of almost 1.3 billion euros. 590 million euros were due to settle a class action lawsuit in the USA, and in a similar case in Canada an additional 175 million euros were due.
Criminal investigations against Mercedes are also ongoing in the USA. There are currently more than 20,000 customer lawsuits pending in Germany. In June, the Federal Court of Justice made the path to compensation for damages easier for consumers in a landmark ruling. What this means specifically for Mercedes is not yet clear.
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