In the months after Volkswagen’s industry-rocking scandal, in which it was discovered to be cheating on emissions tests with purportedly “clean” diesels, the scrutiny has been dialed up on all automakers across the board. Now Mercedes-Benz is the defendant in a lawsuit alleging that its BlueTec diesels are cheating too.
The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey, claims that Mercedes installed a device that that can turn off a system used to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions during operation at cooler temperatures, reports Bloomberg. Specifics were not given, but the suit was brought by a Mercedes owner in Illinois and filed by agens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a firm that is also involved in the suit against Volkswagen.
A spokesman for Benz parent company Daimler AG, Joerg Howe, denied the merits of the lawsuit, saying that “All our vehicles comply with regulatory frameworks” and rebuked the accusation as “baseless.” “All our vehicles are certified according to the laws.” Howe reaffirmed.
Hagens Berman insists on the veracity of the allegation and quoted an article in German paper Der Spiegel, in which Mercedes acknowledged that the nitrogen oxide shut-off was done to protect the engine. Another study conducted independently by Dutch authorities discovered that in real world driving the Mercedes C220 contained more nitrogen oxide in its exhaust than it did in the lab.
The suit says that the cold shut-off system was not disclosed to buyers, and that it was installed so that power and performance would not suffer.
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