German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and
German broadcaster ZDF said they found emission discrepancies between
“test mode” and road conditions in diesel models
Mercedes and BMW, the two luxurious German automakers, may also cheat emission tests, as according to environmental tests specific diesel models appear emission discrepancies between “test mode” and road conditions.
A similar emission scandal broke out earlier in 2015, when a US agency found out that Volkswagen group uses a software, called defeat device, to drive down Nitrogen Oxide (when Nitrogen Oxide is exposed to oxygen, it turns to nitrogen dioxide which is a prominent air pollutant) emissions during environmental tests. However, when the Volkswagen diesel vehicles are on the road, the defeat device is being turned off and the vehicle produces 40 times more Nitrogen Oxide than it is allowed in the US.
German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, reported that the test was conducted by the environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and the report about the test results was broadcasted by German state broadcaster ZDF. The test measured the release of nitric oxide from two Mercedes and BMW diesel models. DUH said that the tests indicated discrepancies between “test mode” and road conditions similar with the Volkswagen vehicles.
Deutsche Welle, reported that a law firm which represents Daimler, which owns Mercedes, sent a letter to the DUH that read, “should you in any way present the accusation that my client manipulated its emissions data, we will act against you with all necessary sustainability and hold you responsible for any economic damage that my client suffers as a result.”
“We have been massively threatened two more times, demanding that we take down the letter – we have told them we won’t,” DUH chairman Jürgen Resch told DW on Wednesday. “For me it’s a very serious issue, because in 34 years of full-time work in environmental protection, and dealing with businesses, I have never experienced a business using media law to try and keep a communication – and a threatening letter at that – secret.
How are we supposed to do our work as a consumer and environmental protection organization when industry forbids us from making public certain threats it makes?” the DUH wondered.
DW reported that in the test, DUH tested three diesel cars: a Mercedes C200 CDI from 2011, a BMW 320d from 2009, and a VW Passat 2.0 Blue Motion from 2011. All three produced more nitric oxide on the road than they did in an official laboratory test.
DW stressed that the discrepancies were not small as all three cars, exceeded European Union’s legal nitric oxide limit (180 milligrams per kilometer) on the road. BMW recorded 428 mg/km, Mercedes hit 420 mg/km and the VW reached 471 mg/km.
Resch told DW: “Neither BMW nor Mercedes can explain to us how these massive discrepancies came about…Talking about the wind or that there were more people in the car could maybe explain a 3 percent difference – we’ve got 300 percent. These discrepancies can’t be technically justified.”
The German public broadcaster said that the Transport Ministry avoided to make any comment regarding the test results.
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