The company has fitted some of its diesel cars with software that may have helped them pass emission tests, based on a report by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
The report claims engineers from Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler used software made for unspecified diesel models to manipulate the engine and its selective catalytic reduction filter. This software was tailored to the specific demands of various cycles in the US emission testing procedure, which allowed the vehicle to run in an ultra-clean state for limited periods post which, it would run in a “dirty mode”.
This could be similar to the software used by Volkswagen and threatens to drag the company further into the Dieselgate scandal. Bild says US investigators also uncovered a further suspicious software function within the control system of a lot of the company’s cars. The allegations come after news that the German ministry of transport could ask Mercedes to recall diesel-engined versions of its Vito commercial van due to discrepancies.
Mercedes-Benz has not commented on these allegations of diesel emission manipulation yet.
