Feds Tell Mercedes Parent to Open Emissions Investigation
CARS.COM — Volkswagen isn’t the only automaker with diesel woes. At the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler announced that it will investigate its vehicle-emissions systems.
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The announcement comes seven months after the EPA said it would spot-check emissions across various diesel vehicles in the wake of the Volkswagen Group’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. At the time, other automakers — including Mercedes-Benz — told Cars.com that they do not employ systems that cheat on emissions testing, which would be a violation of the Clean Air Act.
Han Tjan, director of North American corporate communications at Daimler, told Cars.com that the company’s investigation will look at both diesel and gasoline emissions.
“It’s in regards to the whole process of the certification of the exhaust emissions,” Tjan said. “They’re going to review the certification and emissions process.”
In February, the EPA reportedly asked Daimler for information after U.S. owners of Mercedes diesel vehicles filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the presence of “defeat” devices in their cars. At the time, Mercedes told us it considered the lawsuit “unfounded” and said “all our vehicles comply with the legal requirements.” Daimler said in a statement that it “is cooperating fully with the authorities” and will “investigate possible indications of irregularities and of course take all necessary actions.”
An external counsel will oversee the new internal investigation, Tjan said, but the counsel has yet to be chosen. He declined to say when Daimler expects to finish the investigation or report any results.
