US justice system closes diesel investigations towards Mercedes-Benz | EUROtoday

As of seven:03 p.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

MMercedes-Benz escapes legal fees within the US diesel scandal. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has stopped its investigation, the Swabian car firm confirmed on Saturday in a corresponding report within the “Handelsblatt”. The temporary DOJ letter can be accessible to the German Press Agency.

Mercedes-Benz had been accused of extreme emissions in round 250,000 diesel automobiles – typically with clear variations between actual operation and primarily based on check outcomes. Other producers had additionally put in so-called thermal home windows, which decreased the emission management of diesel autos at high and low temperatures. This results in greater nitrogen oxide emissions.

“With the DOJ’s decision, we are taking another important step towards legal certainty in connection with various diesel proceedings. We cooperated fully with the US Department of Justice and made the matter transparent at great expense,” mentioned Mercedes-Benz board member Renata Jungo Brüngger.

additionally learn

The course of has been dragging on since 2016. “We evaluated 1.7 million documents, conducted more than 70 interviews with active and former employees and submitted over 300,000 documents to the US Department of Justice,” Brüngger informed Handelsblatt. It just isn’t clear why the DOJ has now stopped the proceedings, the supervisor continued to inform the newspaper.

In September 2020, Mercedes-Benz averted a category motion lawsuit with a settlement amounting to 1.9 billion euros and thus ended the proceedings within the USA underneath civil regulation. The producer additionally recalled automobiles for software program updates.

In Germany, nonetheless, the authorized dispute between shopper advocates and Mercedes-Benz continues to be ongoing. Most not too long ago, affected clients achieved partial success earlier than the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.