|
 Daimler described the results from a Mercedes C-Class 200 CDI as
"questionable", saying the model used technology that met European
Union standards and threatening legal action should "false claims"
damage its reputation.
Citing tests carried out by the University of Applied Sciences in
Bern, Switzerland, DUH told a news conference that the car, a 2011
model, had released emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) that were
more than twice the legal limits when tested with a warm engine
under new European testing cycles.
The carmaker took issue with DUH's assertions. "The test results are
questionable as the conditions of the test are not clear. We don't
know the specific car, the temperature at the time of the tests, the
loading weight," a Daimler spokesman said.
Fellow German carmaker Volkswagen is engulfed in a scandal after
rigging the results of exhaust emissions tests in the United States.
DUH has made charges against a number of other motor manufacturers.
In October it said a model built by General Motors' Opel division
had shown excessive emissions of nitrous oxide, an assertion that
was denied by Opel at the time.
French rival Renault has also contested findings cited by DUH that
one of its minivans released toxic diesel emissions 25 times over
legal limits.
Daimler said in a statement on Wednesday that the car tested in
Switzerland used technology certified in 2007 that met the EU's
Euro-5 standard. It acknowledged that results under real driving
conditions often differed from those in a laboratory.
In September, DUH accused Daimler of also rigging emissions data,
charges the company denied at the time.
It repeated the denial on Wednesday, saying: "We reserve at all
times the right to take legal action should false claims or
unjustified allegations damage the reputation of our company."
TEST DISCREPANCIES
The discrepancies between laboratory-based results and real-world
emissions measurements are part of a wider pattern that affects the
entire auto industry and not just VW, Opel and Renault, according to
DUH.
Axel Friedrich, a former official at the German environmental
protection agency, said this was also the case with the Mercedes
model. "If we had tested other vehicles from other manufacturers, we
would have determined the same or similar results," he told the DUH
news conference.
[to top of second column] |
Friedrich is a co-founder of the Washington-based International
Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) which commissioned the
original investigation that led to the exposure of VW's test-rigging
in the United States.
Separate tests commissioned by German public broadcaster ZDF, also
conducted by the Swiss university and aired on Tuesday, found that a
BMW 3-Series 320d model released more toxic diesel emissions in
real-world testing than in the lab.
BMW denied its cars had the kind of "defeat device" that VW used to
manipulate the tests.
"Our vehicles carry no illegal devices," a BMW spokesman said on
Wednesday. "The emissions behavior does not distinguish between a
vehicle on a dynamometer or in on-road use. We emphatically reject
any speculation to the contrary."
Separately, public prosecutors in the German city of Stuttgart said
on Wednesday they were investigating whether staff at auto parts
supplier Robert Bosch GmbH were involved in the rigging of emissions
tests by Volkswagen.
Stuttgart-based Bosch [ROBG.UL], which makes a diesel engine
management program used by several top automakers including VW
declined to comment on specific investigations.
A company spokesman said: "We are cooperating in principle with all
authorities who want to contribute to the clarification of the
facts."
(Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; writing by David Stamp;
editing by Susan Thomas and David Clarke)
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