Excessive emissions at Daimler Trucks

Author: Duran Sarikaya
Date: 18.07.2018

Daimler stops sales of truck engines

Again Daimler has problems with exhaust emissions that are too high. As the limits for nitrogen oxides have been exceeded, Daimler now has to stop the distribution of truck engines. In the past, some of Daimler’s passenger car diesel models were already affected by exceeded exhaust emissions.

Specifically, it is a six-cylinder truck engine. In individual operating situations during internal controls, it was noticed that the limit for nitrogen oxide was exceeded, explained a spokesman for the commercial vehicle division at Daimler. Because of that, the engine was taken under closer scrutiny again. The results were announced at the end of June to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority.

The engine of the Mercedes-Benz truck has been used in Europe until 2016 according to Daimler. Currently the vehicle is sold only outside Europe. “Until clarification of the technical issue, the company has decided not to deliver this engine as a precaution,” said the spokesman.

Furthermore, the car manufacturer reported that they will discuss with the German Federal Motor Transport Authority about a technical function of the vehicle diagnostic system, which controls exhaust gas cleaning during driving and alerts the driver to possible malfunctions. The spokesman clearly emphasized that this was not about software that would turn off exhaust gas treatment.

Previously, Daimler had problems with the defeat devices on some cars. Exhaust gas cleaning ceased under certain conditions, which led to rising emissions. The Federal Ministry of Transport ordered Daimler to recall several diesel passenger car models due to impermissible defeat devices. In Germany, there were 238,000 vehicles and in Europe 774,000 vehicles from Mercedes. Daimler described the built-in exhaust treatment as legally compliant, but announced to improve it with a software update.