The Justice Department has concluded an eight-year investigation into Mercedes-Benz into diesel emissions without filing a complaint, media reported Saturday, just about four years after the German automaker reached a $1. 5 billion settlement to settle separate allegations that it cheated on emissions. Tests.
Representatives of Mercedes-Benz Group AG showed Bloomberg that the Justice Department had ended its investigation and filed a complaint against the company, as first reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt.
It’s unclear why the Justice Department ended its investigation, according to Handelsblatt, and officials at the branch did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
The investigation began in April 2016, when the branch asked automaker Mercedes-Benz Daimler to “review its intake and certification process related to exhaust emissions” in the U. S. The U. S. government has issued a scandal that was later dubbed the “diesel scandal. “”
Representatives for Mercedes-Benz did not respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.
The investigation stems from a class-action lawsuit alleging that some of the automaker’s cars violated emissions standards, according to Bloomberg. Mercedes-Benz said it had “agreed to fully cooperate” with the investigation and was quoted as saying the lawsuit’s allegations were “baseless. ” Daimler and Mercedes-Benz reached a $1. 5 billion settlement in September 2020 with regulators (the DOJ, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board) to resolve emissions fraud allegations, which They allegedly violated the Clean Air Act and California state law. The settlement arises from separate civil court cases filed through the California and United States Air Resources Board. The court cases alleged that Daimler manufactured, imported and sold more than 250,000 diesel pickup trucks and cars between 2009 and 2016 that contained undisclosed auxiliary emissions controls and defeat devices, causing the cars to produce compliant emissions. In tests, they still paint and accumulate nitrogen oxide emissions when driving, according to the regulations. A defeat device is any device that “bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative a required feature of the vehicle’s emissions control system,” according to the EPA. The agreement concerned civil sanctions and a national withdrawal and reparation program. It was approved by federal ruling the following March.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it was investigating Tesla’s handling of the recall of more than 2 million cars involving its Autopilot system. The electric vehicle maker recalled the cars in December to fix a flaw in the Autopilot system.
Daimler investigates diesel emissions as quarterly drop (Bloomberg)
How Volkswagen’s “Defeat Devices” (The New York Times)
Daimler to pay $1. 5 billion in taxes on U. S. diesel emissions (Forbes)
U. S. Investigates Tesla Recall After ‘Post-Crash Events’ (Forbes)
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