Daimler's head could be fined 3.75 billion Euros

MANILA: For the past few years, the German automobile giant has been accused of twisting with the emission testing modules. This time the German government is clamping down the automaker with a warning of an EUR 3.5 billion as a fine if the allegations prove to be true.

According to a recent report, Andreas Scheuer, the German transport minister accused Daimler’s CEO Dieter Zetsche of holding a closed-room meeting regarding diesel software.

So how did it begin? Well, Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt had been investigating on certain models of Mercedes Benz, namely C-class, G-class, and Vito. Rumors have it that a regulator found a software that can be used to tweak a vehicle's emission rating. According to Scheuer, more than 750,000 vehicles have been integrated with this emission tampering software. He also added that in case Dailmer is found guilty, it will be fined at 5,000 Euros per vehicle.

Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt in another report said that the emissions from Mercedes Benz Vito with 1.6L turbo-diesel engines had been integrated with engine electronic control units that were programmed to twist emission regulations.
KBA in a mail said that Daimler and the transport ministry had agreed to sort out the highly complex and technical issues related to diesel emissions.

Another spokesperson from Dailmer said that the company had promised to keep the nature of discussions held with the Transport ministry confidential and hence wouldn't comment on the same.

However, Daimler refused to accept any allegation imposed on them and will go to courts if needed to clear their name. If we go by the allegations, more than 80,000 vehicles may have been fitted with the software.

In the meantime, KBA has called for a re-investigation on Vito's 1.6l turbo-diesel engines.