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Clean or not?
In the diesel scandal, Daimler has to continue to defend itself against accusations of engine manipulation
Photo: Matthias Schrader / AP
The confidential letter is dated April 4, 2019 and was sent by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
Recipient: Daimler AG.
On four pages, the Flensburg officials list how the engineers at the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer allegedly prepared a number of diesel models in such a way that they comply with the nitrogen oxide limit values on the test stand, but have values that are far too high on the road.
The summary of the KBA people is devastating.
Daimler had "made impermissible shutdowns in the emissions control system," according to the accusation from an in-depth investigation on a SUV of the type GLK 220 CDI (Euronorm 5).
When SPIEGEL made the explosive letter public in mid-April 2019, it caused a stir in Stuttgart.
The KBA's findings had serious consequences.
The authority issued a series of notices with which they ordered a recall of various models, including a van that the inspectors had found for the first time.
As a result, the KBA also ordered recalls for other models - according to Daimler for around 550,000 diesel vehicles in Germany alone.
Many thousands of customers filed lawsuits against the group.
Daimler lawyers immediately filed objections to the notices.
But the authority, which is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Transport of Andreas Scheuer (CSU), has now rejected these objections according to information from SPIEGEL and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Both the Federal Ministry of Transport, as the KBA supervisory authority, and Daimler confirmed this in writing on request.
"The KBA has rejected almost all of the objections made by the manufacturer Daimler to KBA notices," the Ministry of Transport explained on request: "If there is an objection, the manufacturer's reasons are missing, so that it could not be processed."
15,000 individual lawsuits from Mercedes customers
Daimler sticks to its legal opinion that it did not use any illegal defeat devices.
"We are now checking the reasons and deciding whether to lodge an appeal," said a Daimler spokesman.
As long as the company is considering legal steps, the KBA notices are not yet legally binding.
Daimler plays this into the hands of the civil proceedings that have been brought by the owners of the affected models.
According to Daimler, there are 15,000 individual lawsuits from diesel owners in Germany.
So far, the company explains, 95 percent of the completed procedures have been won.
However, many of the proceedings are still pending before various courts in Germany.
The expertise that the KBA has produced through its investigations on Daimler diesels is of central importance.
As long as the tug-of-war over these notices has not been finally decided, the findings cannot be used in civil proceedings.
So far, this has given Daimler an advantage in court.
Many plaintiff holders had to have their own reports drawn up, some did not convince the judges.
That would probably have happened less often if the judges had had an official letter from the KBA.
Michael Heese, an expert on civil law at the University of Regensburg and long-time observer of the diesel scandal, sees the KBA decision as a "strong signal for ongoing civil proceedings".
Numerous courts in Germany have rejected claims for damages or rescission claims by Daimler owners on the grounds, among other things, that Daimler had filed an objection to the KBA decisions.
Clean only on the test bench
The evidence that the KBA has compiled in its April 2019 letter does not read well for Daimler.
Accordingly, a "coolant setpoint temperature control" was installed in the vehicle in question with the OM 651 engine.
It has the effect that a lower coolant temperature and a different exhaust gas cleaning strategy are used in the laboratory tests required for type approval.
The result: the car complies with nitrogen oxide limits on the test bench, but not on the road.
It is all the more explosive that at the relevant development time of the affected models, the Chief Technology Officer was Ola Källenius, the current CEO of Daimler.
In September 2019, the Stuttgart public prosecutor issued a fine of 870 million euros on the car manufacturer Daimler.
The reason given by the investigators was a negligent violation of the duty of supervision in a department dealing with vehicle certification, as the public prosecutor said.
In the United States, the company paid billions in fines in connection with the diesel affair.
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