Up to 150,000 cars affected
Motor vehicle authority finds emissions manipulation of BMW diesels
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The European Court of Justice recently tightened emissions regulations. Now the Federal Motor Transport Authority has found an inadmissible switch-off device for exhaust gas purification in BMW diesel cars. The company draws conclusions.
The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has found that BMW diesel cars have an inadmissible switch-off device for exhaust gas purification. In Germany, around 33,000 cars are affected by the SUV model X3, the authority said in a statement on its website. In Europe it is estimated that there could be 100,000 to 150,000 cars, said a BMW spokesman. However, BMW does not know how many of the cars are still on the roads, and so far there has only been an official decision in Germany. BMW is cooperating with the authorities and has presented an action plan for hardware and software updates, the KBA said.
According to the KBA, there is a reduction in exhaust gas recirculation in vehicles when the air conditioning is switched on. In addition, the reduction also applies to outside temperatures that are so far within the normal operating range that the rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) indicate that this is inadmissible, the KBA said.
The vehicles thus impermissibly reduced the effectiveness of their pollutant reduction against nitrogen oxides. In the wake of the VW diesel scandal, car manufacturers had long argued that limiting exhaust gas purification to a certain so-called thermal window was necessary to protect the engine. Otherwise it could be damaged.
Affected cars are slightly older
The ECJ recently tightened the interpretation of emissions regulations in several decisions. According to BMW, it is keeping legal protection options open as the decision is not yet final. The group is convinced that the engine control system used for exhaust gas purification complies with legal requirements.
“Nevertheless, the company recognizes a potential problem with the durability of individual components of the exhaust gas purification system in the hardware of the vehicle model in question,” it said. As a result of the ECJ decisions, the requirements for diesel vehicles are being re-discussed. “A benchmark is applied retroactively to technologies that are up to 15 years old.” According to BMW, the affected cars were manufactured between 2010 and 2014.
