A report emerged a little earlier this week that Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler have been under scrutiny from regulatory bodies in North America, particularly for suspicion of subverting United States’ emissions tests.
Even with the controversial new stance adopted by the American EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that seems to want to undermine the meaning of its own name under the new administration, the country’s emissions regulations still remain quite strict and duly enforced.
This is what led to the ‘dieselgate’ scandal of 2015 to stem from discoveries made in by US investigators, leading its bodies to administer to the most high profile consequences for the guilty automaker, Volkswagen.
Sources close to American authorities have revealed to Bild am Sonntag, a German newspaper, that they are currently looking into the possible use of software hacks to spoof emissions tests on their diesel engines.
Functions found within the engine control unit programming, referred to as ‘Bit 15’, may have secondary uses. Specifically, to temporarily reduce or halt certain processes within the engine’s operation to emit a lowered levels of particulates and pollutants in order to pass regulation.
It was reported that after running for 26km, the software would stop the injection of cleansing agent AdBlue to purity exhaust gases. The ceasing of this treatment could allow up to 10 times the allowed legal volume of harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) to enter the atmosphere.
'Slipguard', another suspected secondary function within the ECU code, was used as a way to determine when the car was being subjected to an emissions test based on canned acceleration data, GPS location, and idle patterns, thereby activating Bit 15.
Daimler has not commented directly on the report other than to say that it is currently in full and constant cooperation with US authorities. Like Volkswagen, they are heavily investing in vehicle electrification with roadmap less dependent on diesel and with more emphasis on petrol-electric hybrids as a transitionary step toward full EVs.
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