Mercedes-Benz Settles US Emissions Claims for $149.6 Million
Mercedes-Benz USA and its parent company Daimler AG have reached a settlement of $149.6 million in response to allegations that the automaker covertly installed devices in hundreds of thousands of vehicles to manipulate emission tests, as announced by a coalition of attorneys general on Monday. The coalition reports that from 2008 to 2016, the German automaker fitted over 211,000 diesel passenger cars and vans with software devices designed to enhance emission controls during testing, while diminishing those controls during regular use. The devices allowed vehicles to significantly surpass legal thresholds for nitrogen oxides, a pollutant linked to respiratory diseases and the formation of smog.
The states claimed that Mercedes implemented the devices due to its inability to meet design and performance targets, including fuel efficiency, while adhering to emissions regulations. The automaker is accused of hiding the devices from both state and federal regulators, as well as the public, while promoting the vehicles as environmentally friendly and in compliance with emissions standards. A representative for the automaker did not provide an immediate comment. Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz USA reached an agreement in 2020 to pay $1.5 billion to the US government and California state regulators in order to settle the allegations of emissions cheating.
A coalition comprising fifty attorney generals, which includes the attorney generals from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, was announced on Monday. California was excluded from the group. The settlement requires the automaker to pay the attorney generals $120 million, with an additional $29 million payment suspended and possibly waived, contingent upon the successful completion of a consumer relief program. The initiative will encompass approximately 40,000 vehicles equipped with the devices that remained unrepaired or had not been permanently taken off the road by August 1, 2023.
The owners of those vehicles would receive $2,000 for each vehicle upon the installation of approved emissions modification software along with an extended warranty. The settlement mandates that Mercedes adhere to reporting requirements and abstain from any additional unfair or deceptive marketing or sale of diesel vehicles. Volkswagen ultimately agreed to pay $2.8 billion to resolve a criminal case related to emissions cheating.
