Department Of Justice Goes After Mercedes-Benz For Diesel Emissions Certifications

The can of worms is opening ever wider. This specific kerfuffle is about a plaintiff who alleges their vehicle "was polluting at eight to 20 times the standard allowed in the EPA’s highway cycle."

So here's the rub: The law dictates that vehicles must:
(1) Perform an in-lab-only test, during which...
(2) It must not emit certain gasses beyond certain specified limits, and...
(3) It must not employ a "cheat device", as defined by law, during the lab test.

As far as I know, there are no laws that govern actual emissions while the vehicle is under normal operation, outside of a lab. VW's Dieselgate resulted from an independent consultant who measured VW diesels (amongst other cars) and discovered that they emitted many times the lab-legal emission levels while under normal use, and when he investigated further, he determined that the VW vehicles employed a "cheat device" to pass the in-lab-only test. So it was the use of that "cheat device" that was illegal, and not the fact that the VWs he tested generated 40x the lab-legal emissions while operating in normal use.

As long as Mercedes can establish, to the authorities' satisfaction, that they did not employ a "cheat device" (as defined by law), then it doesn't matter what their on-road emissions are, as there is no law for that. In this specific case, allegations have been made that because the plaintiff's Mercedes vehicle's on-road emissions are so much higher than lab-legal levels, then Mercedes, like VW, must surely be cheating to pass the lab emissions test. An investigation will determine if the allegation is correct.

MB, like BMW, both denied they are using a "cheat device" (as defined by law) when Dieselgate first debuted. Neither MB nor BMW have acknowledged (let alone explained) why their vehicles emit far beyond lab-legal levels of emissions while operating under normal use. And they're not the only manufacturers whose vehicles have been observed to do so, diesel and not.

Stay tuned for more shit to hit the fan.

BTW, VW not being the only offender does not diminish or negate VW's guilt in making deceptive claims, falsifying legal documents, perpetrating mass deception, contributing to dangerous pollution, and the harm that these things caused to the environment and living beings, not to mention a host of other ethical and legal breeches. Sadly, VW is just the tip of the iceberg.

I said previously, they're all trying to circumvent regulations and probably all guilty of something like this. VW was just the FIRST to get it's hands slapped. Let's sit back and watch now!!