- Mercedes dieselgate ends with a $150 million settlement.
- States settled after an earlier federal agreement was reached.
- Over 211,000 Mercedes vehicles had hidden defeat devices.
A bipartisan coalition of attorney generals have announced a settlement with Mercedes over its own dieselgate scandal.
According to the New York Attorney General’s Office, “Mercedes equipped hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles with undisclosed software designed to cheat emissions tests, mislead consumers, and illegally pollute communities nationwide.”
More: Mercedes Reportedly Sold Over A Million Vehicles With Excess Emissions
According to the group, Mercedes installed undisclosed software in its diesel-powered vehicles to artificially lower emissions during government testing. However, under normal driving conditions, these vehicles had emissions that were up to 30 or 40 times the legal limit.
Besides obtaining “emissions certifications that the vehicles did not actually qualify for,” the coalition said Mercedes misled consumers by advertising the vehicles as “clean,” “green,” and “ultra-low emissions.”
Mercedes allegedly sold more than 211,000 vehicles with the defeat device between 2008 and 2017.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mercedes will pay $149,673,750 (€127,265,344) with $120 (€102) million going to states to “prevent, abate, and mitigate air pollution.”
The remaining $29,673,750 (€25,228,622) is a penalty that is “temporarily suspended.” Under this scheme, Mercedes will be credited $750 for each vehicle repaired, bought back, or taken off the market.
In order to encourage owners to get the repair, the automaker must offer customers a $2,000 payment for getting an approved emissions modification. Claims have to be submitted by September 30, 2026 and the automaker will send out a mailer that explains the program.
Mercedes is also “prohibited from selling or leasing any diesel vehicles equipped with these illegal emissions-cheating devices, from making misleading statements about a vehicle’s emissions performance, and from claiming a diesel vehicle is clean or low-pollution unless the claim is accurate and substantiated.” On top of this, the company must regularly report how repairs are going.
While the consent order is pretty dry, it reveals a number of models that had defeat devices. They include the 2011-2013 E350 as well as the 2014-2016 E350. The list also includes versions of the GL-, GLE-, GLK-, ML-, R- and S-Class. Needless to say, the Sprinter is also included.
The states alleged “through multiple undisclosed AECDs, which acted as defeat devices, the diesel vehicles were designed to detect parameters consistent with formal emission test cycles and turn on the fill-level mode in these conditions – thus, appearing to comply with emission standards – while otherwise reverting to pre-control mode, resulting in significant excess NOx emissions in real-world driving conditions.”
This was part of a dual dosing strategy to “avoid trade-offs necessary to lawfully control NOx emissions.” In particular, the company was able to avoid a performance and fuel economy hit, while also limiting diesel exhaust fluid consumption.
While that’s just a brief look at the lengthy filing, Reuters noted it follows an earlier settlement with the US Government for $2.2 (€1.9) billion.