Car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz conceals the true extent of the cheating diesel scandal. That is the opinion of the Diesel Emissions Justice Foundation (SDEJ), which will face the German automaker in court on Wednesday.
The claims foundation believes Mercedes “is not playing an open card”. “Since the start of the diesel scandal, Mercedes has pretended to be collaborative and to take environmental concerns seriously, but it remains with fine words,” say lawyers Joost Edixhoven and Wesley Vader. “She takes virtually no action to recall and clean her diesel cars with tampering software.”
Sjoemeldies are diesel cars with special software. It recognizes when the car goes through a particular test program and ensures fewer harmful substances, particularly nitrogen oxide, are emitted. But in normal use, the software does not intervene, and the cars are much more polluting.
The scandal came to light at Volkswagen, but many other manufacturers also used similar software. As a result, SDEJ has lawsuits against five car manufacturers.