Mercedes-Benz In Hot Water Once Again Over Illegally Excessive Diesel Emissions

Apr 15, 2016 06:28 AM EDT | Tes Christiansen

Mercedes-Benz is once again in hot water with another lawsuit over excessive diesel emissions, prompting owners of the Blue Tec lineup to claim that their cars are a potential safety hazard. Unfortunately, the issue has been raised twice this year alone, with the same law firm acting in behalf of the complaining owners.

More specifically, claims on these Mercedes-Benz vehicles were based on the notion that the cars maybe emitting more nitrogen oxide(NOx) than what is considered legal, and could be a safety hazard, according to MSN. Law firm Hagens Berman, which represented the owners, stated in their suit that extra NOx was emitted during some situations, especially in low temperatures. However, new 3rd-party testing done resulted in speculations that the cars released higher NOx levels in all tests made.

What's more interesting is that the company's cars have all successfully passed dynamometer emissions testing, but the lawsuit specified that the company, however, is using a different device similar to that of some Volkswagen diesel. The company still stands firm to its response regarding the issue, stating that the part or device indicated does not intentionally reduce NOx emissions in its vehicles.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of doing a formal investigation into the M-B diesel vehicles and has already requested relevant information from the auto maker, according to the publication.

Meanwhile, in an Autoblog post, part of Hagens Berman's first class-action suit filed against Mercedes-Benz stated: "Testing at highway speeds, at low temperatures, and at variable speeds, indicate a systemic failure to meet emissions standards. Low temperature testing at highway speeds for example, produced emissions that were 8.1 to 19.7 times the highway emissions standard." This also goes on to say that the law firm has continued to use other M-B Blue Tec models since filing the said legal action February of this year.

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