CAPTION: Mercedes-Benz recalls diesel vehicles over emissions software. (picture alliance/dpa/Bernd Weißbrod)
German automaker Mercedes-Benz must recall more than 100,000 diesel vehicles in Germany due to renewed allegations of illegal emissions technology.
The company confirmed to dpa that Germany's Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has issued a recall notice, which is expected to affect a low six-figure number of vehicles.
The regulatory agency was initially unavailable for comment.
The order applies to various Euro 5 and Euro 6b diesel models, according to Mercedes-Benz. The vehicles now require a software update.
Customers will be informed in writing if their vehicle is part of the KBA order and an update needs to be installed, the company said.
The reason for the recall is the use of so-called thermal windows, which were also in standard use by other manufacturers.
Normally, some of the exhaust gases are burned directly back into the engine - for example, to emit fewer toxic nitrogen oxides. Depending on the outside temperature, however, this mechanism is automatically throttled back.
Manufacturers say the use of thermal windows protects the engine.
But the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in 2022 that thermal windows are only legal if no other solution is available to avert risks.
The court decision held that software which allows higher emissions of pollutants "for a large part of the year" is fundamentally unlawful.
Regulators from Germany's KBA has now requested that Mercedes-Benz change the calibrations in engine control units of certain vehicles in light of the ruling, a Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman told dpa.
"Until the ECJ judgement, European authorities generally considered such temperature controls for exhaust gas recirculation to be permissible," she said.
The company is cooperating fully with the KBA, according to the spokeswoman.
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