Officers searched premises in Frankfurt, Hanover and Regensburg this week as German prosecutors began looking into whether Mitsubishi diesel engines were rigged to beat emissions tests. The Frankfurt prosecutor’s office announced the probe on Tuesday.
Reuters, as relayed by Carscoops, put the number of raided sites at 10. Three of them belong to the auto supplier Continental, which says it is a cooperating witness. Bosch, another big supplier, says it has no involvement.
At issue are cars with 1.6 litre and 2.2 litre four-cylinder diesel engines. Carscoops reported that the focus falls on Euro 5 and Euro 6 versions from after 2014, and that authorities asked owners of cars with these engines to contact the police. “There is a suspicion that the engines are equipped with a so-called shutdown device,” the prosecutors said, without adding detail.
The office said it is investigating a staff member at an international carmaker for fraud, along with a unit of an international car dealership company and two auto suppliers. It did not name them.
Mitsubishi’s response
Mitsubishi Motors said local authorities had told it about the investigation of its German distributor and of its European R&D facilities, which are also in Germany. “No further information is available at that stage,” the company said. “Mitsubishi Motors will of course collaborate and contribute to this investigation.”
A familiar pattern
Defeat devices work through engine management software that spots when a car is on an emissions test cycle and throttles back toxic fumes, hiding what the vehicle emits on the road. Carscoops said engines fitted with such devices can emit as much as 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide.
Volkswagen admitted in 2015 that it had cheated U.S. diesel tests, and regulators across Europe turned on the industry afterward. Several states launched their own inquiries. They found on-the-road NOx emissions more than 10 times above regulatory limits for some Opel, Renault and Fiat Chrysler models, and widespread use of devices that cut or shut down exhaust treatment in normal driving. Carscoops put the number of VW diesels affected at around 11 million.
French prosecutors opened criminal probes into Volkswagen, Renault, PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler in 2016 and 2017. Those remain ongoing. Bosch agreed last year to pay a 90 million euro ($100.21 million) fine for supervisory lapses that let carmakers cheat.
Mitsubishi has been part of an alliance with Renault and Nissan since 2016.
Sources
- German prosecutors probe Mitsubishi for suspected illegal defeat devices
- German Prosecutors Raid Mitsubishi Offices For Suspected Use Of Emissions Cheating Software | Carscoops
- Volkswagen emissions scandal
