Urteil gegen Daimler AG - Schadensersatz für Mercedes Sprinter

The Freiburg Regional Court ordered Daimler AG to pay damages of € 82,592 to a plaintiff in return for the return of the vehicles (judgment of October 18, 2021, case number 6 O 149/19). The case concerned three Mercedes Sprinter 316 CDIThe plaintiff purchased the three vehicles between February 2016 and August 2018 for a total price of € 111,960. The Sprinter class vehicles have the engine typeOM 651(Euro 6 and Euro 5). This engine is said to be equipped with various illegal switch-off devices. The nitrogen oxide emissions are controlled via the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The EGR is controlled by the outside temperature.

One of the plaintiff’s Mercedes Sprinters is also subject to a mandatory recall by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).

Intentional and immoral actions by Daimler AG

The Freiburg Regional Court sees in this case an intentional immoral injury to the plaintiff according to § 826 BGB due to the use of impermissible switch-off devices. The plaintiff has therefore already suffered damage through the purchase, as the vehicle did not comply with the legal requirements of EC Regulation 715/2007. The Regional Court also evaluates, among other things, the coolant target temperature control, the thermal window and the different operating modes of the SCR catalyst as an inadmissible switch-off device.

The coolant target temperature control means that the temperature of the coolant and the engine oil is artificially kept low at the start of the engine operation. This results in low emissions of nitrogen oxides. In real driving conditions, however, this function is deactivated and the legal limit of 180 mg/km is significantly exceeded. The thermal window also manipulates the exhaust gas purification, because here too optimization only takes place on the test bench and not in real driving conditions.
One of the vehicles also has an SCR catalyst. The urea mixture AdBlue is used to clean the engine's exhaust gases. Here, too, there are different operating modes that influence and ultimately manipulate the exhaust gas purification.

Chances against Daimler AG increase enormously

If you are the owner of an affected Sprinter, you should now chance of possible compensation We offer you, without obligation and free of charge, to have your claims checked. Thanks to our specially created database, we can immediately track whether your vehicle is also affected.