Emissions scandal: Hard blow for Volkswagen and KBA

Environmentalists and carmakers have been arguing about the so-called thermal windows for a long time. From the beginning, these illegal defeat devices were one of the focal points, if not the focal point, of the diesel scandal. The latter had agitated the automotive industry for years and caused numerous lawsuits, among others on the part of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). The environmental association wanted to put an end to the questionable system of exhaust gas purification and turned to the courts to do so - which turned into a long process. Last year, for example, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that thermal windows in the engine management of diesel cars were illegal. But many questions remained unanswered. 

Now, seven years later, the administrative court in Schleswig-Holstein was able to close the case - at least for the time being - and ban thermo windows on the basis of the ECJ legal opinion. This was in fact an illegal practice once and for all, for which even the Kraftfahrtbundesamt (Federal Motor Transport Authority) will officially bear responsibility alongside the car company. For the KBA had acted unlawfully by allowing manufacturers like Volkswagen to use such defeat devices. This is a neglect of its duties towards consumers as well as - in view of the strong impact on air pollution - towards the environment. After all, the vehicles were allowed to enter environmental zones or were not affected by diesel driving bans, even though they emit more particulate matter and nitrogen oxides than permitted.  

At the same time, new results from the court case in Schleswig also became known. The new software updates - with which Volkswagen had planned to retrofit vehicles for years - were also said to be not fully compliant. A heavy blow for the car industry, but also for the KBA. In the end, both relied heavily on the fact that the problem with the thermal window could be solved relatively easily by updating the vehicle system with a new programme. Admittedly, it would have been a long process, which would have cost Volkswagen a lot of money and resources for the software - as well as for the recall for retrofitting purposes. However, the company would have been able to bring the matter to a conclusion and thus avoid a possible decommissioning of the scandal vehicles. However, the new software has now also been declared illegal, as it itself contains a number of inadmissible defeat devices. 

It is therefore uncertain how the company will bring the car models equipped with thermo windows - namely, for example, the Golf and Touran of the Euro 5 emissions standard with two-litre diesel engines - back into legal compliance. It is clear, however, that numerous vehicles are affected. More than eight million diesel car drivers in the EU have indeed had to go to the workshop for the update since 2016 in order not to lose their registration. What the decision of the administrative court will mean for them, however, remains to be seen. Much depends on how Volkswagen and the Federal Motor Transport Authority will decide - and how quickly an alternative for the software can be found that could withstand the court's scrutiny. However, it is likely that the company will try to revise the outcome of the current court case before reviewing other possible courses of action. 

How the matter will end is still difficult to predict. However, the trial in Schleswig will certainly not be the last one that Deutsche Umwelthilfe will initiate against the protagonists of the diesel scandal.