GLS-Class SUV

Segment
SUV

Dieselgate ceased being the talk of the car world some time ago, but its effects are still being felt throughout the industry. The scandal is still fresh enough that Volkswagen feels the need to put out apologetic ads in attempts to win back the hearts and minds of its customers, and the fact it's pouring billions into electric cars shows that the company really is trying to change its ways. But the passage of time has done nothing to stop regulators from putting the industry as a whole under increased scrutiny in order to see if any other companies have been trying to skirt emissions standards in dishonest ways.

The latest subject of the worldwide crackdown spurred by Volkswagen is Mercedes, which is being asked to initiate a recall to remove cheat devices from some of its diesel SUVs.

The recall, reports Reuters, affects over 60,000 Mercedes-Benz GLK 220 SUVs produced between 2012 and 2015. According to Germany's Transportation Ministry, the affected vehicles have all been fitted with software that distorts emissions tests by lowering the engine's emissions when the car's computers sense that the vehicle is undergoing testing.

Germany's auto regulator started looking more closely into the SUV after it found that the GLK 220 CDI was only meeting emissions limits after a certain function had been activated. German authorities have also confirmed that they are looking into other models that have raised similar suspicions. For now, Daimler is appealing the decision, but if the recall goes through, the GLK 220 CDI will join over 3 million Daimler vehicles that have been recalled to install software that reduces the amount of emissions coming out of the tailpipe.

Coinciding with the recall announcement, Daimler slashed its anticipated Q2 2019 profits by hundreds of millions of euros due to an "increase of provisions for various ongoing governmental proceedings and measures relating to Diesel vehicles." That puts the Mercedes' van division on track to achieve minus 2-4% growth by the end of 2019. That isn't the best news when considering that Mercedes is already cutting costs by slashing some of its slow-selling (but truly awesome) models.