Processes: OVG: shutdown device at diesel cars illegal

The Schleswig-Holstein Higher Administrative Court declared a shutdown device for the diesel emissions cleaning of VW to be unlawful. The Federal Motor Transport Authority should not have given approval, the court also decided in an appeal procedure. It was about the approval of a certain software update in the engine control that VW had carried out after the diesel scandal.

Years of arguments between car builders and environmentalists

A function of this update for the Volkswagen Golf Plus TDI (2.0 liters, engine type EA 189 euros 5) was the so -called thermal window, as a court spokesman said. The software reduces the cleaning of the exhaust gases, for example at lower temperatures, so that the cars then emit more pollutants. Environmentalists and car manufacturers have been fighting for years whether this is permissible.

The OVG in Schleswig now rejected the appeals of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and Volkswagen AG based in Flensburg against an administrative court decision, as can be seen from a message. The administrative court decided in 2023 that the approval was illegal. German environmental aid had sued and had largely received the administrative court.

VW announced an appeal

“Volkswagen will appeal to the Federal Administrative Court,” said the group at the request of the German Press Agency. “The non-final judgment does not result in any measures by the KBA, such as official decommissioning from vehicles or hardware retrofits due to the thermal window.” The decision is “a low five -digit number” of vehicles.

“Two inadmissible shutdown devices”

The judgment of the OVG is specifically concerned with the released release from 2016. “The software update for the engine control of this vehicle type contained two inadmissible switch-off devices of the exhaust gas recirculation,” said the court. “The KBA is therefore obliged to immediately ask Volkswagen AG to take all suitable remedial measures within a reasonable period of time in order to establish the agreement of the affected vehicles with the applicable law.”

According to the court, the judgment is not final. The revision to the Federal Administrative Court was not approved. However, KBA and Volkswagen AG can comply with the non -approval of the revision. The Federal Administrative Court would then have to decide on this.

VW: Lawsuit against update permit is unfounded

KBA and VW see the thermal window as permitted. It protects against direct risks for the engine in the form of damage or accident. The risks therefore weigh so heavily that you can represent a concrete danger when operating the vehicle. According to VW, the thermal window is still permitted according to the standards of the judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from 2022.

The ECJ had made it clear that software that “has a major part of the year” was generally inadmissible. Thermal window to protect the engine are only legal if no other solution can avert risks.

Environmental aid leads further procedures

Based on the currently negotiated sample procedure, the environmental aid leads further procedures against diesel vehicles from various manufacturers of the exhaust gasifiers EUR 5 to Euro 6c.