"Scandal" About Retrofitted Soot Particle Filters

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"Scandal" About Retrofitted Soot Particle Filters
"Scandal" About Retrofitted Soot Particle Filters

Video: "Scandal" About Retrofitted Soot Particle Filters

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Video: Diesel Engine Soot Filter Installation and Maintenance - Retrofit Maintenance Practices 2024, March
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Deutsche Umwelthilfe has criticized the filtering effect of some of the soot particle filters intended for retrofitting. Now a manufacturer is withdrawing the approval.

The retrofitting of old diesel vehicles with soot particle filters is slowly taking off. But now another setback threatens: The retrofit filters from two suppliers - GAT from Gladbeck and Bosal from Viersen - have come under fire. Apparently, so the accusation of environmentalists, they do not fulfill the legally prescribed filter effect. The German Environmental Aid (DUH) in Berlin speaks of “poor to catastrophically low filter effects” and refers to several comparative tests. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in Flensburg has therefore ordered a review. A KBA spokesman said it was still going on and the final results were not yet available.

Admission withdrawn

In the meantime, GAT has voluntarily withdrawn the approval of its criticized combination filters. According to the KBA, components with the general operating permit (ABE) 17114, 17117, 17118, 17070 and 17148 are affected. The company justifies the return with a "formal error". A spokesman said it was done regardless of the test results that were still outstanding. Components of the filter have been "optimized", but the addendum has not been included in the ABE. The Bosal company confirmed to the dpa topic service that the KBA is also having their system examined. One wants to wait for the results.

For DUH managing director Resch, the matter is a "scandal": "GAT obviously brings systems into circulation that differ from the systems that have been approved." There are indications that GAT has reduced the number of pores in its retrofit filters and enlarged their diameter in order to reduce the excessively high exhaust back pressure that was previously determined. As a result, the performance has deteriorated. In addition to an immediate sales stop of such «fraud systems», the DUH is also calling for a reversal. "The filters that have already been sold around 60,000 must be removed again," says Resch. "It cannot be that we have 60,000 polluters in the cities who are tax-subsidized and also receive the environmental badge."

But whether there will be a recall is uncertain. According to KBA information, the operating license of vehicles on which a particle reduction system with one of the numbers mentioned has already been installed is "not affected" by the ABE withdrawal.

Tax bonus questioned

However, the tax authorities still have to clarify how to proceed with the tax bonus granted. According to information from ADAC lawyer Silvia Schattenkirchner in Munich, it is “conceivable” that the owners concerned are threatened with a claim back: “A repayment of the tax subsidy will be examined by the Ministry of Finance.” In this case, however, motorists would have a valid claim against their workshop or the manufacturer to have them returned.

According to Jürgen Resch from the DUH, the legal right is given anyway: "Consumers have a right to an approved system that works." GAT wants to inform unsettled customers via a hotline and does not want to rule out «goodwill regulations in individual cases». Resch recommends consumers to do everything possible to remove a defective filter. Otherwise there is a risk of the vehicle losing its value if it is resold. (dpa)

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