Photo: Richard Aucock via BMWblog
The nationwide investigation conducted in Germany by local authorities into the emission scandal that has rocked the auto industry is drawing up to a close, at least as far as BMW is concerned.
The mess known as Dieselgate has spread over the years from Volkswagen to engulf in one way or another pretty much all the other German carmakers. In BMW’s case, over 11,000 cars were suspected to have been fitted with some type of software meant to cheat emission measurements.
In March, some 100 police officers descended on two BMW locations, looking for evidence or lack of to build their case. BMW admitted at the time there was something wrong with the investigated cars, but denied intent to cheat emission regulations.
“As previously communicated, in the course of internal testing, the BMW Group realized that a correctly developed software module had been allocated in error to models for which it was not suited,” the carmaker said at the time.
Information obtained by German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung from the Munich prosecutor’s office point to the fact that BMW has been cleared of charges of having intentionally fitted the rigged software.
The prosecutors do however hold BMW accountable for installing the wrong software by mistake, and will ask the carmaker to pay a tiny fine of 10 million euros. Once the fine is paid, the matter should be closed.
As a comparison, Volkswagen was fined this June 1 billion euros by German prosecutors in the emissions scandal.
It’s not clear what the update does for the affected BMW models. The carmaker said it would fix the problem by recalling all the affected cars and fitting them with a corrected software.
BMW claims most of the models involved in the scandal have not gotten the update at the time of their fabrication, but two years after being sold.
In March, some 100 police officers descended on two BMW locations, looking for evidence or lack of to build their case. BMW admitted at the time there was something wrong with the investigated cars, but denied intent to cheat emission regulations.
“As previously communicated, in the course of internal testing, the BMW Group realized that a correctly developed software module had been allocated in error to models for which it was not suited,” the carmaker said at the time.
Information obtained by German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung from the Munich prosecutor’s office point to the fact that BMW has been cleared of charges of having intentionally fitted the rigged software.
The prosecutors do however hold BMW accountable for installing the wrong software by mistake, and will ask the carmaker to pay a tiny fine of 10 million euros. Once the fine is paid, the matter should be closed.
As a comparison, Volkswagen was fined this June 1 billion euros by German prosecutors in the emissions scandal.
It’s not clear what the update does for the affected BMW models. The carmaker said it would fix the problem by recalling all the affected cars and fitting them with a corrected software.
BMW claims most of the models involved in the scandal have not gotten the update at the time of their fabrication, but two years after being sold.
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