FRANKFURT — Daimler may have to recall 260,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicles after German motor vehicle authority KBA warned the automaker that the transporter vans may contain illegal engine management software, a German paper reported.
Daimler likely will have to begin a recall for 260,000 Sprinter vans, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported, without citing sources.
Daimler on Sunday confirmed that KBA had demanded a hearing related to its Sprinter vans.
Daimler further said the vans in question belonged to a previous generation of vehicles that have been out of production since 2016.
The KBA has been made aware that the software found in the vans was also being used in other vehicle variants, Daimler said.
Daimler presented the functionality to KBA in May 2018 and thereafter explained it in detail in further meetings since summer 2018. “We continue to fully cooperate with KBA,” a Daimler spokesman said.
The latest KBA actions came after Daimler agreed to pay a fine of 870 million euros in September when it admitted a breach of supervisory duties which resulted in emissions violations.
In June, Daimler issued a profit warning and announced an increase of legal provisions by a high three-digit million euros amount, to cover various ongoing governmental proceedings and measures relating to diesel vehicles.