Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:11

Hyundai and Kia in trouble because of diesel

The two largest car manufacturers from South Korea have become the subject of an investigation by the German police, because a raid was carried out on their premises due to the suspicion of the existence of a device that reduces the emission of harmful gases during testing.

Software devices that are set to reduce the amount of exhaust gases in diesel engines when testing emissions are nothing new. Such devices have been used since the 1970s, and the innovator was Volkswagen.

Almost half a century later, the German company found itself in a serious problem again because of the same device, and the scandal even got its name - Dieselgate. However, carmakers didn’t seem to learn a lesson from the huge fines Volkswagen had to pay. German police raided the premises of Hyundai and Kia in that country, due to allegations that they installed software that affects the emission of harmful gases in 210,000 diesel vehicles, according to a statement from the State Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt.

The software is believed to have been developed by parts and equipment suppliers Bosch and Delphi, and police searched the business premises of South Korean brands in Germany and Luxembourg, as part of an operation conducted in co-operation with Eurojust. A Hyundai spokesman confirmed the news of the raid and said the company was cooperating with authorities.

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