European raids over defeat devices in Suzuki diesel engines

Prosecutors in Germany, Italy and Hungary have conducted searches related to the use of illegal defeat devices that provide rigged emissions readings to comply with European Union regulations in Suzuki (T:7269) diesel vehicles.

German prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that their investigation concerns persons responsible at Suzuki, world’s No. 4 carmaker Stellantis (MI:STLA) and Japanese auto parts maker Marelli.

The searches are being conducted in Germany, Italy and Hungary as part of a coordinated action by Eurojust, Europe’s agency for criminal justice cooperation.

Eurojust said the raids were conducted “to counter the use of faulty emission devices in engines, used in cars of a Japanese producer.”

“The devices were allegedly fitted in the Italian-built diesel engines of large numbers of cars, giving the impression that the vehicles’ nitrogen oxide emissions were in line with EU regulations,” the agency said.

The engines were then assembled into the car manufacturers’ models at a production plant in Hungary, the agency added.

Japan’s Suzuki, whose European headquarters are in Germany, declined to comment.

Stellantis and Marelli did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The use of illegal software, or defeat devices, resulted in the “dieselgate” scandal at Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) in 2015, the largest such case to date.

Volkswagen admitted to using the software to rig diesel engine tests and said that 11 million vehicles worldwide were involved. So far, the scandal has cost the German carmaker more than $40 billion in vehicle refits, fines and provisions for future legal claims.