Amid plans by a number of European cities to crack down on diesel cars -- with some cities planning to ban them entirely in a matter of years -- automakers and government authorities in Germany have come up with a plan to clean up diesels through software updates. The strategy, in broad terms, is to improve existing vehicles' emissions levels by hitting more stringent pollution level targets. The plan will see domestic German and foreign cars that currently conform to Euro-5 and Euro-6 emission standards receive software updates that will cut their nitrogen oxide outputs by 20 percent on average, Reuters reports. In total, some 9 million cars will receive updates.

The novel strategy follows individual automakers' plans, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz in particular, to update the emissions systems of existing cars due to bring them back into compliance with EU emissions norms. Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler announced days ago that it plans to update some 3 million diesel cars in Europe, with Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche planning to do the same for 850,000 V6 and V8 diesels.

"For several months, Audi has been intensively examining all diesel concepts for any irregularities," the automaker said in a statement. "All indications have been investigated, and since 2016, all engine and transmission combinations have been systematically reviewed. In doing so, Audi has cooperated closely with the authorities and reported to them, in particular, the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). The overall package consists of voluntary measures, including some that have already been communicated to the authorities and which were considered in their decisions."

As part of Daimler's plan, the automaker will spend 220 million euro on updates for its diesels in Europe, amid an accelerated program to roll out cleaner diesel engines. The automaker is shying away from calling this action a recall for obvious reasons, but the amount committed to the program points to serious fears in Germany over the future of diesel. The company plans to begin the retrofit campaign in several weeks. “The public debate about diesel engines is creating uncertainty -- especially for our customers," said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of Daimler AG. "We have therefore decided on additional measures to reassure drivers of diesel cars and to strengthen confidence in diesel technology. We are convinced that diesel engines will continue to be a fixed element of the drive-system mix, not least due to their low CO2 emissions." How will these updates actually work? The proposed software patches will allow diesel emissions systems to operate at peak efficiency under a wider range of temperatures instead of operating at peak efficiency only in a relatively narrow temperature window. (Currently most European-market diesels use emissions controls only in relatively warm temperatures, above 60 degrees). Other automakers' software patches are expected to work in a similar fashion, which explains the timing of their readiness and the ease of implementation. The voluntary updates will be free for all Mercedes owners, Daimler stated, and are expected to take an hour or so to install. The automakers' willingness to implement diesel software updates is motivated by several factors, not the least of which is the very public Volkswagen diesel crisis that saw the automaker commit to over $20 billion in fines, vehicle buybacks and a recall campaign of historic proportions in addition to criminal prosecution in the U.S. We won't be surprised to see Mercedes offer similar updates for U.S. vehicles in the near future, though no recall campaign (called a recall or otherwise) has been announced to date.

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