The European Union Commission sues Germany over Daimler car coolant

Published Date: 16th Dec 2015

The European Union Commission plans to sue Germany because the car manufacturer Daimler continues to use a coolant agent that has proved harmful to the environment.

Daimler uses a chemical refrigerant, called R-134a, in the air-conditioning units of its Mercedes cars.

The EU has said that Germany had failed to apply an EU directive called MAC, which requires the use of a refrigerant "with less global warming potential".

Daimler says the new chemical, R1234yf, is too flamable.

The court case appears just as German car giant Volkswagen Group AG remains in the headlines  and sit under huge international pressure over its failure to comply with car emission standards.

According to the EU, Daimler's safety concerns about R1234yf "were not shared by any other car manufacturer and were rejected by Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA) and the [Commission's] Joint Research Centre".

Germany could be in line for a massive fine if the European Union Commission find them guilty of failing to enforce an EU directive. Germany themselves have been frowned upon after failing to spot the VW defeat system themselves, instead in was in the US.

The EU’s M-A-C Directive - short for mobile air-conditioning systems - says fluorinated greenhouse gases with a global warming potential (GPW) higher than 150 must no longer be used.

Since 2011 MAC systems in cars have had to comply with the directive.