South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to fine German automaker Mercedes-Benz and its Korean arm 20.2 billion won (about $17 million) for false advertising related to gas emissions from diesel passenger cars.
p>The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that Mercedes tampered with pollution control devices by installing illegal software on its vehicles, causing them to operate at lower levels under normal driving conditions than during certification testing .
According to KFTC, the software was installed on 15 Mercedes models. The German automaker also falsely advertised that their vehicles' emissions were kept to a minimum and met Euro 6 emission standards between August 2013 and December 2016.
Last year, the KFTC fined or ordered corrective action against Audi-Volkswagen Korea, Nissan Motor Corp, Stellantis Korea, and Porsche AG for similar emission fraud incidents.
