French Court Backs Mercedes-Benz in R1234yf/R134a Dispute With EU

by TTAC Staff

Published: July 26th, 2013

french court backs mercedes benz in r1234yf r134a dispute with eu

After a French court lifted that country’s ban on Mercedes-Benz cars equipped with R134a air conditioning refrigerant, saying that the French ministry for the environment must reevaluate their decision to block those cars, Daimler said that it was “very confident’ that the French government will abide by that court ruling. R134a has been banned for use in new model cars by the EU since the start of 2013.

According to the summary ruling, the ministry has 10 days to decide if it’s going to try to continue the ban on Mercedes A-class, B-class and SL cars built after June 12, which Daimler has equipped with R134a, now banned by the EU because it is considered a powerful greenhouse gas. The ruling does not force French authorities to allow registrations of those cars during that 10 day period.

A Daimler spokesman said: “We welcome the positive decision of the French court, which clearly rejected the French registration authority (decision) to prevent the registration of our cars.”

If the ban is upheld, it would affect about 29,000 cars annually, about 2% of Mercedes-Benz’s worldwide sales.

#Daimler #EU #France #Mercedes-Benz #R1234yf

TTAC Staff

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8 of 30 comments

Hummer on Jul 26, 2013

Good news for Daimler, though I'm sure in short order Honeywell will be sending bags of money to the EU.

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Bobhaynes88 on Jul 26, 2013

My post was based on recent personal experience of two family cars one 3 years old a Seat and a 4 year old Ford, I asked the question of the garage why the A/C on both vehicles needed recharging with coolant so soon when Domestic refrigerators lasted up to 20 years. The garage owner(Dragon motors of weston super mare) who recharges 100's of British cars a year and is very knowlegable so I believed him, explained the difference in construction of the two compressors, domestic = sealed bearing whilst cars have bearing lubricated by refrigerant from inside which slowly leaks thru the bearing. I was gobsmacked by the lack of ethics displayed by motor manufacturers.

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- Burgersandbeer on Jul 26, 2013
  
  This story hurts on many levels. Suppose there is a design difference on EU cars where refrigerant is gradually leaked, it raises the following questions for me: -Is the leaky bearing so much cheaper that it is worth it for manufacturers to change the part based on the destination country? -How can the EU not be aware of it? -If the EU is aware of it, why don't they mandate a sealed bearing and be done with it? -If the EU is aware of it and they are choosing to pursue an alternate refrigerant instead of sealed bearings, is it really because of a conspiracy where Honeywell bribes their way into an EU monopoly on refrigerant? I get that shady things happen between large corporations and governments, but this seems like a stretch.
  
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Burgersandbeer on Jul 26, 2013

-Which manufacturers are complying and selling cars with r1234yf? -Are cars being sold with r1234yf in the US? -Isn't r1234yf more expensive? If it is, I'm surprised other manufacturers don't take a more active role in fighting the EU. -So why is Mercedes the only one putting up a serious fight? Is it a publicity stunt to stake a claim as the company that really cares about your safety? Is there some other strong financial incentive to stay with r134a that is unique to MB? I find this an interesting story just because of the number of unanswered questions it raises. Given the potential sensationalism of MB's test and a well-know manufacturer fighting the EU, I'm surprised mainstream media hasn't picked up on this. Maybe they have and I haven't run into it yet?

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- George B on Jul 26, 2013
  
  R1234yf has zero chance of success in the marketplace without a government mandate to buy it. R134a is now a cheap commodity product while R1234yf is still under patent protection. In addition, because R1234yf is flammable, it requires a more elaborate air conditioning design. http://seekingalpha.com/article/1304271-dupont-and-honeywells-auto-refrigerant-r1234yf-is-a-dud In my opinion, it would be better to just switch to dirt cheap but extremely flammable hydrocarbon (isobutane and/or propane) refrigerant. At least hydrocarbons can't make lung destroying glass etching hydrofluoric acid when they burn. However, since isobutane and propane are inexpensive naturally occurring molecules, there is little profit opportunity for Honeywell or DuPont.
  
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- 84Cressida on Jul 26, 2013
  
  The only car with R1234yf in the US is the Cadillac XTS. GM said they were going to introduce on more of their cars here in 2013, but that hasn't happened yet and I'll be shocked if it does because the supply for 1234yf is low since most of it has to go to Europe. R1234yf is very expensive. The price would theoretically come down the more it's used and the more supply there is, but right now it's very expensive. I have no idea how well it works in cars. Coca-Cola is touting it as the "future" and has been putting it in their vending machines.
  
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- MBella on Jul 27, 2013
  
  @84Cressida The first few hundred 231 chassis Mercedes SLs had R-1234yf. They all have been recalled after the now famous crash test. They are being converted back to R-134a. This to me dispels the myth that Daimler is doing this to save a few pennies. All the A/C systems in the new cars are designed for R-1234yf and the extra little bit the gas costs can't possibly be close to what this legal battle is costing them.
  
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Carlos Danger on Jul 27, 2013

If every AC system in every car in the EU spontaneously emitted all their refrigerant, how many cow farts would that be equivalent to?

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