Faurecia, Tenneco to supply particulate filters for Mercedes-Benz

11 September 2003

Faurecia, the French exhaust system manufacturer, announced it will be supplying diesel particulate filters for DaimlerChrysler’s 4-cylinder Mercedes C Class and E Class cars, starting at the end of 2003.

Faurecia will share the DaimlerChrysler filter business with Tenneco Automotive, who will be also supplying the Mercedes-Benz filters from its Gillet facility in Edenkoben, Germany.

The Mercedes filter technology is based on catalyst, formulated with oxides and precious metals, washcoated on the filtration surface of a monolithic filter, according to Faurecia. The filter is positioned very close to the exhaust manifold, ensuring high exhaust temperatures needed for the oxidation of the collected soot. During low engine load driving conditions, the exhaust temperature is periodically increased by a combination of engine management methods.

The Mercedes-Benz system is the second particulate filter for Faurecia. Back in 2000, Faurecia launched its first, fuel additive filter system for the PSA’s Peugeot 607, followed by other models with Peugeot engines. Out of the total 500,000 units supplied to date, more than 350,000 have been produced by Faurecia. The balance of PSA filters was supplied by Tenneco, who also began production of diesel particulate filter technology in 2000 for the PSA’s Citroën C5 and Peugeot 406 diesel models.

Faurecia also provides its customers with remanufacturing services for the fuel additive filters, which involves washing of the filter from the accumulated additive ash. Since 2001, more than 2,000 filters have been remanufactured at the Faurecia plant at Hérimoncourt. Almost 100,000 parts should be regenerated at the site in the next two years.

Source: Faurecia, Tenneco