SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s antitrust regulator has decided that Mercedes-Benz, a German automobile manufacturer, and its Korean unit will be fined 20.2 billion won ($16.9M) for making false claims about the emissions of diesel cars.

According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission, Mercedes had installed illegal software on its cars that hampered with emission mitigation devices. This caused them to perform lower in normal driving conditions than they did during certification testing. According to the KFTC, 15 Mercedes models have such software.

KFTC released a statement saying that sanctions should be imposed against “the country’s No.1 imported car seller for interfering with consumers rational buying decisions by false and misleading advertising about the vehicle’s emission reduction performance after the Dieselgate scandal.”

KFTC also found that the German carmaker misrepresented their vehicle’s emissions as being at the minimum and meeting the Euro 6 emission standards.

Mercedes could not be reached for comment after business hours by Reuters.

The KFTC imposed a penalty or prescribed corrective actions last year for Audi-Volkswagen Korea (OTC:) Motor Corp and Stellantis Korea for similar emission rigging incidents.

($1 = 1,198.5600 won)