AdBlue-Haldex is now Defect Registry. VDA, owner of the AdBlue® trademark, has brought proceedings against our former name. The registry carries on, right here. Why we are changing our name →  ·  What the AdBlue® trademark covers →
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What the AdBlue® trademark covers

12 November 2026

AdBlue® is a registered trademark of VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie), the German automotive industry association. On this trademark, VDA has built a licensing system. Here is what it covers, according to VDA's own public documents.

What VDA says

“AdBlue® is a registered trademark of the VDA and is provided, under license, above all by vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, and companies in the chemical and the petroleum industries. The brand AdBlue® is used for, among other things, motor vehicles, automotive parts, in operating instructions of motor vehicles, and for urea AUS 32.”

Its public list of licensees, updated on 9 November 2026, states: “The VDA-license grants the use of the trademark AdBlue® for marketing purposes.”

Who holds a licence

The licensees include, with a worldwide licence, most of the carmakers whose vehicles appear in our registry: Peugeot S.A., Opel Automobile GmbH, Renault s.a.s., Fiat Group Automobiles, Volkswagen AG, Volvo Car Group and Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Suppliers are listed too, including Robert Bosch GmbH and Continental AG.

What the licence controls, and what it does not say

The quality of the fluid is regulated: VDA requires all its licensees to observe the ISO 22241 standards, and urea manufacturers must pass a quality audit of their production before receiving a licence. The list marks that audit with the letter “A”; none of the carmakers named above carries it.

Neither VDA's AdBlue® page nor its list of licensees says who checks the durability of the tanks, pumps and sensors sold under the brand. Yet these are the parts that come up in the case files we receive: tank, pump, level and quality sensors, fault codes P20E8 and P20EE.

The fluid is governed by a standard. The tank that holds it carries the same brand.

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Sources: vda.de — AdBlue®; VDA, “AdBlue® Licensees — Last Update: 09.11.2026”, list published by VDA.

AdBlue® is a registered trademark of VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie). Haldex® is a trademark of its owner. Defect Registry has no connection with these owners or their licensees. What the AdBlue® trademark covers →