Patent ID: 8843322

Claim:
A method for monitoring an exhaust gas recirculation system of an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps: determining a soot content comprising at least of one of (a) a degree of loading of a soot particle filter for filtering particles from an exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine and (b) a soot content of the exhaust gas, determining at least one of a nitrogen oxide content and a hydrocarbon content of the exhaust gas based on the determined soot content, a processor calculating an actual value of an exhaust gas recirculation rate as a function of at least one of the nitrogen oxide content and the hydrocarbon content of the exhaust gas, the processor comparing the calculated actual value of the exhaust gas recirculation rate with a predefined setpoint value of the exhaust gas recirculation rate, and the processor monitoring the exhaust gas recirculation system as a function of the comparison of the actual value of the exhaust gas recirculation rate and the predefined setpoint value of the exhaust gas recirculation rate.