Story QQ0J Four more carmakers join diesel emissions row

Four more carmakers join diesel emissions row

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in environment on (#QQ0J)
Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi have joined the growing list of manufacturers whose diesel cars are known to emit significantly more pollution on the road than in regulatory tests. "The issue is a systemic one" across the industry, said Nick Molden, whose company Emissions Analytics tested the cars. Diesel cars from Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat, Volvo and Jeep all pumped out significantly more NOx in more realistic driving conditions. NOx pollution is at illegal levels in many parts of the UK and is believed to have caused many thousands of premature deaths and billions of pounds in health costs.

All the diesel cars passed the EU's official lab-based regulatory test (called NEDC), but the test has failed to cut air pollution as governments intended because carmakers designed vehicles that perform better in the lab than on the road. There is no evidence of illegal activity, such as the "defeat devices" used by Volkswagen. Emissions Analytics had analysed about 50 Euro 6 diesels and 150 Euro 5 diesels, with only five having real-world NOx levels that matched the regulatory test. The failure of the EU's NOx test to limit real-world emissions, and tackle air pollution, has been known for some years, but specific manufacturers have not been named. The company tested both Euro 6 models, the newest and strictest standard, and earlier Euro 5 models. Data showed that:

Mercedes-Benz's diesel cars produced an average of 0.406g/km of NOx on the road, at least 2.2 times more than the official Euro 5 level and five times higher than the Euro 6 level. Honda's diesel cars emitted 0.484g/km of NOx on average, between 2.6 and six times the official levels. Mazda's diesel cars had average NOx emissions of 0.293g/km in the real world, between 1.6 and 3.6 times the NEDC test levels. One Euro 6 model, the Mazda 6 2.2L 5DR, produced three times the official NOx emissions. Mitsubishi diesel cars produced an average of 0.274g/km of NOx, between 1.5 and 3.4 higher than in the lab. "The NEDC was never intended to represent real-world driving," said a spokesman for Mitsubishi.The Emissions Analytics data seen by the Guardian also found Citroen, VW and Audi NOx emissions to be higher on the road than in the EU lab test.
Reply 4 comments

It says more about the test than the cars (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-10-17 08:07 (#QRQF)

Those manufacturers didn't cheat, they passed the test fair and square. It's just that the tests don't represent the conditions that people typically drive.

On the other hand VW cheated

Re: It says more about the test than the cars (Score: 1)

by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2015-10-17 19:36 (#QT1Q)

VW cheated, but on the plus side, it brought to attention the fact that almost everyone is missing the target. I'm not convinced though that every manufacturer that targets the American and European markets isn't well aware of the gaps between the tests and the requirements. It may not be cheating, but it's still gaming the system.

The end result should be VW pays massive fines (at least as much as they got in profit from the cars they sold) and the rules/test fixed to close the gap that the other manufacturers are clearly exploiting.

Re: It says more about the test than the cars (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2015-10-17 20:06 (#QT37)

The end result should be VW pays massive fines...
Or, even better, convince VW and others to take plug in electrics more seriously and introduce their own models. Can't fail an emission test if you have zero emissions.

in other words: real-world driving is different from artificial tests, news at 11 (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-11-02 13:35 (#SB98)

Test results in real-world driving always have been different from artificial tests, for all types of ICE.
No surprises there.

The only clean ICE is the one that doesn't get built.