Dusseldorf A new report on exhaust gas tests has caused manufacturers and authorities to explain again almost eight years after the start of the diesel affair. According to a report by the “International Council on Clean Transportation Europe” (ICCT Europe), 77 percent of diesel models with the Euro 5, 6b and 6c emission standards have suspiciously high nitrogen oxide emissions. The evaluation was available to the Handelsblatt in advance.
According to the ICCT, the values for around 150 models are so high that, according to the ICCT, there is “almost certainly a prohibited defeat device” in the vehicles, write the study authors. The report covers more than 200 Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesel car models, of which around 53 million vehicles were sold in Europe between 2009 and 2019, most of them by the Volkswagen Group.
The ICCT got the emissions scandal rolling in 2015, when the research and environmental organization determined nitrogen oxide levels well above the permitted limits after testing a VW Passat and VW Jetta on the road and then alerted the US environmental protection agency EPA. The clues ultimately led to the uncovering of the “Dieselgate” affair, the biggest industrial scandal in post-war history. The scandal has cost VW alone more than 30 billion euros to date.
The affected car manufacturers had hidden fraudulent software in the engine management system that recognized whether a car was on the test bench or not. Outside of these tests, the program partially or completely deactivated the emission control systems in the engine. Such a system is banned in both the US and Europe.
The new report now suggests that the defeat devices were used much more frequently than previously thought.
Volkswagen does not want to comment on the measurements that have now been published, “since we know neither the condition of the vehicles nor the conditions under which the measurements were carried out,” as a VW Group spokesman explains. “All Volkswagens comply with the legal limit values of the emission standards that applied at the time of their first registration.”
ICCT study: 150 diesel models with “extreme emissions”
The ICCT report is based primarily on laboratory and field test data from official government agencies. In addition, measurement data from environmental organizations and non-contact exhaust gas measurements on vehicles in real operation, also known as remote sensing measurements, are included in the report.
For the 150 models that the ICCT found to have “extreme emissions levels,” the results were at least three to four times the official limit. In almost 50 vehicle models, the emission control system is also changed or deactivated when ambient temperatures are low – commonly known as thermal windows. With this technology, cars emit more nitrogen oxides outside a certain temperature range than permitted. According to the industry, this is necessary to protect the engine from damage at extreme temperatures.
It was only on Tuesday that the European Court of Justice again rated such thermal windows as illegal defeat devices and agreed with a diesel owner in a dispute with Mercedes-Benz, in whose car the technology was installed. According to this, car manufacturers must always pay customers compensation if such a defeat device is used in the vehicle for exhaust gas cleaning.
Until now, plaintiffs only had a chance of compensation if they were deliberately and intentionally misled by the manufacturer in an immoral manner. So far, this only applied to the VW EA189 diesel engine – the engine with which the diesel scandal began in September 2015.
These ten diesel bestsellers show significantly increased nitrogen oxide values
ICCT has also exclusively made the summarized measurement data for ten Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesel bestsellers in Europe available to the Handelsblatt, all of which, according to the report, exceed the official emission limit values. According to the report, the Opel Insignia with a two-liter engine is more than seven times above the prescribed limit. According to the ICCT, four models from the Renault-Nissan car alliance, which also includes the Dacia brand, exceed the limit by a factor of six. According to the ICCT, the Euro 5 diesel VW Passat, VW Tiguan and Skoda Octavia from the VW Group are still more than four times above the target.
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When asked by the Handelsblatt, the manufacturers assert that they have always adhered to the applicable standards. Opel said: “We do not know the details of the study and are therefore unable to comment on it, in line with our company policy. However, we are fundamentally convinced that all of our vehicles have always met the legal requirements.”
The Renault Group points out that its Euro 5 and Euro 6b generation vehicles “have always been approved in accordance with the laws and regulations in force, based on the technical knowledge of the sector and the state of the art at the time of the development of the engines concerned”. Renault Group vehicles are also “not equipped with software to recognize or manipulate the homologation cycle”. It means the approval process.
And VW explains that none of the three vehicles listed in the table contain “an impermissible defeat device”. Peugeot and Ford, which are also included in the evaluation, left a Handelsblatt inquiry unanswered.
Environmental lobby announces further steps against authorities
It remains unclear why the responsible authorities did not withdraw the cars from traffic despite the clear data situation. The Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), which is responsible for approval issues, had left an inquiry from the Handelsblatt unanswered by the time of going to press. However, the Ministry of Transport indicated that it would get back to you on Thursday. The ICCT report was released late Wednesday evening.
Peter Mock, ICCT Europe Managing Director, believes that authorities in Germany and other EU member states have looked the other way for years because the number of cars is just so large. “Of the 53 million diesels sold, around 13 million vehicles with extremely high emissions are still on the road,” says Mock.
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If the registrations of the cars were collected, the owners would have to be compensated. Because these are cars that are sometimes more than ten years old, the problem for the authorities and manufacturers is getting “smaller from month to month and from week to week”. Because of age, more and more cars are disappearing from Europe’s streets.
Mock hopes that the data that has now been collected will “finally put pressure on the authorities of the EU member states in Europe too”. In America, VW, as the main cause of the diesel affair, should have received severe penalties and paid into an environmental fund that supports the development of climate-friendly technologies. In Europe, on the other hand, “comparatively little has happened,” says Mock and makes it clear: “The problem goes far beyond VW.”
The manufacturer has already had to retrofit numerous diesel vehicles.
(Photo: dpa)
From a legal point of view, the findings of the ICCT should definitely continue to build up pressure. The German Environmental Aid (DUH) used the ICCT report on Wednesday evening to publish further legal action against the KBA. The environmental lobby organization called on the Flensburg authority to “bring all diesel passenger cars of Euro levels 5 to 6c into line with the applicable regulations on exhaust gas cleaning and to have all impermissible defeat devices removed”. According to the DUH, a total of around 8.6 million diesel cars in Germany are affected. Manufacturers assume significantly lower numbers.
Almost 2000 revisions and non-admission complaints are currently pending at the Federal Court of Justice alone. The clear majority had been postponed for the time being because of the ECJ proceedings in which a decision was now made. The judges in Germany must now implement the new requirements from Luxembourg. At the beginning of May, the BGH will negotiate the consequences of the ECJ judgment for claims for damages.
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