Euro 6 diesel cars over legal limits in real-world conditions, study suggests

Euro 6 diesel engines across the board do not comply with latest air pollution limits when driven in real-world conditions, according to a new study from Transport and Environment (T&E).

The study was released to coincide with the one year anniversary of the ‘dieselgate’ scandal, where german manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) was found to have used a defeat device to trick emissions tests in its Euro 5 engines.

T&E’s analysis took data from investigations conducted by the British, French and German governments, as well as the EQUA Air Quality Index, and found that effectively all Euro 6 diesel car brands were over legal limits.

Fiat and Suzuki were found to have the highest emissions, on average emitting 15 times more than the legal NOx limit, closely followed by Renault-Nissan, whose vehicles exceed the limit more than 14 times and Opel/Vauxhall, whose cars pollute 10 times more.

Interestingly, VW was fund to have the lowest emissions, only emitting twice as much as the legal limit. The performance of VW is not as a direct result of the dieselgate scandal, as it is based on technical choices made before the news broke about emissions cheating.

Greg Archer, clean vehicles director at T&E, said: “One year after the US caught Volkswagen cheating, all carmakers keep selling grossly polluting diesel cars with the connivance of European governments. The automotive industry has captured its regulators, and European countries must now stand up for their citizens and stop this scandalous cover up. Only a recall of all harmful diesel cars will clean up our air and restore credibility in Europe’s legal system.”

He added: ”The true scandal of dieselgate in Europe is national regulators turning a blind eye to the glaring evidence of test cheating with the sole purpose of protecting their national carmakers or their own business. This is killing tens of thousands of people annually. We need a European watchdog to stop EU member states protecting their national champions and to ensure the single market for vehicles operates in the interests of all citizens.”

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