Suprise, Suprise (Not!)

Automakers exploit EU loophole to use legal 'defeat' devices

A 'minefield'

The CEO of a German services provider that specializes in engine testing, emissions and development said talking on the record amid such a charged atmosphere was the political equivalent of voluntarily walking straight into a "minefield."

"What bothers me is the mutual finger-pointing [between politicians and manufacturers]. We are all sitting in the same boat," he grumbled, adding that both sides bore their fair share of guilt for the EU law at the root of the problem.

Roughly nine years ago, a bill was passed in Brussels detailing the process to receive approvals for light vehicles. It banned the use of defeat devices, which it defined as any emissions control sensor that reduces the effectiveness of the system "under conditions which may reasonably be expected to be encountered in normal vehicle operation and use."

But lawmakers added a seemingly innocuous qualification, over which the industry and politicians now blame each other for the image crisis: "The prohibition shall not apply where the need for the device is justified in terms of protecting the engine against damage or accident and for safe operation of the vehicle."

This sentence opened a legally sanctioned back door for defeat devices in almost any situation because safety is traditionally considered paramount. In Volkswagen's domestic market of Germany, independent testing officials complained they were even barred from inspecting the engine management software because this was classified a trade secret.

IHS' Fulbrook notes that the EU does not require automakers to declare what devices they use to switch off or minimize emissions controls, "certainly not as clear as the U.S." That allows an automaker "to use his interpretation with very little regulatory oversight," he said.

Automakers such as Renault, Suzuki and Hyundai have defended use of defeat devices as necessary to prevent engine damage at certain temperatures, a German investigative committee reported.

As a result of the broad use of defeat devices, the gap between actual and EU laboratory emissions widened continuously over time. Even as the maximum permissible limits for nitrogen oxides sank with new legislation, cars continued to belch out NOx in much higher concentrations in the real world.

Once hooked up to portable emissions measurement systems, Europe's most advanced diesels were pumping out more than seven times their legal limit on average as soon as they left a laboratory vs. just more than three times the limit in 2005.

And that's not just Volkswagen. In fact, only the best performer met the legal limit on the road, while the worst found by the International Council on Clean Transportation had 24 or 25 times that level.

(AutoNews.com)