Press Release

NGO demands illegal dirty diesels be taken off the road after French probe

July 29, 2016

The call by the French commission investigating Dieselgate to strengthen the systems for approving cars has been welcomed by Transport & Environment, but the organisation said this will only have an effect on new models many years from now. We have an air pollution crisis killing hundreds of thousands of people each year in Europe’s cities and we need action today, the sustainable transport group said.

The legality of many of the cars that have been tested is highly questionable. At normal temperatures these cars are producing huge amounts of nitrogen oxides because the exhaust systems designed to control the pollution are being switched off when they should operate under “normal driving conditions”. Authorities in France, Germany, Italy and the UK must rigorously enforce the law and insist manufacturers recall and repair vehicles with excessive emissions.

Greg Archer, clean vehicles director at Transport and Environment, said: “The results released today by the Royal Commission show the majority of diesel cars are illegally producing sky-high levels of pollution when they are not in hot laboratories. Some of the test results for individual models are shocking including the Fiat 500x, Renault Talisman, Alfa Romeo Giulietta, BMW 116, Ford C-max, Opel Zafira and many others.”

Greg Archer concluded: “Citizens’ health is too important for governments to cover up for carmakers which are blatantly flouting the law.”