VW scandal: UK to rerun emissions tests

Department of Transport vows to rerun laboratory tests on engines and compare results with on-the-road emissions



The British government is to start its own inquiry into car emissions and testing, running new lab tests on engines from across the industry and comparing the results with on-the-road emissions.

The Vehicle Certification Agency, a division of the Department for Transport, will work with manufacturers across the industry as it reruns tests in the wake of the VW test-rigging scandal. The government also called on the European commission to launch a Europe-wide investigation into the car industry.

The transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “The government takes the unacceptable actions of VW extremely seriously. My priority is to protect the public as we go through the process of investigating what went wrong and what we can do to stop it happening again in the future.

“We have called on the EU to conduct a Europe-wide investigation into whether there is evidence that cars here have been fitted with defeat devices. In the meantime we are taking robust action.”

Porsche boss Matthias Müller is expected to be named as the new boss of VW following the departure of Martin Winterkorn on Wednesday. Winterkorn, meanwhile, is expected to qualify for a €1m (£740,000) annual pension and could also be in line for a €3.2m payoff. Winterkorn’s salary of €1.6m was topped up to nearly €16m last year as a result of bonuses and loyalty payments.

Pressure had been growing on the UK government to take action, with the transport select committee calling on McLoughlin to explain his position. The committee of MPs is ready to launch its own inquiry into the VW scandal and its wider lessons for testing. It is likely to summon ministers and VW executives in Britain for questioning.

Louise Ellman, committee chair, said: “I’m glad that [McLoughlin] is taking action – but it’s only a start. There are severe question marks against the independence of the testing system. Action must be taken to give the public confidence in the regime.”

The environmental law organisation ClientEarth, which earlier this year won a supreme court ruling that the UK was in breach of its obligations to ensure compliance with nitrogen dioxide, has written to the DfT to release all information held on the true emissions performance of cars licensed for sale on UK roads. It warned that the scandal gave serious concerns over implications for air quality in the UK, and accused the government of failing to take appropriate action to investigate the situation.

Alan Andrews, air pollution lawyer at ClientEarth, welcomed what he termed the DfT’s “humiliating U-turn”, but added: “We are still concerned testing could be carried out by the Vehicle Certification Agency - a government agency which gets funding from the motor industry.

“We will be seeking reassurances that any investigation is quick, independent and 100% transparent.”

Concerns over true pollution levels have also spread to fuel consumption, with the consumer group Which? having long reported discrepancies between official miles per gallon test figures and its own results, with the VW Golf being the second-worst offender in its research.

The German car giant could soon face a raft of claims from British car owners, according to top law firms.

Several firms reported a rush of inquiries from drivers who may seek compensation after paying a premium price for a cleaner vehicle, before the German carmaker admitted installing software to cheat emissions tests.

Bozena Michalowska-Howells, a lawyer at Leigh Day said: “If it emerges that these cars in the UK passed tests because of this software then this is not only a breach of contract but a flagrant breach of EU emissions regulations.

“In the last two days we have been inundated by Volkswagen owners who bought these vehicles specifically because of their alleged reduced fuel emissions and who are outraged by the company’s actions. They are looking to form a group action.”

The likelihood of claims was heightened on Thursday when the German transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, confirmed that Volkswagen vehicles containing such defeat devices were sold across Europe.

The tip of a very nasty iceberg that has been going on for years.

I'm not convinced it's just diesels.

It isn't! - I remember some very dubious practices being used as far back as the early 80s to get vehicles into the USA.

It's not just in the USA though is it? The figures here are massively fiddled and have been for decades. Remember the "70 miles per gallon" Austin Metro farce?

No, it's not just the USA, it's all markets.

The reason that the fuel figures looked so good for the Metro is that they were done on a rolling road by the very best drivers. However, that wasn't enough. All ancillary equipment (water pumps, alternators etc.) were disconnected from the engine and run by external means; hence the engine wasn't powering them. This made the fuel figures quite good.

I well remember some vehicles that we were preparing for California. We were given a test spec' that BMW had successfully used to get their vehicles accepted. All well and good, except that the test specs were actually impossible! I was 'advised' that bringing it to the relevant authority's attention would be 'career limiting'! - What bl**dy career?

Isn't the point that the DfT (or whatever it was called in the past) has known about these fiddles for decades yet done nothing about them?

In my opinion all 18,000+ DfT employees should be sacked immediately (without compensation), stripped of their gold plated pensions and banned from ever holding a position of authority ever again.

Indeed they have. Many of the tests were carried out in their own test facilities.

It's a bit like the MPs expenses. Everyone knew it was going on: the rules weren't usually broken, only bent: and nobody really wanted to break ranks and bring the whole lot tumbling down! But now the genie is well and truly out of the bottle!

I was once asked to falsify a test report. I refused, point blank. The guy requesting then said, "OK, we'll go on engineering risk." What that meant in simple terms was they were going to take a gamble and hope the buying public didn't find out or have problems.

The number of cars that roll off the production line away from engineered (and approved) specification is enormous. The engineering teams are forever raising paperwork to justify welds missing, brackets made out of wrong material, and a whole host of other things. I could write a book on what I saw working in the motor industry.

This little exposure of VW really is only the tip of the iceberg.

I see BMW have now been dragged into this little debacle