Vintage Volkswagen Kombi bus are parked in a garage after being completly restored by mechanics of the T1 specialist company on November 3. 2016 in Florence (AFP)
Brussels: New on-road car emissions testing comes into force in the European Union today as regulators strive to prevent a repeat of Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal.The German carmaker’s admission in September 2015 that it used software to cheat US diesel emission tests highlighted the laxness of the EU’s own tests, prompting reforms.
The new process, known as Real Driving Emissions (RDE), is designed to reflect everyday driving conditions and to narrow the disparity between road and laboratory test results.
Until now only laboratory tests have been used as the benchmark for assessing vehicle emissions, with carmakers employing a variety of strategies - such as taping up doors and windows - to produce better results than possible on the road.
Carmakers had lobbied for a three-year delay to the rules that will reduce the fuel-saving claims they can make for their vehicles, an industry paper seen by Reuters showed.
However, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) - whose members include BMW, Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler - said yesterday that the more stringent rules “provide a more accurate basis for measuring a vehicle’s fuel consumption and emissions”.
