The “disturbing” conclusion of the study was released today by the environmental association ZERO, which is part of the European Federation of Transport and Environment, which writes in a statement that “tests on two of Europe’s best-selling vehicles, the pollution of new diesel vehicles reaches levels a thousand times above normal values. ”
The federation, which Zero points out, has “commissioned testing from independent laboratories,” argues that “European and national legislators must definitely accept that diesel vehicles are still highly polluting and must take urgent action, such as tightening emission limits and emissions testing is more stringent. ”
Zero recalls that “when cleaning / regenerating vehicle particulate filters, emission peaks are reached which are particularly serious for the heart” and “these situations can occur in urban areas every 15 kilometers and are effectively ignored by official emissions testing. ”
“In general, inhalable particles can significantly increase the risk of cardiorespiratory disease. More than 45 million vehicles contain these particulate filters in Europe, representing a total of 1.3 billion cleanings (“regenerations”) per year. In Portugal, the estimated 775,000 diesel vehicles equipped with particulate filters will estimate an estimated 23 million cleanings per year, ”says the environmental association.
In the tests commissioned by the European Federation of Transport and Environment, the Nissao Qashqai model and the Opel Astra model were analyzed, “second and fourth best selling models in the European market in its segments”.
Both “showed values between 32% and 115% above the legal limit of particles when performing these particle filter cleanings in independent tests.”
However, Zero points out, “There is a flaw in legislation where the legal limit does not apply when filter cleaning occurs in official tests, which means that 60-99% of regulated particulate emissions from tested vehicles are ignored ”.
By the time, when unregulated ultrafine particles were measured in the laboratory, “the total particulate emissions of the Nissan Qashqai and Opel Astra were still up 11 to 184 percent.”
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