Sunday 24 January 2016

‘Defeat device’ all-clear for Renault, as…


Tests conducted so far on a number of Renault vehicles have not revealed the presence of any ‘defeat devices’.

The French Government set up an independent commission to assess the presence of ‘defeat devices in French built cars, following the public disclosure by the EPA – US Environmental Protection Agency – of the existence of ‘defeat device’ software in some Volkswagen vehicles.

The purpose of this independent technical commission is to verify that French car manufacturers have not installed equivalent devices in their vehicles.

In this regard, the UTAC (French Homologation Authority mandated by the Ministry) is currently testing 100 vehicles in circulation, including 25 Renault vehicles to reflect Renault's market share in France. 

At the end of December 2015, 11 vehicles had already been tested, including four Renault vehicles enabling the French public authorities to initiate productive discussions with Renault's engineering team.

The French Agency for Energy and Climate (DGEC), which is, on behalf of the Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, the main contact for the independent technical commission, already considers that the on-going procedure would not reveal the presence of a defeat device on Renault's vehicles.

This is good news for Renault. The on-going tests open the way for solutions for improvement for future and current Renault vehicles. 

At the same time, the DGCCRF decided to conduct additional on-site and material investigations, in order to definitively confirm the first findings resulting from the analysis of the independent technical commission.

The DGCCRF have visited Renault’s headquarters, the Renault Technical Centre in Lardy and the Technocentre in Guyancourt.

There Renault's teams are cooperating with the independent technical commission and the additional investigations decided by the Ministry of Economy.

Over the last three years, Renault Group claims to have reduced by 10 per cent the carbon footprint of its vehicles.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

New French tests by the technical commission set up by the Minister of Sustainable Development Segolene Royal were instituted following the VW revelations on a 100 models.

The new Renault Captur SUV 90 & 110 bhp in real world conditions measured the NOx emissions at more than five times the Euro 6 limit and as a result in early January, the DGCCRF (fraud) conducted raids at three sites of Renault.

No defeat device was found as in the Captur as with VW, but it does show that Euro 6 standard is not fit for purpose as the manufacturers can negate the aim with ease.

Renault has opted to use trap NOx technology, rather than SCR type of more advanced solutions as used by PSA

"PARIS (Bloomberg) -- Renault is recalling 15,800 Captur models to fix pollution-control systems and will offer voluntary emissions-system updates for about 700,000 vehicles as the automaker seeks to avoid a Volkswagen-type crisis.

The recall will probably be limited to the 110-hp diesel version of the Captur subcompact crossover, the company said." 19/01/2016

Nick