A testing laboratory swiss, at the request of the NGO Deutsche Umwelhilfe, conducted in October an analysis of emissions of the Opel Zafira Tourer 1.6 CDTI. The result was that the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) could be up to 17 times higher than the limit of 80 mg/km imposed by the Euro 6 legislation, depending on whether you used two or four wheels in movement in bank roll.
Opel denied the validity of the evidence, and that their cars had methods to detect that they were doing official tests. Opel engineers made new tests then, and added that the values of emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are within the legal limits, with a 10% tolerance, less than 119 g/km Opel claims that the KBA audit of their cars once in a while, the last time was in spring, and they found nothing abnormal.
The certification authority KBA is doing their own testing to undo the tie
Now comes the second assault. According to the program “Monitor” of the chain Das Erste (“1”) of the ARD German CO2 emissions in internal testing by the manufacturer of the Zafira Tourer are 15% higher than average of the declared: 125 g/km instead of 109 g/km, the value approved, and above the 119 g/km-tolerated.
“Monitor” has commissioned its own tests of emissions, and the deviation has gone up to 20%: almost 131 g/km of CO2. Opel believes that “Monitor” has not done well-their accounts regarding what is a valid value or out of the law.
Test of emissions of gases held in October to DUH in a laboratory at the University of Applied Sciences of Berne (Switzerland)
In the tv show says -as far as my German allows me to understand – that the results vary depending on the preconditioning of the car to the test, and if the Zafira Tourer has come out of the road, by the operating temperature.
in Addition, the program “Monitor” justifies his claims with official papers apparently signed by the Opel engineers, who avalarían your version. There is an interesting detail, and it is that according to the case law of germany, a deviation of more than 10% in the type-approval implies that the consumer has the right to a refund of the price of the car.
That would explain the interest of Opel in saying that their internal testing to confirm that the Zafira Tourer 1.6 CDTI is maintained within that 10% of discrepancy. In addition, there are other implications, to overcome certain values of CO2 means that you have not paid the corresponding taxes on student enrollment. The authorities could condemn GM to pay those taxes, as consumers acted in good faith.
Opel defends insistently in the form of a press release:
“In
our opinion, this type of coverage is neither objective nor rigorous, and
only has the intention of confusing consumers and damaging the
reputation of Opel. The magazine of television Monitor has been
apparently influenced by Deutsche Umwelthilfe, whose accusations
have already been disproved by false and incorrect on numerous occasions”
this is Not the first time that a television program is put in the garlic of the “Dieselgate”. The BBC issued a report in October which demonstrated that both the Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI as the Ford Focus 1.5 TDCi emitted more nitrogen oxides and more carbon dioxide than expected, both model were Euro 6.
Subsequently, the brand Vauxhall (Opel in the Uk) also had to defend themselves of the accusations of the program “Panorama” of the BBC on the 23rd of November, which stated that the Zafira Tourer 1.6 CDTI exceeds the legal limits of NOx by two and a half times (and not 17 times). The press note said that no testing was performed correctly, that is to say, they did not make good preconditioning.
Since there are three tests that agree to General Motors (DUH, the BBC and ARD), and continue to deny the greater. The KBA has decided to see if definitely the scandal involving Opel, or if we only talk of discrepancies in the technical protocol for the approval of emissions.
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