The car manufacturer Renault is one of the “Financial Times” this Tuesday, August 23, but no doubt could it well. The British business daily reveals that the French report on pollutant emissions from diesel engines “omitted significant details” on Renault vehicles.
The report, produced by an independent inquiry set up in late 2015 the Minister of the Environment Ségolène Royal (after the Volkswagen scandal), was published in late July. We learn among other things that, according to tests on 86 vehicles, nitrogen oxides (NOx cause respiratory diseases) may be 9-11 times higher than the standards of the European Union.
But according to the “Financial Times”, some incriminating results of the investigation would not appear in the published report. The daily is based on evidence (anonymous) of three of the 17 members of the committee.
Thus, the conduct of Renault Captur model tests have been ignored. During these tests, the “NOx trap” (the engine emission control system) was conducting purges, as if the vehicle was detected that a trial was in progress. In other words, cars, detecting a test (with spyware, such as having caused the Volkswagen scandal in the United States) might have been able to emit less polluting gases. The test would have been distorted to the extent that the laboratory results do not reflect the situation on the road, in normal condition.
Details deliberately hidden by the state?
such an omission casts doubt on Renault, but also on the state, which owns 20% of the manufacturer. The “Financial Times” the French government suspects of wanting to protect the company
The general director of the Brussels-based NGO Transport and Environment Jos Dings shares this suspicion.
“this is another example of a government to protect the flagship of the domestic industry. But this is not unique to France. the Italian government protects Fiat, the German government protects Volkswaggen, BMW and Daimler, and Great Brittany protect British interests. “
” the report was written by the state, which chose what should remain confidential, “said for his part in” Financial Times “Charlotte Lepitre, member of Association France Nature Environnement, who participated in the work of the inquiry commission.
When contacted by the British newspaper, the Ministry of the Environment, however, denied any attempt to conceal the facts.
“There is no faker software”
Renault provides for its part that its models “are in accordance with the law and norms of each market where they are sold.” Reached by the “Obs” a spokesman reiterated that “the vehicles are not equipped with software faker,” and said that the company “has cooperated with the Royal Commission, as with all foreign commissions.”
For him, there is no question of omissions in the report:
“technical explanations were requested us, in writing and orally Royal commission understood. the difference found between laboratory pollutant emissions and emissions in normal condition, which is a reality for many manufacturers, which is nothing new, and above all does not mean that the vehicles are equipped with software tricksters. “
He added:
” the French Committee has not concluded that there was a software able to recognize the tests, and the English and German commissions, which Renault shareholders are not – that does not specify the ‘Financial Times’-, not “
Renault among” the worst student “
the report of the Royal Committee. indeed concluded with the impossibility of “final decision on the presence or absence of software [cheaters] in the vehicles tested,” and regretted that he did “not possible to have access to all embedded software “, effectively preventing their analysis.
” [the missing information] do not apply to Renault, “said Charlotte Lepitre AFP, adding that the French manufacturer” is one of the worst students “after testing by the commission and that it is” not quite put forward “in the report.
Regularly singled out, the company is nevertheless committed to improve its pollution control system. This morning anyway, Renault shares initially fell 3% in the Paris Stock Exchange, before displaying a more modest 1.5% in 13 hours, reports “Les Echos”.
According to Royal’s words at the time of publication, the work of the Committee were to “prove full transparency on the practices of the automotive industry and restore consumer confidence.” The revelations of the “Financial Times” cast doubt on the achievement of this goal.
Richard Duclos
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