Car Emissions - Is Renault Also Cheating? No Say French Automaker

by Benson Agoha | Technology

* The Renault Clio. (Credit: via The Auto Trader)

Is French Automaker Renault also beating us on car emissions records? The company denies this, as does its host government.

But according to a report on Industry Week, "some Renault diesel cars do exceed the norms on polluting gas emissions such as nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide when tested in real driving conditions."

This much has been admited by France's Ecology Minister Segolene Royal. France owns some 20% of Renault and defends the company despite failing some emission tests.

Renault’s efforts to clean up the emissions of some of its diesel vehicles after failing tests comes on the heel of emissions scandal which engulfed VW after revelations that some 11 million diesel engines had been fitted with a cheating software to deceive investigators during tests.

Renault says it does not equip its cars with software capable of detecting test conditions in order to reduce the polluting emissions.

But what is Renault doing different if it does not cheat through technology? Well, Emissions tests have the benefit of being the same for everyone and are carried out in conditions that do not fully reflect a car’s daily usage, according to a report on the Industry Week.

So the tests maintain constant engine temperatures and only use gradual acceleration and are carried out without switching on energy-intensive electrical accessories.

The complex nature of accessing exhaust emissions from cars and it's consequent air pollution is being highlighted by the VW scandal.

Volks Wagen has acted, with several heads rolling since the outbreak of the issue late last year, including its former Chief Executive who was forced to resign one day to the renewal of his contract.

Even before planned recalls, Volks Wagen has stopped the sale of some models of its diesel engines while the US government has already slammed $billions in penalties.

Perhaps more auto-makers may yet face the searchlight especially if Elon Musks suggestion that testing of vehicles should be done on the road, while vehicles are in transit and not schedules tests carried out in auto garages.

Read about Renault's efforts to show it is clean.. [ here ].

* The Renault "Talisman" on display in Detroit.
(Credit: via Industry Week).