New report suggests Vauxhall / Opel using VW-style Defeat Device to scam emissions tests

The German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has conducted emissions test on a Zafira 1.6 CDTi which suggest it’s scamming emissions tests in Europe.

The furore surrounding the VW Defeat Device scandal has so far failed to drag any other car makers in to the frame, despite it being hard to believe that Volkswagen, and only Volkswagen, found a way to scam emissions testing in Europe and the USA.

But General Motors – with their European brands of Vauxhall and Opel – are facing tough questions about their emissions after a report by the German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) found test results they believe demonstrate GM’s cars in Europe have vastly different emissions when on the EU test two-wheel rolling road.

The car tested – at the Bern University of Applied Sciences – was a 2015 Opel Zafira 1.6 CDTi, which when tested on a two-wheel rolling road emitted NOx levels within Euro6 limits, but when put on a four-wheel rolling road the levels of NOx – but using the exact same tests – rose by up to 400 per cent, and up to 17 times increase under certain driving conditions.

The researches concluded that the only plausible explanation of the discrepancies was that the Zafira had a crude ‘defeat device’ software setting that altered settings when only one axle is moving.

In response to the report, Opel has said:

The software developed by GM does not contain any features that can detect whether the vehicle is being subjected to an emission test.

GM also say they have conducted their own tests using a four-wheel rolling road and saw no discrepancies from the results on a two-wheel rolling road.

DUH has referred its report to KBA, Germany’s federal motor transport authority, demanding they conduct further tests in light of the findings in the report.

If you’re interested, you can view the English press release on the Zafira emissions test by DUH.