VW Dieselgate Defeat Device fix does NOT work, say Italian consumer group

Italian consumer group Altroconsumo has tested an Audi Q5 which has had the Defeat Device fix, and its NOx emissions are 25% greater than before.

There’s plenty of arguments still going on around the Dieselgate defeat device scandal perpetrated by Volkswagen, with much of the current debate around the different treatment of US owners of affected car and those in the UK and Europe.

VW are buying back affected cars in the States, and paying owners compensation, but much of that is because they can’t really come up with a fix for the affected cars which will satisfy US regulators, even though there is a fix that satisfies EU regulations. Or does it?

With ‘fixed’ cars now in the wild in Europe, Italian consumer group Altroconsumo has got hold of an Audi Q5 which has had the defeat device fix – basically a software update on the 1.2 and 2.0 litre engines and a 10p mesh on the 1.6 litre – and put it to the test.

The results of the tests are quite shocking, with Altroconsumo finding that removal of the Defeat Device software actually increased NOx emissions by 25 per cent.

Clearly this is just one test on one ‘fixed’ car, but it’s worrying news not just for VW owners in the UK and Europe, but for regulators too.

Monique Goyens, Director of The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC ), said:

This is another blow for EU consumers and a new dimension of the VW scandal. This test by our Italian member clearly demonstrates that VW’s solution to deactivate the defeat device is not reliable.

It is imperative that the German testing agency who approved the fix, but also their national counterparts, urgently re-examine the solutions to repair the affected cars and that they publish these results. Consumers need to be 100% certain that their car will be in conformity with emission thresholds after the recall.

Volkswagen justifies compensation payments to US consumers with the argument that their cars cannot be as easily fixed as in Europe. This excuse now seems to be built on sand. VW must compensate European consumers. This is the only possible way forward for VW to make up for this ongoing consumer detriment.