Two years after the famous 'Dieselgate', the European Union has found indications that some brands are trying to distort emissions in the most gross way, to avoid new upcoming regulation.

In 2020, the European Union will adopt a new regulation that will set new limits on the pollutants emitted by the vehicles. To this end, the EU is collecting data  to establish these limits carefully.

Apparently, manufacturers are modifying the engines of the vehicles that are being tested to make them more dirty. Their objective  is to raise the limits the EU will set in 2020. Yeah, it is the same technique as retail stores that raise prices before sales.

According to the Financial Times, the EU has found indications that several manufacturers are involved in this practice and fears that the measurements made so far are already too distorted. Moreover, it looks like there is not a single method as there was in the 'Dieselgate' scandal. For instance, in some hybrid models, the tests have been carried out with the battery almost exhausted, which forces the engine to use more fuel, increasing the emissions. In others, simple tuning have been done to worsen performance, playing with the gears of the car. In a third type of fraud, the mechanism that stops the engine in short stops was deactivated to keep it running.

Again and again it is shown that there can always be pitfalls in controlled tests. The only way to control vehicle emissions is to measure them over their lifetime and under real conditions. That is to say, to monitor the whole European fleet with the RSD systems. 

Source: Gizmodo

In a recent statement, Nissan has confessed that it altered the emission controls of some car models made in Japan.

The Japanese car manufacturer Nissan acknowledged on Monday that it had altered some of the results of the anti-pollution tests on the models of the factories installed in Japan. The measurements of gas emissions and fuel use tests were not carried out according to the "established protocol" and the inspection reports were based on altered values, according to Nissan in a statement, after it was submitted to the Japanese authorities. Despite this, the company claims that most of its vehicles (with the exception of the GT-R, a sports car of the brand) do comply with the data in the catalogues.

These disclosures arise from controls initiated in September 2017, after being asked to do so by the Japanese authorities. Nissan reports that they have detected "misconduct for vehicles produced at their national vehicle production plants and those of their affiliates". The company reports that the fraud was based on the modification, by an undetermined number of employees, of the conditions under which these tests are carried out, in terms of temperature, ambient humidity or the speed at which the vehicles are subjected to, for example. Other times the tests did conform to the guidelines set by the law, but the results were changed directly.

Nissan, said that the number of vehicles affected by these malpractices currently stands at 1171, produced in five different factories from 2013 to a few weeks ago. Illegality affects only cars sold on national territory, not those exported.

Nissan is once again in the spotlight of the emissions scandal. This case is not the same as the one that was uncovered at the German manufacturer Volkswagen - which went so far as to use illegal software to falsify the laboratory controls of thousands of cars. But it does mean a new infringement of the system of checks on cars.

Most of the newest diesel cars in European cities and throughout the continent are polluting the streets with nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions up to 18 times the levels set by Euro vehicle standards, says The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) Initiative, launching its car ratings scheme and checker on 6th June.

Spring + vegetation, that seems to be the combination most feared by anyone allergic to pollen. The logic leads us to think that the main advice would be to avoide the field at this time, but the numbers say something else:

Residential habitat of allergic patients in Spain

• URBAN: 61.5%
• SEMI-URBAN: 19%
• RURAL: 19.5%

 (Source: Allergológica 2015, Spanish Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology [SEAIC])

This data refers to patients treated in the corresponding units, so that the presence or absence of specialists in the environment also influences. Despite this, this trend has not only been maintained for decades in our country, it is also reproduced throughout the world, with the most prevalent allergic diseases in industrialized and developed countries. What is this urban allergy?

To (poor) air quality in cities or industrialized areas.

CO: Carbon monoxide
Gas altamente tóxico producido en la combustión inadecuada de carbón, leña, gas o gasolina

CO₂: Carbon dioxide
It is generated in the combustion of fossil fuels, in the emissions of the exhaust pipes and in the heating.

SO_{2:  Sulfur dioxide
Related to fossil fuels and most power plants.}

_{NO2: Nitrogen dioxide
Related to vehicles, especially those of diesel engine, and with electric generation facilities or gas stoves.}

_{COV: Volatile organic compounds
Related to paints and varnishes, with the wood, cosmetic or pharmaceutical industry.}

O_3: Tropospheric Ozone

Ozone of low atmosphere, becomes a pollutant by tthe reaction between sunlight and gases from cars or factories.

To these gases another element is added: the particles in suspension. The combination forms the so-called toxic cloud or smog (from the English smoke + fog), a type of environmental pollution. Traffic is responsible for 50-70% of this type of pollution in large cities

• The new protocol is much more extensive and complex.
• VW and Porsche intend to eliminate the offer of some models and self-register them.
• Until the beginning of 2019the values of  the NEDC will be maintained.
• Years of change is automobile regulations.

Starting September 1st all new vehicles that are put on sale in Spain, must comply with the WLTP emissions homologation cycle, which replaces the prevailing NEDC snce the 1980´s, this is far from reality and it was the dieselgates final touch.

But the new protocol is not only more accurate but it will also be much more complex and extensive. Standard approval of the particular car with and engine will no longer be valid. you will have to measure consuption and emissions as your equipment changes, for ex., larger wheels or an electric sunroof that makes you heavier.

this means having to perform thousands of tests imposible to assume by the centers that carry them out. So although the matter was known for more than a year, it is assumed that ther will be a huge bottleneck. In fact there is talk of a brand that could be seen with about 30,000 cars blocked.

Because the law is clear. the vehicle that is not approved in n Sep 1st accorfin to the WLTP cycle can not be marketed as new in the EU,  and although it will be allowed to be exemt  a volume equivalent to 10% of what each brand sells, that margin is very low fot hose who enrroll tens of thousands.

To solve the imborgolio, several options appear: eliminate certain models from the offer, as anounced by VW and/or Porsche; Simplify the ranges and group the ioptional packages;    elevate the promotions and go crazy  to self register the cars from know to August 31st to give them a way out of the  second hand market.