The “notice of violation” to Volkswagen’s diesel cars in the US should serve as a wake-up call for India. It will have to address emission standards, testing systems and compliance norms followed here
By Dinesh C Sharma
When pollution checking norms for cars and two-wheelers were enforced more a decade ago, the center made it man- datory for every vehicle to carry “pollution under check” (PUC) certificate under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. The process of issuing these certificates soon became a scam, with even polluting vehicles getting the PUC sticker. The emission measuring machines were not properly calibrated, certificates were issued manually and bribes were common.
The situation improved with the introduction of computerized checking and the use of web cams to capture number plate images. Still the system is not foolproof. Now imagine a situation in which your latest car comes loaded with software that can hoodwink the emission checking machine and make it believe that emissions from your car are below the regulatory limit. This is what Volkswagen did with American regulators.
On September 18, the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) issued a “notice of violation” under the Clean Air Act to Volks-wagen AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America. The notice charged the group companies for including software that can circumvent EPA emission standards in their four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015.
DEFEAT DEVICE
The software developed by Volkswagen has been dubbed as “defeat device” as defined by the Clean Air Act. “Using a defeat device in cars to evade clean air standards is illegal and a threat to public health,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
The sophisticated software algorithm can detect when the car is undergoing official emissions testing, and turns full emissions controls on only during the test. It is embedded in the software code that runs the engine control computer. The effectiveness of these vehicles’ pollution emissions control devices is greatly reduced during all normal driving situations. This means that cars that meet emission standards in testing labs actually emit air pollutants 40 times the regulatory limit during normal operation.
EPA standards control the allowable emission levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter and certain toxic chemicals. The “defeat device” affects the way the NOx control system operates, resulting in higher NOx emission levels from these vehicles than from vehicles with properly operating emission controls. The violations cover about 482,000 diesel passenger cars sold in the United States since 2008, and affected models include Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Audi A3, Golf, Golf Sportwagen and Passat.
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), which was involved in a research along with West Virginia University on three cars (VW Jetta, VW Passat, and BMW X5), helped detect the defeat device. The project was aimed to evaluate real-world operating emissions from light-duty diesel vehicles in the United States. “Clear protocols, in-use requirements for the useful life of vehicles, clear enforcement follow-through, the authority to fine and force recalls—these are ‘best practices’ that regulations worldwide should incorporate, and today’s announcement shows why,” Drew Kodjak, ICCT’s Executive Director, said in a statement. While VW cars failed tests under different driving conditions, BMW car met emission norms.
ICCT research studies in Europe too have found gaps between real world emissions and regulatory certification levels.
RIPPLES WORLDWIDE
The emission scandal has created ripples not just in the German car industry but among car makers and car markets globally. France, South Korea, the UK and Italy have ordered investigations.
The Indian government too has reportedly asked the Pune-based Automotive Resea-rch Association of India to submit a report on emission levels of Volkswagen cars in India as the diesel car models found to be violating EPA norms are available in India too.
However, it is to be noted that India’s emission standards are much less stringent than those currently followed in America
and Europe.
“The fraud busts the myth of clean diesel vehicles. About 15 years back, we had come out with a report in which we said that diesel vehicles cannot be cleaned up beyond a certain level. And that then also the toxic emissions from the diesel vehicles would be very, very high. But the automobile industry still propagated this myth of clean diesel vehicles. Now the truth is coming out that they never cleaned up; they just cheated by putting a software that showed low emissions during tests,” pointed out Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of Centre for Science and Environ-ment. “India is dieselizing very rapidly. More than half of cars sold today are diesel cars. We will have to stop these vehicles if we want to clean our air,” he added.
“I can only promise you that we will apply the strictest code of ethical practices to ourselves throughout the globe,” Anand Mahin-dra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra Group assured his followers on Twitter who were anxious about Indian cars after Volkswagen scandal.
Cars have been recalled for emission related issues in India in recent years. In 2013, General Motors had recalled 1.14 lakh units of its Tavera model manufactured between 2005 and 2013 for emission-related issues. The exact nature of the emission problem was not specified, but the company said the recall was not linked to any safety issue. It was speculated that the company had got type approval based on improved engines but the ones sold in the market were not fitted with the same engine.
The Volkswagen scandal is a wake-up call for Indian authorities. They will have to set right emissions standards, testing systems and compliance norms in order to avoid similar scams.