Brake, the road safety charity are urging the government to carry out real world emissions tests on cars soon rather than later.
Since the Volkswagen scandal hit the papers there have been calls for emission testing to be taking outside of the lab and in to the real world. This makes perfect sense because let's fact it, when was the last time you drove your car in a lab? I thought as much.
The Department for Transport (DfT) carried out tests on 37 cars and found that not only were the cars producing high emissions than the manufacturer claims, the average was 5times higher. None of the cars test matched the EU lab NOx limit when tested in the real world and some cars even high an emissions level of 12 times higher the EU lab NOx limit.
This is certainly food for thought and I feel it is only fair for the consumer that cars are independently tested in the real world as that will provide a much more accurate figure.
Gary Rae, campaign director for Brake said: “We’re backing the introduction of these tests. I want the government to ensure that testing is rigorously enforced and tough action taken when vehicles do not make the grade.
“If car manufacturers are serious about protecting the environment they must cut the poison currently being pumped out of their vehicles. The World Health Organisation describes air pollution as a public health emergency and estimates that one in eight worldwide deaths (seven million premature deaths a year) are due to air pollution, with transport being a major contributory factor. Consumers are fast losing confidence with car manufacturers. Many drivers believe they have been cheated into buying diesel vehicles.”