The Audi A3 is alleged to be using emissions-cheating technology following discrepancies in emissions tests carried out by the German federal transport authority Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), according to reports in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper.
It's reported that, following the findings of the KBA, subsequent tests on the A3 by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission suggested that "Audi has manipulated the diesel engine of its bestseller A3”.
The emissions are alleged to have been manipulated on the A3 fitted with the 2.0 TDI engine after it was revealed that exhaust gas measurements varied according to temperature, which, SZ reports, is evidence of the use of a so-called defeat device. The A3 in question was facelifted earlier this year, months after the Dieselgate scandal emerged.
These findings contradict the KBA’s declaration of the car's compliance with Euro 6 rules. It is also suggested that the KBA skipped pivotal tests in the process of approving the car, the first time that an official government body is alleged to have colluded with a car manufacturer in order to manipulate test results.
The allegations come more than a year after the Volkswagen emissions scandal initially broke and not long after Audi’s alleged test manipulation using steering and automatic gearbox-based software that detected when emissions were being evaluated. Porsche is also under current investigation for a similar issue.
According to the SZ, Audi has brushed off the allegations, insisting that the A3 does not use a so-called defeat device.
The A3 has been one of the ten best-selling cars in the UK in 2016.
Audi AG issued the following statement: "We do not have any information on the tests - neither on the mentioned measurements nor on what engine was installed in the A3 TDI mentioned. Therefore, please respect that we cannot comment on the report.
"However, it should be noted that different measurements from other testing institutes prove that the A3 2.0 TDI is within the legal limits of EU6.”
Join the debate
Add your comment
They only have themselves to blame
While it's highly unlikely they were the only ones, the high handed and arrogant way they have dealt with customers over it means I won't go near one any time soon. Sadly many others don't seem to care, meaning dishonestly really does seem to pay.
ekranoplan
otherwise it's just an apologist piece for Diesel cars !
Autocar - check facts before publishing nonsense!
Come on! Where did your journalists go to school? Your job is to inform the public honestly not try to make news stories fit an agenda!
Combustion of any fuel produces emissions. The environment in which combustion occurs affects the outcome of those emissions. It doesnt matter if it is your household or office combi boiler or a coal fired power station or an HGV burning diesel or a PHEV burning petrol and sucking energy from a dirty grid......
Temperature and atmospheric pressure as well as air composition affects the results!
Why have you not published the independent tests done in the UK of Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesels? Which cars came top for least pollution? Yes German ones including VW and Audi!
In faxctg they were the only cars that beat the Euro 6 requirements in real world driving. Most other manufacturers failed.
It's high time Autocar invested in some scientific equipment and training on how to use it to measure real world CO2, N2/NOx, NH3, Particulates (PM10 and PM2.5) and tessted all petrol,diesel, H2 and PHEVs ASAP!
" all but eight of more than 100 older Euro 5 petrol cars tested failed to score the very lowest A-rating for NOx emissions. Does this mean air quality campaigners are right to focus on getting older diesel models off Britain’s roads?" EQUA 2016
"Over half London's NOx from vehicles comes from Euro 1-3 PETROL cars......There has been a rise in acrid NH3 with incresed use of Hybrids." DEFRA reports 2014.
Real world emissions:
The same report condemns 20 mph zones - they are worse for all pollutants than 40 mph zones. Hardly surprising given basic physics that increased traffic flow is what allows diffusion and engines run far more efficiently outside of stop start zones.
The big increase in urban NOx is in part due to a supersize me consumer culture where all cars and especially SUVs and Crossovers are sold on safety. Yet these vehicles are on average far larger and heavier than any previous cars. They have to force more air out of the way at speed, they reduce traffic flow on UK's narrow streets by preventing filtering at T junctions, and effectively block roads when parked on curbs. They create less space for cyclists. Being tall and slab sided (like buses and trucks) there is less fresh air around cars in stop start traffic.
The other side of the story is Govt reducing roads from dual carriageways into single lanes and slowing it down with speed humps and 20 mph zones. Flow is reduced when large car drivers lack spatial awareness and can't get past a cyclist (or in rural areas tractors) leading to long jams and higher pollution.
The DEFRA report notes that early 2000 to 2005 diesels cars have far lower NOx emissions. Even so much NOx comes from industry and heating of homes and offices. But this is a complex world: reducing urban NOx actrually increases Ozone which is another problem for asthma sufferers.
New petrol cars have no particulate traps so PM2.5 (much smaller and more deeply inhaled than diesel's PM10) is on the increase - indeed it id 10 times worse than from Euro 6 diesels.
Pollution knows no borders: it is national and international not just street side. A change to EVs will not prevent the worst pollution days on record - High Atmospheric Pressure, Light Easterly airflow from continent sends back UK's normally exported pollution often mixing it with dust from North Africa. Pumping out more emissions from power stations and running heavier than diesel PHEVs will make matters worse quite apart from the higher embedded environmental costs of making new cars over retaining older ones.
The answer is something like River Simple ! Keep the best most efficient small cars going and tackle vehilce obesity and road choke points (pun intended!).