Germany seeks to close defeat device loophole in wake of diesel crisis

[Suarez™]

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt is proceeding with the ministry's plans to close a legislation loophole that has been blamed for emissions discrepancies in a number of vehicles, Automotive News Europe reports. Specifically, the ministry is seeking to eliminate a provision in EU legislation that allows manufacturers to use software that temporarily disables a vehicle's emissions control systems to protect the engine, such as in instances of starts in cold temperatures.

The Ministry of Transport (KBA) has previously made statements regretting the existence of this loophole, which has reportedly permitted Volkswagen to avoid violating EU emissions regulations in Europe, a fact lamented by a number of EU officials who have called for compensation from the Wolfsburg-based automaker. The ministry has blamed existing legislation for giving automakers wide discretion to disable emissions control in instances in which their use is not objectively warranted.

The provision that allows automakers to turn off emissions control devices in instances when they are needed to protect the engine has received scrutiny earlier this week when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chief Technical Officer Harald Wester was forced to defend the company's engine management software in the diesel Fiat 500X before a EU Parliament inquiry. In prior months, German officials have accused the diesel version of the 500X of containing what they claimed to defeat devices, alleging that its emissions control systems were designed to deactivate after 22 minutes, noting that the standard emissions test takes 20 minutes. In testimony before the EU panel this week Wester maintained that the software in the 500X was designed to protect the engine and did not constitute a disallowed defeat device.