London-based law firm Harcus Parker is preparing a class action lawsuit against Renault and Nissan, citing independent test data that points to emissions cheating.
The data allegedly shows that as many as 700,000 Renault diesel models and 600,000 Nissan units in the UK could be fitted with defeat devices. Models affected include the Note, Juke and X-Trail, as well as the Clio, Espace, Captur, Megane and Scenic on the Renault side.
Furthermore, a freedom of information request lodged with the Department for Transport (DfT) gave Harcus Parker “previously unseen documents”, indicating that up to 100,000 1.2-liter petrol Nissan Qashqai models are breaching emissions limits “up to 15 times” in the UK.
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“For the first time, we have seen evidence that car manufacturers may be cheating emissions tests of petrol as well as diesel vehicles. We have written to Renault and Nissan to seek an explanation for these extraordinary results, but the data suggests that these vehicles, much like some VW and Mercedes cars, know when they are being tested and are on their best behaviour then and only then,” said Harcus Parker senior partner Damon Parker.
It is also claimed in the request that the UK government had attempted to persuade Nissan to recall and fix affected vehicles, but the Japanese carmaker refused to do so, reports Autocar.
In September of 2017, the DfT allegedly wrote Nissan saying: “A petrol Nissan Qashqai was selected for testing this year. We have now completed this testing, and we found that when conducting NEDC tests on a test track and conducting a Real Driving Emissions test, NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions results were very high for this vehicle.”
A year later, the DfT again said the Qashqai was “not sufficiently well designed to control the NOx in real-world conditions.”
Meanwhile, the law firm goes on to claim that Renault and Nissan vehicles with 1.5 and 1.6 diesel engines are among the worst real-world emitters of NOx – worse than both VW and Mercedes.
Nissan and Renault have come out refuting all allegations by the UK law firm:
“Nissan has not and does not employ defeat devices in any of the cars that we make, and all Nissan vehicles fully comply with applicable emissions legislation,” stated the Japanese brand. “The initial report from 2017, which looked at the variation between lab and ‘real world’ conditions, showed variances for most brands involved. It also stated that the Nissan tested complied with all required regulatory limits.”
A Renault spokesman went on to say that “all Renault vehicles are, and always have been, type-approved in accordance with the laws and regulations for all the countries in which they are sold and are not fitted with ‘defeat devices’.”
Harcus Parker believe that customers overpaid for their vehicles and are entitled to compensation “in the region of £5,000 each”.
