Report on France’s Renault emissions probe omitted crucial details
Fears that government might be too lenient because of 20 per cent stake in carmaker
A French government report omitted significant details about how Renault’s diesel cars were able to emit fewer deadly gases when subject to official emissions testing, members of the state inquiry have told the Financial Times.
The inquiry’s report, published last month, concluded that some Renault models emitted nitrogen oxides, a cause of respiratory diseases linked to early death, at nine to 11 times higher than EU limits.
But three of the 17 members of the commission said that the published report did not include the full details of their findings, including the fact that a NOx “trap” in the Renault Captur went into overdrive when the sport-utility vehicle was prepared for emissions testing but not during normal driving conditions.
It was discrepancies between on-road and in-laboratory NOx emissions that first tipped off US investigators that Volkswagen diesels had been installed with illegal “defeat devices” that cheated American tests, triggering billions in fines. A criminal investigation is still under way.
The French commission members said they had no evidence that Renault was using similar devices, arguing only that further investigations should be conducted to find out why the cars performed differently during testing. But the omissions have led members to fear that the government might be too lenient because of its 20 per cent stake in the carmaker.
“The report was ultimately written by the state and they decided what would remain confidential,” said Charlotte Lepitre, an executive of France Nature Environnement, the umbrella group of French environmental groups, who sat on the commission.
Renault denied using software to cheat emissions testing, saying that its models “conform to the laws and norms in each market where they are sold”. Renault recalled 15,000 vehicles in January and has agreed to implement more robust de-polluting technologies as part of a wider “action plan”.
A French environment ministry official denied any intention to hide facts, saying that the government incorporated the commission’s feedback when it consolidated comments from its various members. France’s independent fraud authority is also continuing an investigation into the carmaker’s practices.
But a government official acknowledged the state’s special relationship with Renault, saying: “The government is sensitive to the brand image of the companies it has invested in,” adding that the government emphasised “a positive approach that would push manufacturers in the right direction”.
In its report, the French inquiry, which tested 86 models from a dozen carmakers, determined it had not “proven the use of illegal defeat devices”, but added it “cannot rule out the possibility” without additional investigation.
Renault was not the only manufacturer to fare badly in the probe; the Fiat 500x registered NOx emissions almost 17 times EU limits.
But commission members said the Renault evidence was among the most troubling.
The Renault Captur’s NOx trap purged five times in rapid succession at the end of scripted test preparations © AFP
The Renault Captur’s NOx trap purged five times in rapid succession at the end of scripted test preparations, allowing the car to produce much lower emissions than on the road, said the commission members, several of whom asked for anonymity.
This suggested that the car’s software could have detected that a test was being performed, they said.
“Everything in a car is controlled by software now,” one commission member said. “We can’t be sure that Renault’s software detected the test [like Volkswagen’s] per se, but it seems that Renault has optimised the NOx filter to target this very specific set of conditions.”
Members of the commission were also concerned about the emissions controls that recirculate exhaust to filter out pollutants. Renault’s cars had been programmed to shut off the device once air temperatures under the hood exceeded 35C, a temperature that sources said would be frequently surpassed during normal driving.
Such temperature-related shutdowns are permitted by EU law in order to prevent engine damage, a point that many carmakers have made to justify similar cut-offs.
But commission members said that Renault implicitly admitted that the temperature cut-off was unnecessary for engine health by agreeing to recall models to recalibrate it through a software update.
“If Renault can change these features without modifying the hardware, how can they argue that the engines weren’t stable without them?” one member asked.
The government’s report mentioned Renault’s emissions controls being “too restrictive” in terms of temperature and speed.
“It is only regrettable that Renault didn’t consider the environmental impacts of these settings … which were no longer justified [in later models],” the environment ministry said.