New diesel cars emit 1000 times particles! According to measurements made on two best-selling car models, new diesel cars pollute up to 1,000 times more. The cause: the regeneration of diesel car particulate filters, which can occur in cities over a distance of 15 km, but which is not taken into account by official approval tests.

These independent laboratory tests were carried out on behalf of Transport & Environment (T&E), an independent NGO which notably denounced the dieselgate scandal.

The Nissan Qashqai and the Opel Astra, the second and fourth best-selling cars in their respective categories, exceeded the legal limits for particle emissions by 32 to 115% during the tests where the regeneration of their filter took place . However, a legal vacuum means that the legal limit does not take into account regeneration during approval tests, which means that 60 to 99% of regulated particulate matter emissions are ignored.

New diesel cars emit 1000 times particles

Anna Krajinska, emissions engineer at T&E, said: "These tests show that new diesel cars are still not clean. In fact, they spit out very dangerous volumes of particles every day in our cities and on our highways. We save the builders but it is our lungs that are paying the price today. The auto industry has to make their cars clean if they want to keep selling them. "

Total emissions of harmful particles from the Nissan Qashqai and the Opel Astra further increase from 11 to 184% when the smallest unregulated ultra-fine particles are also measured in the laboratory. These ultrafine particles are not taken into account during official approval tests but are nevertheless considered to be the most harmful to human health: they penetrate deeper into the human body and have been associated with brain cancer.

The regeneration of diesel particulate filters, which prevents them from clogging, can occur during any driving condition, including in the city. During the tests carried out, the number of particles emitted remained higher after 30 minutes of urban driving, once the regeneration was completed. The two models tested complied with the legal NOx emission limits.

Anna Krajinska said, “Regulated particles are only part of the story. Smaller ultrafine particles are considered a greater threat. And yet, they are ignored by official certification tests. The next Euro standard on pollutant emissions must fill these gaps and impose limits for all pollutants. The absolute target is a standard that requires zero emissions for all vehicles on our roads. "

On the basis of these results, T&E asks legislators to admit that diesel cars are still just as polluting and, therefore, to tighten emission limits and test procedures. Thus, T&E asked that the European Commission also use its new powers to require national approval authorities to control vehicles on the roads after they have been put into service, as does the United States Environmental Protection Agency .

In Europe, more than 45 million diesel cars are fitted with these filters, causing a total of 1.3 billion regenerations per year.

In France, fine particles emitted by diesel are responsible for nearly 8,000 deaths per year, which is twice as much as road accidents (around 3,500 deaths / year).

Remember that air pollution is the cause of symptoms such as respiratory discomfort, cough, sore throat, headache, eye irritation. It can trigger asthma attacks in asthmatics or decrease the respiratory capacity in children.
Air pollution can also trigger cardiovascular problems, such as myocardial infarction and, to a lesser extent, angina or heart rhythm disturbances. In some cases, it can even lead to premature death.

Particulate emissions from diesel engines have been classified as level 1: "carcinogenic to humans", the highest level of the groups that assess the carcinogenic nature of an agent for humans. The cancers induced by diesel emissions are lung cancer (sufficient evidence) and involvement in bladder cancer (limited evidence).