More than three out of four diesel cars in the European Union appear to have technology to hide their true emissions, according to a study by an independent body following the infamous Volkswagen diesel scandal.

The non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) says in a survey published on Wednesday that at least 77% of European diesel vehicles show emission levels that indicate a mechanism hiding their true levels.

These are devices to hide real pollutants, which are expressly prohibited by the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union from December 2020.

Based on data from 1,400 official government tests, the study found that 77% of Euro 6 diesel vehicles (i.e. those that comply with existing emission regulations) and 85% of older Euro 5 vehicles have “suspicious” test results showing excessive scores.

The report says the amount of nitrogen oxide emitted by these vehicles during testing points to “the possible use of a prohibited suppression device,” i.e. software that allows the vehicles to momentarily activate their pollution controls during testing. It’s like a student looking at… a powder during an exam.

The report estimates that 19 million vehicles with “suspicious” emissions, of which 13 million with “extreme” emissions, are currently on European Union and UK roads.

“These results provide strong evidence that the authorities can investigate and possibly take action to address the health risks posed by European diesel vehicles on our roads,” said Peter Mock, CEO of ICCT Europe.

The existence of so-called cloaking devices was revealed in the 2015 Dieselgate scandal, when German automaker Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions testing of hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the US. Other automakers, including Daimler, Renault and Fiat, have since also faced similar allegations.

Reacting to the non-profit’s study, three environmental groups told Politico they plan to sue the governments of London, Paris and Berlin for their “failure to address illegal default devices” and force automakers to pay the cost of recalling faulty diesel vehicles;

Source: Politico, ICCT.