Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent changes there have been to Vehicle Certification Agency emissions testing; and what recent discussions he has had with Volkswagen on progress on fixing all defeat devices.

Andrew Jones

The Vehicle Certification Agency’s (VCA) emissions testing is conducted to the requirements set out in the relevant type approval legislation. The Government has been pressing for action at an EU-level to improve emissions tests and we have already secured a tough new Real Driving Emissions test. From next year, vehicles will have to meet emissions limits in real driving conditions across a wide range of typical operating conditions.

The Secretary of State has met with the Chief Executive of Volkswagen UK to press that the technical fixes are completed as quickly as possible for UK consumers. The VCA is working closely with the VW group and other approval authorities to evaluate the proposed technical solutions. They are carrying out tests to ensure that after the fix is applied the vehicles meet all the legal requirements including emissions, and that other vehicle characteristics are unchanged, including fuel consumption and engine noise.