Auto Parts

British carmaker Vauxhall, which is now a part of global mobility player Stellantis, has been in the automobile industry since 1903. It is known as Great Britain’s oldest surviving vehicle brand. Today, Vauxhall is in the news for an entirely different reason – its involvement in the controversial Dieselgate emissions scandal.

After the KBA (German Federal Motor Transport Authority) allegedly found defeat devices in Vauxhall cars in October 2018, authorities in the UK also discovered illegal cheat devices in thousands of the carmakers’ diesel vehicles.

Over a million car owners in the UK may be affected and can therefore receive compensation amounting to thousands. The Vauxhall emissions claim may be equivalent to about 75% of the vehicle’s original purchase value. The specific compensation amount, however, depends on the circumstances of the case.

While the carmaker denied all the allegations, they have recalled about 500,000 affected vehicles in Great Britain. Over a 10-year period, it is estimated that approximately 600,000 Vauxhall vehicles may have been equipped with the cheat device.

Vehicles that were manufactured between the years 2009 and 2020 are said to be affected by the defeat devices.

Why are defeat devices bad?

A defeat device is a mechanism programmed to sense when a vehicle is in regulatory testing conditions. Once this happens, the device automatically lowers emissions to levels that are within the World Health Organization’s (WHO) mandated limits.

Regulators will find the vehicle clean and safe for selling and driving. However, this is only true when the vehicle is in testing conditions. Once the vehicle is driven on real-world roads, it goes back to emitting dangerous nitrogen oxides or NOx in amounts that are about 40 times more than the safe and legal levels mandated by the EU. Therefore, the vehicle is a pollutant.

Nitrogen oxide emissions are …