German Lobby Group Says Fiat 500X Crossover Also Has Excess Emissions

German lobby group DUH claims that the Fiat 500X crossover is also one of the models that release excessive levels of emissions.

DUH has already claimed that Opel, Renault and Mercedes are violating emissions levels with some of their diesel models and in a press conference in Berlin, they added Fiat to the above list.

“The extreme overruns of NOx emissions that have meanwhile been detected with an Opel Zafira, a Renault Espace, a Mercedes C-Class and now a Fiat SUV are technically not plausible and point towards defeat devices,” campaigner Axel Friedrich said.

FCA declined to comment on the above in Reuters, with the rest of the companies denying any illegal action. They do however acknowledge that some of their models produce higher levels of emissions when tested in closer-to-real-world conditions, instead of the specific test of the official regulators.

A 2015 Fiat 500X model equipped with the Euro-6 diesel engine was subjected to tests by the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, Switzerland and was found releasing 11 to 22 times more nitrogen oxide emissions than the legal European limits with a warm engine, according to DUH Managing Director Juergen Resch.

The compact Italian crossover released excessive emissions in all eight tests carried out with a warm engine on the dyno. The model also exceeded the statutory 80 milligram limit only during two tests with a cold engine.

European authorities are actively pushing for a more strict testing method in order to better replicate the real-life driving conditions in order to cut overall emissions.

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