South Korea Says Nissan Manipulated Emissions With The Qashqai

The emission cheating crisis that recently unraveled in the automotive business had various officials question the integrity of different car makers, suspecting them of using manipulative software in order to pass standard tests.

The latest accusation comes from the South Korean government, which believes that Nissan’s UK-built Qashqai SUV diesel models had uses a so-called “defeat device” to turn off its exhaust reduction system under regular driving temperature.

In a statement issued by Nissan, Jonathan Adashek, Chief Communications Officer at Nissan confirmed that the 814 Nissan Qashqais sold in Korea have been correctly homologated as required by the by the Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE):

“The testing and conclusions reached by the MOE are inconsistent with those of other regulators who have themselves carried out stringent testing. Authorities in the EU have concluded that the Nissan vehicles they tested – including the Qashqai – were fully compliant with homologation standards.
The Qashqai sold in Korea complies with – and has been homologated to – European Euro 6 standards and Korean regulations permit the importation and sales of vehicles that comply with these standards.”

However, according to Reuters, the South Korean ministry said its investigation applied to new Qashqai models with Euro 6 engines, and that it would test older models with Euro 5 engines.

The ministry went on saying that it would fine Nissan 330 million won ($279,920), and order a recall for all the models sold in the country so far.