#NOxEmissions

Audi is recalling around 5,000 European A8s after discovering they were releasing excessive nitrogen oxide emissions. The vehicles in question appear to be holdovers from Volkswagen Group’s dieselgate, even though no one has said so officially. But the modus operandi seems to fit here.

It’s the same NOx gas that got VW into trouble back in 2015, it involves the vehicle’s software, and Audi went out of its way to report the cars to Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority before saying it was concerned about the “possible illegal manipulation of emission levels.”

Earlier today, we mentioned Volvo was preparing to dump its diesel-burning engines because the EU is aggressively pursuing anti-diesel legislation. While it’s easy to accuse Europe of being fraught with fringe environmentalists, the truth is that the continent spent decades avoiding restrictions on diesel-burning passenger vehicles, sold loads of them, and has suddenly found itself with its green pants around its ankles.

In addition to hazy skies, air pollution isn’t exactly great for your health. A recent study published in Nature found diesel engines produced 5 million more tons of nitrogen oxide than previously estimated for 2015. The research focused on vehicles in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and the United States and uncovered that we’ve grossly overestimated the amount of good being done by our global regulatory efforts. Companies are practically guaranteed to be falsifying testing results while others are openly incapable of reaching government-enforced guidelines.

Who cares? It’s not like anyone is dying, right? Well, not exactly.

Already facing financial challenges under a weak home economy, European automakers may soon have a new challenge to add to the list when the European Union adopts a more accurate method of testing CO2 emissions and fuel economy among their lineups, with EVs becoming the biggest beneficiaries as a result.