VW scandal: quality replacements are ‘more important than ever’

Aftermarket systems will not affect the efficiency or emissions of VW vehicles, say Klarius

VW scandal: quality replacements are ‘more important than ever’
Fitting aftermarket systems will not affect the efficiency or emissions of VW vehicles, Klarius has confirmed.

The UK’s largest manufacturer of aftermarket emissions products, Klarius has confirmed that fitting aftermarket systems will not affect the efficiency or emissions of VW vehicles.

The announcement comes in the wake of the VW emissions scandal where a ‘defeat device’ was fitted to over 11 million VW Group vehicles in order to meet strict US NOx test regulations – of which 1.2m UK cars are affected

US NOx rules

Doug Bentley, R&D Manager at Klarius explained that it was around six years ago that the US laid down stricter rules on how much harmful Nitric Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide (NOx) emissions cars were allowed to produce.

Bentley said: “In order to meet the new standards most engine manufacturers use a urea based additive, (AdBlue) to neutralise the NOx in exhaust gases.

“VW took the route of using on-board engine management to solve the issue, and it now seems, although certainly not yet proven, based on recent developments it was able to make the software on each vehicle detect when it was under test conditions and apply a different ‘cleaner’ engine management map during the test cycle – enabling the car to pass the test without making further physical changes to the vehicle.

“After the test, the engine management system allegedly switches back to a ‘dirtier’ map that provides more engine performance, but emits higher emissions.”

European laws focuses on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and have more lenient NOx requirements.

1.2m UK cars are affected

Klarius say the emissions test fix may not affect whether a vehicle will pass UK MOT emissions standards but it may affect some car tax situations that are based on emissions.

Bentley said: “As far as choosing replacement aftermarket exhausts, CATs and Diesel particulate filters is concerned it means that in the decision it is far more important than ever to ensure you specify a good quality replacement.

“Some lower quality aftermarket exhausts can increase emissions further and cause inefficient running of the engine while some DPFs can clog-up faster than OE equivalents.”

With the reassurance of type-approval behind premium quality replacements, like those sold by Klarius, each one is guaranteed not to increase emissions or pollution by a diesel vehicle when compared to its original specification, whether the manufacturer is being honest about that or not.

Regulating quality

The UK lags behind Europe in regulating the quality of replacement exhausts systems; even though CATs and DPFs now have to be type approved by law in the UK, exhausts do not and this can lead to larger variances in quality and performance which could exacerbate any pollution issues caused by software manipulation of engine performance that increases emissions in general use.

Klarius is still the only UK manufacturers to type-approve all its exhaust products, guaranteeing both conformance and performance.

Bentley said: “The important thing to consider is that while driving styles actually have a larger impact on overall efficiency and emissions, with pollution levels possibly being worse in the real world than some manufacturers are now claiming, by fitting a good quality branded replacement item you are in no danger of making the situation worse.

“In fact Klarius has tested some vehicles where it’s replacements have shown a slight improvement on performance over the original fitted to the car.”

Select ‘More Details’ below to find out more about Klarius products.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

Have your say!

1 0

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.