South Korea finds Nissan guilty of using diesel emissions cheat device

Nissan has been found guilty of using a 'cheat device' on the Renault-sourced 1.6-litre diesel engine on the British-built Qashqai SUV sold in South Korea, the country's government has ruled.

The Japanese manufacturer insists it has complied with regulations. “We are disappointed with the court’s decision," a statement from Nissan said. "Nissan Korea maintains that it has complied with all existing regulations and did not use an ‘unjustified arbitrary setup’ or an illegal defeat device in the Euro 6 Qashqai.”

The South Korean government, however, ruled that the so-called device lowered nitrogen oxide emissions under testing, leading to excess nitrogen oxide emissions when the system deactivated under normal driving conditions.

The Qashqai models that have been affected were built in the UK and used 1.6-litre diesel engines from its sister brand, Renault. Qashqai sales in South Korea have been halted and 814 units have been recalled.

Nissan was fined around £3,00,000 last year after being accused of cheating on its emissions tests, but the company refuted the claims and later sued the government's environment ministry.

When it was originally accused, the manufacturer strenuously denied accusations by the South Korean government that it had used an emissions defeat device.

The South Korean government independently tested real-world emissions of 20 diesel cars in the wake of the VW scandal, and it was believed that the cheat device discovered was linked to Nissan's emissions-reducing Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system, which stopped operating when the engine's temperature reached 35deg C.

"Usually, some cars turn off the emission reduction device when the temperature reaches 50deg C, to prevent the engine from overheating,'' a government spokesman said at the time. “The Qashqai was the only vehicle that turned it off at 35deg C.