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Car pollution: a "cookie" to measure your car's emissions

2021-01-19T09:46:45.410Z


Volkswagen's diesel engine fraud has prompted Europe to toughen pollution controls. All new vehicles must now


Smile, your car is being watched.

Since January 1, the European Union (EU) requires all car manufacturers to have an electronic system (OBFCM, for “On Board Fuel Consumption Monitoring”) in all their new models, individuals and utility, thermal or hybrid .

This is able to record over the entire life of the vehicle, mileage, consumption, speed for each trip, but above all the exact volumes of emissions, especially CO2, released into the atmosphere. .

This new regulation is the direct consequence of Dieselgate, the scandal of diesel engines rigged by Volkswagen, which shook the automotive world in September 2015. There is no question, therefore, of letting any doubt hover over the real quantity of pollutants released by automobiles.

After having drastically tightened the homologation tests, by putting an end to the standard which dated from 1974, the EU therefore decided to move up a gear again.

Builders are getting organized

Problem: in mid-January, all manufacturers did not keep pace with European regulations.

Under the seal of anonymity, some have conceded to us that the installation of the device was still in progress.

One of them even admits bluntly “not knowing”.

Others, on the other hand, played the good students.

One, in particular, had no interest in making waves on this issue: Volkswagen.

If the German group has, for five years, embarked on a frantic race to electrify its vehicles (with a production target of 22 million units by 2028), most of its current production remains largely thermal.

There is no doubt that the European authorities will therefore closely monitor the data recorded in its cars.

"All those which leave our factories since the beginning of this year are now equipped with the device", confirms the general management at the head office in Wolfsburg (Lower Saxony).

Renault, also under the blow of a judicial investigation still in progress, confirms to be brought into conformity on time.

“We did not need to install an additional box,” says a spokesperson for the group.

Our engineers have upgraded the engine ECU to make the information available.

We just opened a door that already existed.

"

Same option at PSA: "The implementation of this new standard has been integrated into the electronics of our cars", we confirm to management.

A simple "electronic suitcase", available in any professional garage, would therefore suffice to download the data to any computer, via the OBD (for "On Board Diagnostic") socket, known to all professionals.

Cnil to absent subscribers

What to wonder about the confidentiality of the information which will be extracted from it.

“The entire procedure for transmitting, evaluating and using this data has not yet been fully defined by the European Commission,” observes Volkswagen's German headquarters.

What PSA confirms: “Data collection is still at the planning stage.

We do not know the transmission methods that will be validated.

»By Volkswagen's own admission, the American NGO ICCT (International council on clean transportation), at the origin of the Dieselgate revelations in 2014, would in any case pay particular attention to the grain.

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"In fact, almost anyone, as long as they have the right equipment, can connect to this famous OBD socket", observes a manufacturer.

Including insurance companies which are also interested in the information that these "black boxes" will carry, in the event of an accident, for example.

When contacted, the CNIL (National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms), yet in charge of all questions related to data protection, did not wish to answer our questions.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-01-19

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