Paris, France - Renault is recalling 15 000 vehicles before they go on sale to check their engines - a day after it pledged action to cut harmful emissions.
French transport minister Segolene Royal said on Tuesday Renault “has committed to recalling a certain number of vehicles, 15,000 vehicles, to check them and adjust them correctly so that the filtration system works in all temperatures”.
“New cars must meet the norms,” she said, adding that the adjustment could be quickly done. “To correctly adjust an engine takes half a day.”
Renault promised on Monday to come up with a “technical plan” over the coming weeks to bring down harmful emissions from its vehicles after a government-appointed commission said its diesel cars failed pollution tests.
The commission, set up in the wake of the #Dieselgate scandal engulfing Volkswagen, tested vehicles from eight French and foreign brands, finding carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions from Renault cars to be too high, as well as those in some non-French models.
Renault sales director Thierry Koskas insisted the company was not cheating but acknowledged a problem had emerged between test and real road conditions.
“In test conditions, we respect emissions norms,” he said, presenting the group's 2015 results. “But when we are no longer in test conditions, there is indeed a difference between real conditions and control conditions, that is a fact.”