Thousands of Nissan cars could be fitted with emission-cheating devices, law firm claims
- Nissan has been accused of fitting cars with emission-cheating devices
- Law firm Harcus Parker is launching legal action against the manufacturer
- They claim documents show up to 100,000 Qashqais may use the device
Hundreds of thousands of Nissan cars could be fitted with emission-cheating devices, a law firm has claimed.
Harcus Parker said it has obtained documents showing up to 100,000 petrol Qashqais may use the device and be breaching emissions limits by up to 15 times when driven.
The Qashqai is the UK’s biggest selling family petrol car.
Nissan could have fitted up to 100,000 Qashqai models with emission-cheating devices
Lawyers also allege as many as 1.3million other diesel vehicles made by Nissan and Renault may be fitted with the device.
The scandal around defeat devices has previously been focused on diesel models.
Damon Parker, senior partner at Harcus Parker, which is launching legal action, said: ‘For the first time, we have seen evidence that car manufacturers may be cheating emissions tests of petrol, as well as diesel vehicles.
‘We have written to Renault and Nissan to seek an explanation for these extraordinary results, but the data suggests to me that these vehicles, much like some VWs and Mercedes cars, know when they are being tested and are on their best behaviour then and only then.
‘These are vehicles which could and should meet European air quality limits in normal use, but rather than spend a little more on research and development, Renault and Nissan appear to have gone down the same path as VW and Mercedes and decided to cheat the tests.’
Nissan, a Japanese manufacturer, builds the Qashqai cars at its plant in Sunderland
Japanese manufacturer Nissan builds the Qashqai at its Sunderland factory.
The emissions scandal first surfaced against Volkswagen in 2015. It admitted that 11million of its diesel vehicles worldwide were affected, including almost 1.2million in the UK, prompting compensation claims.
Earlier this month, it emerged that more than 10,000 Mercedes customers have mounted legal action relating to alleged use of similar technology.