One year into testing in on-road scenarios, Australia’s leading motoring association has found a majority of cars continue to use more fuel and almost half break emissions rules.
Its latest collection of vehicles found 15 out of 20 used more fuel, including the Ford Ranger one of the countries most popular vehicles and only five used less or the same as the mandated laboratory testing results.
The government sponsored Real-World Testing Program, conducted by the Australian Automobile Association found some cars tested over the year consumed as much as 31 per cent than the lab figures.
21 of the 58 vehicles tested in the first year also produced on-road emissions that exceeded current or upcoming Australian regulatory lab limits for toxic tailpipe emissions.
The AAA is now sharing its results and with international organisations including Green NCAP, the International Council on Clean Transportation and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile.
Better choices
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said consumers could now distinguish which vehicles produce fuel consumption and emissions in line with lab tests reported by carmakers and the many do not.
“That can have real impact on consumers and fleet buyers,” he says “If people rely on the lab tests, they could end up with a car that costs more to run or is dirtier than they expected.
“The results raise a question for regulators about whether car dealerships should be required to reveal real-world testing results to consumers at point of sale.’’
The $14 million, four-year Real-World Testing Program is run by the AAA and funded by the Commonwealth.
It was created in response to the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal, which showed that emissions regulations around the world were incentivising carmakers to optimise their vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions performance for the laboratory tests being used for regulatory compliance.
Mr Bradley said the program, a world first, had now tested enough cars, SUVs, utes, and people movers to enable consumers to examine the results for multiple vehicle models within the same class, which they can use as part of their research before they even visit a car yard.
“If you are buying a small car, for example, we’ve now tested eight small car models from different manufacturers, giving consumers a chance to understand real-world fuel consumption and emissions before they buy. We also now have multiple vehicle results across a range of vehicle classes, including small, medium and large SUVs, as well as utes.
Full results here