EU regulators seek to close car emissions testing loopholes

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU regulators are preparing draft legislation that will require vehicle fuel use to be tested on roads rather than in laboratories, looking to close loopholes that allow car makers to exaggerate fuel-saving and emissions credentials. European Commission research published last year showed that lab techniques, such as taping up car doors and windows and driving on an unrealistically smooth surface, explained around a third of a recorded drop in average EU emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2), linked to reduced fuel consumption. This would need to be endorsed by EU member states. The Commission, the EU executive, says nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions, linked to lung disease and hundreds of thousands of early deaths, have been miscalculated to a still-greater extent than CO2 levels. Read More http://ift.tt/1ml19v5