Nissan's Qashqai cars that were built in the United Kingdom have been recalled in South Korea and the company is now being accused of cheating emission tests.
According to reports, the cars were built at the firm's Sunderland plant in the UK South Korea is accusing the car manufacturer of fitting the cars with so-called "emission defeat devices." BBC reported that South Korean officials are now planning to fine the Japanese automaker of 330 million own or $279, 920 for the alleged manipulation of the emission tests.
Nissan has firmly denied the accusations of cheating and this is the first time the company has been linked to the emission scandal. Nissan said in a statement that they do not manipulate data related to their vehicles and that Qashqai "has been correctly homologated under Korean regulations," Telegraph reported.
The scandal is largely linked to the German automaker Volkswagen after they did confirm that their cars have been equipped with devices to cheat emission tests. Almost 11 million cars have been affected worldwide.
The UK also echoed the denial of Nissan of being involved in the scandal saying that they have not found any evidence regarding cheating. However, it has been reported that the UK government tested the older model, which is Euro 5, while South Korea tested the Euro 6, in which they reportedly found the cheating device. The European Union also tested Nissan for emission standards but came up with the same result as the UK.
South Korea's environment ministry investigated 20 diesel car models in the wake of the Volkswagen emission scandal but the Nissan Qashqai is the only model to fail their test, The Japan Times reported. Hong Dong-kon, a director at the ministry, said that the emission reduction device stopped operating after the engine of the vehicle's temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius. He said that usually, cars turn off the emission reduction device when the temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius.
Last month, Mitsubishi said that they have falsified fuel efficiency data for years. Nissan will be buying some shares from Mitsubishi.
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