On-road emissions testing
The EPA will conduct widespread on-road emissions testing.
In wake of VW emissions cheating scandal, EPA to expand random, real-world emissions testing on new cars entering US market.
In fact, according to the New York Times, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has already begun to test diesel powered vehicles in the Volkswagen Group, including VW, Audi, and Porsche models not disclosed in previous company admissions of cheating. Though the agency says that no other manufacturer has been caught using cheating software in testing thus far, several weeks of testing still remain.
According to an EPA spokesperson, when manufacturers ask about the test conditions, they are told that they “don’t have a need to know,” and that testing is random. The bulky, trunk-mounted equipment used to measure tailpipe emissions as a vehicle is driven on the public roads is characterized by The Times as a “Rube Goldberg” machine. The EPA will also continue to perform lab-based testing on new vehicles.