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November 23, 1998 3:10 PM, EST

PARIS — The Environmental Protection Agency was told that its emissions certification test for diesel engines was badly flawed four years before the agency imposed record penalties on U.S. engine suppliers, according to an engineer for Volvo Truck Corp. in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The International Automotive Constructors Organization gave EPA data at a 1994 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, that showed the U.S. agency’s field test procedures failed to detect significant amounts of nitrogen oxide produced by heavy-duty diesels during highway operations, said Lars Gustavsson, a manager in Volvo Truck’s Engine Development Division.

Volvo conducted the tests on U.S. trucks that produced the data discussed at Geneva. EPA, which had observer status, participated in the discussions.

“We used the Euro II test to reveal the weakness of the EPA’s test procedures,” Mr. Gustavsson said. Euro II detected “two to three times the amount of NOx” found by the EPA test, he said. “We told them and made it official worldwide in January 1994.”

EPA “knew unofficially before that,” Mr. Gustavsson said in an interview.

In Washington, the EPA official who attended the 1994 meeting does not recall hearing any information about the Volvo tests, agency spokeswoman Tanya Meekins said last week. The meeting, sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, brought regulators and engine manufacturers together to discuss European certification procedures for diesel engine emissions.

Bruce Buckheit, director of EPA’s Air Enforcement Division, declined to discuss for the record what the agency may have learned about its test procedures as a result of the Geneva meeting.

In October, EPA charged that Volvo and five other diesel engine makers programmed electronic controls to limit NOx emissions while the engines were being tested. During on-the-road operations, EPA claimed, a “defeat device” embedded in the programs would take over to maximize fuel economy.

As a result, the engines produced by Caterpillar Inc., Cummins Engine Co., Detroit Diesel Corp., Mack Trucks and Navistar Transportation Co. as well as Volvo emit illegally high levels of NOx during actual truck use, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said at an Oct. 22 news conference (TT, 10-26-98, p. 5).

For the full story, see the Nov. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.