Suzuki and Jeep caught messing with emission tests

Owners of a Suzuki Vitara or a Jeep Grand Cherokee must return their diesel cars to the manufacturer for a software update. The software currently installed in the cars report much less nitrogen emissions than the cars actually emit. Minister Cora van Veldhoven of Environment called it unacceptable and issued this mandatory recall, NOS reports.

In 2017, the RDW already found signs that the two car types' software was tampering with emission results. More in-depth research has since been carried out and unquestionably showed that the cars are much more polluting on the road than indicated during the roller bench test. The costs of the software update will be borne by Suzuki and Jeep.

New to this recall is that the owners of the affected vehicles must adhere to it. If the owners don't take their cars in for a software update, the car will be removed from the road. This was not the case with similar recalls, like with Volkswagen in 2015 - the one who started the so-called "sjoemelsoftware" scandal. In previous cases, it was entirely the manufacturer's responsibility to fix the software problem - the owner was not obliged to respond to the recall.

According to the Dutch government, this type of recall is less effective, which is why the government took the step of making responding to the recall mandatory. This obligation already exists in Finland and Germany.