Only 10 million of the 43 million highly-polluting diesel cars and vans that were caught in the ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal have been recalled since 2015 according to EU data.

Despite re recalls needing only a simple software change – they will not be completed for another two years, analysis of new EU data by Transport & Environment (T&E) has predicted.

Florent Grelier, clean vehicles engineer at T&E, said: “The current snail’s pace to clean up diesel cars across Europe is unacceptable. The industry has had four years since the diesel scandal broke but has failed to deliver even on its own commitments to fix manipulated cars. It’s time for governments to get tough and order mandatory recalls across the EU. This does not require any new laws but just political will.”

The situation is even worse for consumers and public health in Central and Eastern Europe where only 55 per cent of the VW Group’s cars have been recalled compared to 83 per cent in Western Europe. Unfixed dirty diesels are even shipped to these countries as they are increasingly subject to bans in western cities such as Paris, Madrid and Hamburg. 350,000 dirty second-hand diesel cars mainly from Germany were exported to Poland in 2017 alone.

Florent Grelier said: “The EU Single Market fails when it comes to emissions of cars. It only works for selling cars, but not for recalling them when things go wrong. There must not be any second class citizens in Europe. Every European has an equal right to clean air. The recent EU ‘roadmap towards clean vehicles’ shows that governments and the industry know exactly what needs to be done, they just have to start implementing.”

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