Exhaust software causes recall of e-cars

The Opel Corsa has to go back to the workshop. That was decided by the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The recall due to problems with the emission control affects the electric version of the popular small car, although as an electric car there are no emissions – the reason is absurd.

Opel Corsa‑e: E-car is being recalled due to exhaust emissions

A current one recall of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Thousands of Opel Corsa-e back to the authorized workshops. The reason is at least a laugh, but strictly speaking a regulatory tragedy: the electric car has to be reset because of a software error affecting the emissions test. Exactly the exhaust gases, which inevitably do not exist with the electric car.

“According to the legal requirements, it must also be possible for authorities to carry out a roller test bench measurement on this model at any time” – this is how an Opel spokesman explains the dilemma to the industry portal Car operation bird. According to the KBA, a total of 16,605 vehicles are affected by the recall. Of these, presumably 6,442 registered in Germany be.

The portal goes on to say that Opel has informed affected Corsa drivers about the recall. The visit to the workshop should take about 45 minutes. During this time, the internal control unit (BSI) is reprogrammed. There are no costs. Affected are electric models from the manufacturing period from October 2019 to May 2022.

In a further message to affected Opel drivers, the carmaker has now specified: The problem with the Corsa-e models is that the software error does not simply prevent an emissions test. It there is no possibility to “measure the energy consumption of the electric vehicle”, when the e-car lands on the test bench (source: golem).

The authority had previously complained that the “test bench measurement to demonstrate compliance with exhaust gas regulations” could not be carried out due to faulty software. It’s already the second recall for the Corsa‑e in a few weeks. However, the previous one was much more extensive.

Combustion engine or electric car? For customers, this is often a question of price:

Euro 7 strikes: E-cars are not emission-free

So far, we are not aware of any comparable recall of an electric car. However, the fact that even electric vehicles can pollute the environment, and not just during production, is nothing new. Even electric cars can pollute the air albeit far less than combustion engines. That is why they will also be affected by the rules of the upcoming Euro 7 emissions standard. The reason for this, however, is not the lack of exhaust gases, but fine dust emissions. These can not only come from the exhaust, but are mainly caused by tire and brake abrasion.