The Road Safety Directorate (CSDD) has relaxed the emission requirements for passenger diesel cars of the Euro 6 standard. The new requirements, which were originally going to be introduced into the CSDD, would have removed a significant share of diesel cars with Euro 6 engines from Latvian roads. As Rus.LSM.lv correspondent Daniil Smirnov found out, the draconian option will not work, but it is too early for motorists to relax. At the beginning of this year, the directorate spread the news about the upcoming much more stringent requirements when checking such cars for technical inspection. The reason is the massive removal of DPF filters on them, which are supposed to capture small particles of exhaust gases. Under current standards, cars without filters can also pass inspection. But when the new ones become mandatory, no longer. If an emission testing device were used from January 1, 2025, many Latvian diesel carriages would turn into a “pumpkin”. This new equipment for inspection stations captures particulate matter in the exhaust of diesel cars. The old device calculated the smoke level of the exhaust. Its coefficient was calculated based on the transmission between the two lenses of the device. Therefore, many diesel cars with a cut-out filter passed inspection quite easily.
