EPA Gives 2016 BMW X5d Clean Bill of Emissions, Kind Of

(Update: With EPA comment and clarification on their tests.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved for sale Friday the 2016 BMW X5d after new tests of that car revealed that it did not use an illegal “defeat device” to cheat emissions standards, Reuters reported.

Well it didn’t use a defeat device as far as they could see, anyway.

“Our screening tests found no evidence of a defeat device in the 2016 BMW X5,” EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen told Reuters. “No evidence” is hardly a clean bill of health from the environmental agency, but at this point we’ll take what we can get.

The test results are the latest in the ongoing saga of “ Everyone is Cheating/ Just VW is Cheating” and could rebut claims that American investigators are specifically targeting German manufacturers.

The GMC Canyon/Chevrolet Colorado and BMW X5d were the only cars awaiting certification from the EPA and all three have been approved for sale.

BMW issued a statement Friday that said the automaker would be delivering the car to dealers soon.

“Production of the 2016 BMW X5 Diesel had been deferred until EPA testing had been completed. The vehicle will be going into production shortly at our manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The 2016 X5 Diesel is expected to be available at showrooms in January, 2016,” BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc told TTAC in a statement.

It’s unclear how long production had been delayed for further testing.

In its report earlier this year, the International Council on Clean Transportation noted that its on-road testing had revealed that the BMW X5d could comply with emissions tests. In the same report, it noted that two Volkswagen vehicles were polluting up to 40 times the legal amount of nitrogen oxides.

That report led to Volkswagen’s admission in September that its cars had been fitted with defeat devices.

Clarification: An earlier story identified the GMC Canyon/Chevrolet Colorado and BMW X5d as the only non-Volkswagen vehicles selected for testing. The GM trucks and SUV were the only vehicles awaiting certification from the agency. The EPA will continue to test 2015 and 2016 light duty trucks and cars under new testing protocols. That testing is ongoing.