March 11th, 2018 9:53 pm
London (Platts)--4 Sep 2015 1138 am EDT/1538 GMT
The UK is to introduce a new filter blocking tendency limit in the UK diesel specification from the "coming winter", the British Standards Institute said Friday.
The move comes after thousands of diesel cars failed to start in the country over the last two winters.
"Last winter, an unexpected number of diesel vehicles experienced problems with fuel filter blocking, causing the engine to either fail to start or go into 'limp home' mode. It has been observed across the country but only by a small proportion of vehicles," BSI said.
"The FBT test, with a limit of 2.52, has been included in the standard for the coming winter as a precautionary measure to try and mitigate the exposure to consumers whilst the task force continues to investigate the issue," it said.
In July, market sources said the new specification was likely to apply from November 1, but BSI did not specify a date Friday.
A total of 14,845 incidents were reported from September 2013 to April 2015, according to data provided by industry association the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to the BBC earlier this year.
Sources said the issue occurred in the fuel and was likely due to the interaction between certain types of biodiesel -- namely used cooking oil methyl esters, or UCOME -- and additives present in diesel from certain locations, such as Russia.
"Understanding the root cause of the issue has been challenging due to the sporadic and inconsistent nature of the failures," BSI said Friday. "Indeed, it has not been linked to any individual fuel retail sites or fuel suppliers, nor has it just affected individual vehicle makes or models."
The new FBT limit could create considerable uncertainty for Russian exporters, which currently count the UK as one of their largest clients, market sources have said previously.
"FBT is not something we test much...I could have two cargoes with exactly the same specification but not the same FBT. I cannot and refuse to guarantee the FBT," one trader at an exporter said last month. "This will be a new constraint for the UK."
The problem was first reported by Platts in February 2014.
In June 2015, the BBC Watchdog program reported the issues had affected drivers of the Hyundai ix35 car model in particular.
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