I completely agree that emission reduction equipment fitted to vehicles should be maintained to the "original" spec.

I have no experience of DPFs, but it annoys me that people are so quick to remove EGRs in the misguided thought that it will improve performance.

However, I also have little faith that any of the regulatory bodies know what they are talking about.

So I should amend my view to ....

I completely agree that emission reduction equipment fitted to vehicles should be maintained to the "original" spec. - until it is proven that those specs were complete rubbish anyway.

Diesel Particulate Filters were mentioned on the BBC News this evening. Not only did they state that removal of the DPF is illegal but they implied that all diesel vehicles running without a DPF were also illegal. No mention of dates of manufacture at all.

If they want to catch peeps who don't have a DPF fitted when their vehicle should as it was fitted at the time of manufacture then they won't be able to go by date alone. DPF's may have become mandatory at some point but they were optional on some cars before this. The Freelander 2 is a good example. Optional from the start of production in the UK but fitted as standard in some countries. DPF became standard on the MY11 Freelander 2 in the UK I think. The 8th character in the vin plate states which engine and if DPF is fitted at the time of manufacture. Lists of vin v spec is available online on a number of web sites. It wouldn't be difficult for the dvla to link this to the MOT system so the tester see's it on his screen.