MAHLE Powertrain’s RDE Centre achieves ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation

• UKAS awards MAHLE Powertrain with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation for vehicle emission testing to latest Euro 6 standards
  
  
• ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation set to become a required standard for vehicle emissions testing
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• RDE facility is first in UK to receive accreditation for whole vehicle emissions testing
  
  

MAHLE Powertrain has achieved ISO/IEC 17025:2017 certification for its Real Driving Emissions Centre (RDEC) in Northampton, UK. The ISO/IEC standard covers testing and calibration within laboratories and is expected to become a universal requirement across the vehicle emissions testing industry. MAHLE’s RDEC facility is the first such facility in the UK to achieve this certification.

Northampton, UK: MAHLE Powertrain’s RDE Centre is used to develop customer vehicle calibrations to the latest worldwide emissions standards, validate vehicle designs for environment extremes (-40 to +60 °C, 5,000m altitude) or support homologation witness testing. The ISO standard is set to become an assurance benchmark across the vehicle emissions testing industry to ensure accuracy and consistency of emissions test results. “We have had this standard in our sights for a while, but it is very complex when applying it to the large numbers of factors involved in the measurement chain for emissions such as CO2, NOx and hydrocarbons,” says Derek Wise, chief engineer for Build and Test at MAHLE Powertrain. “However, test data quality is central to what we do, so we targeted being the first in the UK with the standard specifically for vehicle emissions”.

The ISO/IEC 17025:2017 is based on the published ISO standard "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories". It is recognised as the main standard within the industry which laboratories must hold in order to be considered technically competent. Highly regarded within the engineering and automotive sectors, it is specifically designed to improve technical competence, testing accuracy, reliability and repeatability. According to UKAS, MAHLE Powertrain’s RDE Centre is the first vehicle emissions testing facility in the UK to receive ISO 17025:2017 certification for its vehicle emissions test processes and procedures.

“While other vehicle emissions laboratories certainly hold ISO 17025:2017 certification, this is the first time we have audited the actual emissions test procedures,” says UKAS’s assessment manager Chris Downs. “It gave our assessors a first-hand insight into the processes involved as a result.”

Wise concludes: “The standard’s requirements are specific and demanding, incorporating and extending those of ISO 9001:2000. For MAHLE Powertrain’s testing procedures to be recognised with this certification is testament to our staff’s skills and experience, and the investments we have made in test and validation facilities. We are justifiably proud that our emissions testing is the first in the UK to receive ISO 17025:2017 certification. “It is the latest in a long list of firsts for MAHLE Powertrain”

Contacts in MAHLE Corporate Communications:

Christopher Rimmele
Product, Technology, and Aftermarket Communications Spokesman
Phone: +49 711 501-12374
E-mail: Contact by email

Agency contact
Nevil Hall
Phone: +44 1295 277050
Mobile: +44 7711 861662
E-mail: Contact by email