Hyundai has been forced to withdraw an advert for its Nexo hydrogen car after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it to be misleading.
One person complained that a line in the advert – “a car so beautifully clean, it purifies the air as it goes” – could not be substantiated.
The ASA said the complainant had raised concerns because they understood that, although the car would not release exhaust fumes like a traditional combustion engine, it would still emit particulates into the air as a result of brake and tyre wear.
Hyundai countered that ‘a clean supply of air was essential to provide the oxygen in order for the fuel cell to operate, because the air contained gases and particles that would damage the fuel cell’. It also said the air filter removed 97 percent of fine dust and gases, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides.
Although the Nexo does not filter and clean particulates from its own brakes and tyres, Hyundai said the air that was drawn into the car may include those particulates, as well as particulates from other vehicles.
The ASA banned the advert as it ‘understood particulates from brake and type wear would still be released into the air and would not necessarily be removed by the car, unless they happened to pass through its air filtration system’.
It added: ‘We understood that particulates from brake and tyre wear were a significant source of air pollution from vehicle use.’
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