Understanding Complexity, Assuring Compliance at Automechanika
The Verification of Lubricant Specifications (VLS) is celebrating a successful Automechanika 2025. Over three busy days, the independent body of lubricant companies welcomed workshop owners and representatives from across the industry to the stand to discuss the complexities of the lubricants market and VLS's work to protect workshops and end users by investigating and resolving product complaints.
New automotive market standards and OEM specifications are being launched constantly while owners are holding onto their vehicles for longer, causing increased complexity for workshops in using the right lubricant.
Backed by Trading Standards, VLS aims to uphold standards of compliance by providing a credible and trusted means to verify lubricant specifications.
VLS Chairman Harald Oosting commented, "Workshops face many challenges currently. Economic pressures are hitting garages and fleet operators hard. Workshops are trying to save money wherever possible by reducing ranges while maximising the number of specifications claimed. However, using cheaper, poorer quality oils or ones that do not meet the correct specification risks the protection needed for owners' vehicles.
Poor quality or the wrong oil can cause damage to emission control systems, accelerated wear in gears and bearings, and the formation of piston deposits, leading to increased maintenance costs and, if left unchecked, eventual engine failure.
Modern vehicle engines require sophisticated lubricants using advanced chemistry. Even the slightest change in the formulation has the potential to reduce performance over the short term and cause engine damage over the long term. Compared to standard formulations, cheaper products might contain reduced quality base oils, fewer additives or even untested additives. This can significantly affect the lubricant, resulting in poor or possibly even dangerous performance compared to genuine products."
The ageing vehicle parc is also adding to engine oil complexity.
"To meet government requirements for reduced emissions and consumer needs for economy and performance, smaller engines are running at higher temperatures to maximise efficiency, power output and fuel economy. Longer oil drain intervals, taken together with smaller sumps and the need to minimise emissions, have created the need for less viscous, synthetic or semi-synthetic oils to provide the lubrication required in these challenging conditions.
Traditionally, when newer oils were developed, some were designed to be 'backwards compatible'. However, with an increasingly complex range of industry and OEM specifications, backwards compatibility cannot be assumed. OEM specifications can change over time, too. Subtle yet important differences concerning viscosity or performance characteristics and/or additive chemistries are reflected in specifications that must be addressed during regular servicing."
In this increasingly complex market, VLS's work to uphold standards and protect and educate end users is more important than ever. When VLS was first formed in 2013, there was clearly a lack of understanding in some areas of the marketplace. Twelve years later, VLS is confident that the message around compliance is being heard. However, the rise in cases over the past 12 to 18 months demonstrates that there is still work to do to ensure that technicians can be confident that a product can deliver what it claims.
Alongside investigating product complaints, VLS is closely monitoring products from new companies entering the additives market. "Additives play a vital part in lubricant performance, delivering a variety of characteristics to combat wear and corrosion, disperse soot and prevent the build-up of deposits whilst ensuring compatibility with emission control devices," says Alan Outhwaite, Chairman of the VLS Technical Review Panel. "Along with the proliferation of lubricant products in general, VLS is concerned about the integrity of products from new companies entering the additives market. Their additives may be cheaper, but they may also not be fully tested or approved as published industry and OEM specifications require."
At the show, VLS launched its latest white paper with a comprehensive review of the 123 cases investigated so far and released new data from its UK Workshops Attitudes to Engine Oil Survey. The survey results suggest that many workshops are unclear about the meaning of oil specifications and marketing claims, as well as some workshops naming price as their key decision-making factor.
“Compared to standard formulations, cheaper products might contain reduced quality base oils, fewer additives or even untested additives. This can significantly affect the lubricant, resulting in poor or possibly even dangerous performance compared to genuine products,” added Harald.