{"id":26791,"date":"2026-07-19T17:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/advice\/dpf-removal-and-the-law\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:33:56","slug":"dpf-removal-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/advice\/dpf-removal-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"DPF entfernen: Ist das in Deutschland erlaubt?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>No.<\/strong> Removing a diesel particulate filter (DPF), or &#8222;deleting&#8220; it with a remap, almost always makes a vehicle illegal to use on the road, and a vehicle built with a DPF fails its MOT without one<sup>1<\/sup>. &#8222;Just have it removed&#8220; is advice that still circulates when a DPF blocks, often from businesses that sell the service. Here is the legal position, and why removal doesn&#8217;t fix the problem anyway.<\/p>\n<h2>Removal is illegal on a road vehicle<\/h2>\n<p>It is an offence under regulation 61A of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 to use a vehicle that has been modified so that it no longer meets the emission standards it was designed to meet<sup>1,2<\/sup>. The government&#8217;s guidance is that removing a DPF &#8222;will almost invariably contravene these requirements, making the vehicle illegal for road use&#8220;, with fines of up to \u00a31,000, or \u00a32,500 for a light goods vehicle such as a van<sup>1<\/sup>. It makes no difference that the engine &#8222;runs fine&#8220; without it.<\/p>\n<h2>The MOT checks for it<\/h2>\n<p>Since February 2014 the MOT has checked that a DPF is present: a vehicle that was built with one fails if it is missing<sup>3<\/sup>. Since 20 May 2018 the checks have been stricter<sup>4,5<\/sup>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>evidence that the DPF has been tampered with is a major defect, so the vehicle fails;<\/li>\n<li>a DPF that has clearly been cut open and re-welded fails unless the owner can show a valid reason, such as filter cleaning;<\/li>\n<li>a diesel fitted with a DPF fails if its exhaust shows visible smoke of any colour during the smoke test.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A remap that stops the warning lights does not change any of this: the tester looks at the exhaust itself.<\/p>\n<h2>Insurance and resale<\/h2>\n<p>Insurers ask about modifications, and removing a DPF is one. Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, if you answer an insurer&#8217;s questions untruthfully, it can cancel the policy and refuse all claims where the answer was deliberate or reckless, and can still cancel the policy or pay less on a claim where it was careless<sup>6<\/sup>. And a vehicle without its DPF will fail its next MOT, whoever owns it by then<sup>3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h2>It doesn&#8217;t fix anything anyway<\/h2>\n<p>DPFs rarely block for no reason. The most common cause is soot building up faster than regeneration can burn it off, because of the way the vehicle is driven or a fault elsewhere: the EGR valve, sensors, pressure pipes, leaking injectors, glow plugs or the wrong engine oil<sup>7<\/sup>. Remove the filter and that fault is still there. The better path: find the cause with our guide to <a href=\"\/advice\/why-dpfs-block\/\">why DPFs block<\/a>, fix it, and if the filter can&#8217;t be recovered, fit a type-approved replacement. See the <a href=\"\/product-category\/dpf\/\">DPF range<\/a>, including Premium silicon-carbide DPFs with a 3-year warranty, and <a href=\"\/product-category\/catalytic-converter-dpf\/\">combined catalytic converter and DPF units<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Supplying a non-approved DPF is an offence too<\/h2>\n<p>For a vehicle that is Euro 5 or later, a replacement DPF must be type approved, and it is illegal to supply one that is not<sup>8<\/sup>: see <a href=\"\/advice\/type-approval-and-the-law\/\">type approval and the law<\/a>. In our range, every DPF listed for a Euro 5 vehicle and every combined catalytic converter and DPF unit is type approved. Find yours: <a href=\"\/parts\/ford\/transit\/\">Ford Transit DPFs<\/a>, <a href=\"\/parts\/vauxhall\/vivaro\/\">Vauxhall Vivaro DPFs<\/a>, <a href=\"\/parts\/mercedes\/sprinter\/\">Mercedes Sprinter DPFs<\/a> or <a href=\"\/parts\/\">all vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Department for Transport, &#8222;Diesel particulate filters: guidance note&#8220;. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/diesel-particulate-filters-guidance-note\/diesel-particulate-filters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, regulation 61A. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/uksi\/1986\/1078\/regulation\/61A\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">legislation.gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Department for Transport, &#8222;New rules for MOT to test for diesel particulate filter&#8220;, 4 December 2013. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/new-rules-for-mot-to-test-for-diesel-particulate-filter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>DVSA, MOT inspection manual for private passenger and light commercial vehicles, section 8.2.2. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles\/8-nuisance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>DVSA, &#8222;MOT changes: 20 May 2018&#8220;. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/mot-changes-20-may-2018\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, sections 2, 4 and 5 and Schedule 1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2012\/6\/contents\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">legislation.gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<li>BM Catalysts, &#8222;Diesel Particulate Filter Information &amp; Fitting Advice&#8220;. <a href=\"https:\/\/bmcats.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/DPF-Information-Fitting-Advice.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bmcats.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Department for Transport, &#8222;Catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters&#8220; (updated 30 May 2023). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/catalytic-convertors\/catalytic-converters-and-diesel-particulate-filters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gov.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"\/advice\/\">&larr; Back to Help &amp; Advice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nein. Warum der Ausbau eines DPF die Betriebserlaubnis erl\u00f6schen l\u00e4sst (\u00a7 19 StVZO), wie die HU ihn erkennt und was bei verstopftem DPF hilft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":26778,"menu_order":130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26791","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26931,"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26791\/revisions\/26931"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cathive.co.uk\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}