James Dyson, of bagless vacuum cleaner fame, has accused German rival Bosch and Siemens of cheating on official EU energy efficiency testing. Dyson claims that its competitor's 750W vacuums draw only 750W when they're being tested in the lab, but there's "control electronics" that up-rate the motor to 1600W when they're actually being used at home to suck up dirt. The best bit, though, is that Bosch is also involved in the Volkswagen emissions scandal: Bosch wrote the "defeat device" code that was ultimately used to cheat on emissions tests around the world. Dyson, the company, today filed legal challenges against Bosch in the Netherlands and France, and against Siemens in Belgium. (Bosch and Siemens, or BSH Hausgeräte, is actually just one company.) The vacuum cleaners being targeted by Dyson are the Siemens Q8.0 and Bosch GL80/In’Genius ProPerform models. Both of these vacuums are advertised as having an "AAAA" EU energy efficiency rating—a rating, according to Dyson, that can only be achieved in laboratory testing.

Dyson, the man, said: “Bosch has installed control electronics into some of its machines to wrongfully increase energy consumption when in use—to cheat the EU energy label. Their behaviour is akin to that seen in the Volkswagen scandal. This behaviour is seriously misleading customers.” Bosch, for its part, "strenuously rejects" Dyson's allegations. “We do not understand these assertions by Dyson and we strenuously reject them," the company said. "We are committed to providing full disclosure on the energy ratings and broader performance of our vacuum cleaners so that consumers can make an informed decision. For reasons we fail to understand, this is not something that Dyson choose to do." As far as Dyson the company is concerned, the main problem is that the EU testing procedure isn't representative of real-world use. For vacuum efficiency, EU regulations stipulate that the vacuum only has to be tested with an empty bag—and so that's exactly what Bosch and Siemens does, according to Dyson.

The problem is, when the bag is full of dirt—which it often is, during real-world usage—the vacuum needs to suck much harder to achieve the same cleaning power. According to Dyson, the Bosch and Siemens vacuums are scaling all the way up from 750W to 1600W when they detect that there's dirt in the bag, reducing the real-world efficiency rating from AAAA to an E or an F. Dyson, which has been riding its bagless vacuum steed for decades, obviously has a rather big horse in this race. Dyson has previously called for a new EU vacuum testing regime that takes into account real-world usage, presumably because it would bestow its vacuum cleaners with higher efficiency ratings than its competitors'. Dyson is no stranger to legal action, either, to safeguard its suction supremacy: back in 2012, Dyson sued Bosch for allegedly paying an ex-Dyson engineer for some trade secrets.Sir James Dyson has lost a bid to scrap EU energy labelling laws. Making his case to the European Court of Justice, the British inventor complained that vacuum cleaners are only tested when they are empty of dust, meaning the ratings are not reflective of performance in real-world conditions.

His complaints echo those now being levelled at car emissions tests in the wake of the Volkswagen cheating scandal.miele vacuum cleaner price listHis company, Dyson, has alleged publicly that rival firms in the domestic appliance sector also "cheat" energy efficiency tests and that labelling "misleads consumers to the real environmental impact of the machine they are buying".robot vacuum cleaner with base station reviewWhile accepting the testing process was flawed, the EU's General Court dismissed Dyson's lawsuit because his company had failed to show that more reliable or accurate tests were available. vax vacuum cleaner bagsLast month the firm launched separate legal action against rivals Bosch and Siemens, after independent tests supposedly showed vacuum cleaners could draw twice the allocated power when operating with dust inside them.

This would equate to an AAAA test rating dropping to an E or F in the home. Bosch and Siemens have denied the claims and threatened to counter-sue.Sir James said yesterday's ruling "defies belief" and has compared the findings to the VW emissions-rigging scandal. "It is deplorable that the ECJ endorses tests that don't attempt to represent in-home use, and we believe this is causing consumers to be misled," He said.  The decision comes the day after David Cameron called for an end to punitive red tape in Brussels.Bagless vacuum cleaner pioneer Sir James Dyson is facing the threat of legal action from a German rival he publicly accused of Volkswagen-style energy test cheating.BSH Hausgerate, the parent company of Bosch and Siemens, has issued a statement indicating it will launch a counter claim in the UK to three lawsuits issued last week in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It has branded claims that its cleaners are designed to use less power during official tests as "unfounded and untrue".

Sir James made the allegations last week as his company filed the legal actions. He says Bosch and Siemens cleaners use only 750MW of power during tests, but that in everyday use this increases to 1600MW. He told the Daily Telegraph he will not be "diverted from what is a crucial consumer issue" and said he was "disappointed" by the response.For its part, a spokesman for BSH said in a statement that Sir James "has a history of taking a very aggressive approach against his competitors and has a desire to be in the public eye". It added that having made "completely unfounded accusations of cheating in the past week he has now overstepped the mark".The German company told The Guardian its vacuum cleaners were fitted with sensors in 2013, before the EU energy label was introduced in September last year, that were designed to maintain suction as the bag filled up. It also claimed its cleaners performed better than Dyson's in German tests and in comparisons by Which? The two companies have a long-standing rivalry.

A 2012 dispute was settled out of court after Dyson discovered a 'mole' in one of its plants sending information back to Bosch. Last year Bosch accused Dyson of advertising incorrect values on the energy labels for its appliances.Dyson has claimed rival vacuum cleaner manufacturer Bosch is cheating European energy tests, mimicking the global emissions scandal that has engulfed fellow German brand Volkswagen.Sir James Dyson, who invented the 'bagless' vacuum cleaner for which his company is famed, told the Daily Telegraph that Bosch's "behaviour is akin to that seen in the Volkswagen scandal".Dyson has filed lawsuits in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands alleging some of its rival's machines are designed to run at a low power setting when empty, such as in test conditions, and then double their output during "real world" use when dust is detected.Bosch vigorously denies the allegations. "We do not understand these assertions by Dyson," the company said.According to Dyson, the models in question achieve a top AAAA rating, which would fall to E or F if the increase in power was taken into account.