The Institute of Advanced Motorists has highlighted three popular aftermarket vehicle modifications that are not only making cars and vans illegal, but are also putting lives at risk.

The leading independent road safety charity says the most dangerous practices are:

    - diesel particulate filter removal
    - In appropriate fitting of xenon headlights
    - reprogramming or ‘chipping’ vehicle electronic control units (ECUs)

DPFs in particular can often be a problem on vehicles with stop-start urban driving cycles. This means they tend to clog and this can mean and expensive replacement. Unscrupulous garages will sometimes remove the filter completely, something which will damage the vehicle systems and mean deadly pollutants are released directly into the air.

IAM head of technical policy Tim Shallcross said, “DPF removal has always been illegal but some garages are blatantly still doing it. In short they are selling a service that’s killing people.” 

The IAM also point out that if a vehicle has an illegal modification its insurance could be invalidated leaving the driver with a huge bill in the event of an accident.