New York Times reports that VW have to recall ~ half a million of their 2009 - 2015 4 cylinder VW and Audi cars to remove the software designed to detect when an emissions test is being conducted and only then run the full emissions systems referred to as a 'defeat device'.

Sounds really odd and dodgy.

Sounds made-up to me. As they say in journalism: "Wow, that story's far too good to check".

Sounds made-up to me. As they say in journalism: "Wow, that story's far too good to check".

The U.S. EPA's Cynthia Giles the Office of Enforcement and Compliance is the quoted source.

I'm intrigued to know how they have developed something that can tell someone has stuck a thin pipe up the exhaust pipe.

My guess is something along the lines say 2000 rpm for 60 second under no load or something similar and because it's not under any load it would not be felt by a driver as being gutless so could run the full gamut of power robbing systems and achieve the printout required.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/21b8983ffa5d0e4685257dd4006b85e2/dfc8e33b5ab162b985257ec40057813b!OpenDocument

"Volkswagen admitted..."

I take it back.

I know someone that used to work for Bentley, so part of the VAG group, and he said they used to do things like this.

 

Its just getting round the rules - isn't that what they are for?

Heh, this could be interesting for owners. Presumably once they have been "fixed" to remove the cheat, they will struggle to ass emissions tests no matter how well maintained they are.

Nah, I bet they'd just do an exception for them similar to what they do for a whole list of cars which are known to be troublesome to get to complete readiness monitors (http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/regs/im/obd/regtech/420f08009.pdf).

It is a major problem for the Volkswagen Group in North America and World Wide.

 

This appears to show that they

' had Volkswagen and Audi diesel engines that did not meet the emission standards in some states when being run in everyday use, 

but when they were being tested and the OBD port used they could go into low emissions mode during the test.'

 

Vorsprung Durch Technik.

Maybe Billions of Dollars of a fine will not be enough, more law suits might follow, like from owners & others.

(Maybe from honest Manufacturers that sold vehicles that were low emissions in everyday use, 

and not just being sold on the Kidology like with the European Corporations Diesels.)

Now I wonder if it's a trick that other manufacturers might be using also in their own way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/business/volkswagen-is-ordered-to-recall-nearly-500000-vehicles-over-emissions-software.html?emc=edit_na_20150918&nlid=19466789&ref=cta&_r=3

Possible max fine of $18billion. Maybe they wont be able to afford to buy Red Bull F1 now. 

And this comes after the repairs/replacement to the 120,000 TFSI engines in the states due to excessive oil use,and Red bull want a reliable VAG engine to replace the Renault ?

Not a possible 'Max' fine,  and ends there, but a possible fine, and many other law suits might follow, and fines,

and in other 'World Regions', if the Volkswagen Group have been at it again playing at being 'Green', and just being sneaky.

 

Honesty being the best policy for once the Board of Volkswagen and Volkswagen USA maybe better come out and own up to everything the know they did and approved and signed off on that they knew was wrong, or it will come in dribs and drabs.

Like with GM where all that was the issue was a Cheap Key / Barrel and it is costing them plenty.

They knew the fault, they never bothered to deal with the issue early, or even deal with it.

 

or 

'The car in front is a Toyota',  (a Hybrid Toyota.)

This makes me laugh. Like murica give two hoots about reducing their emissions given what they drive. This smacks of hypocrisy, particularly when American car manafacturers infamously changed the classification of their suvs to a truck to circumvent the safety regs in place for car classification and they say this is a threat to public health?

Guns? Much?

I'm pretending Tesla doesn't exist for the purposes of this rant.Also, apologies for generalizing to anyone here from across the pond. I put a z in generalising for you x

Californians seem to care quite a lot.

I think different emissions regs apply in different states?

 

Can't see VAG selling many diesels in California for the foreseeable future.

This'll be the first of many.

 

Q. I wonder how many manufacturers specifically tune their cars to pass emissions tests?

 

A. All of them

 

 

 

 

Doesn't What Car or Auto Express publish real life emissions figures compared with EU test ones?

 

Never seen a car that actually matched its test figure (rather like EU mpg TBH)

Edited 19 September, 201510 yr by camelspyyder

That's not quite as bad as making them behave differently only during actual testing.

Seems that the VW Group are masking the truth, can't ever believe they'd do that to sell more cars   

 

Opinions on the following welcomed;

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34298259

Edited 19 September, 201510 yr by Telboy5

'Royal Dutch Shell PLC' seem to have got off lightly in this Fuel Mis-selling, if it is the full story.

http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2015/01/20/shell-fined-nearly-1-million-for-falsely-selling-green-motor-fuel

 

....................

Volkswagen Group (& it is Audi & Volkswagen Diesels.)

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34298259

USA market protectionism at its best I'd reckon, plus the chance to grab some more much needed money - all that fighting abroad costs a bit especially when they are fighting in areas where they don't always have a chance of using that fighting to do "battle testing" and selling their kit!

 

Land of the free ?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that VAG would not do that, but American companies are full of that "get around" logic.

Edited 19 September, 201510 yr by rum4mo

So what does that news mean for us? Will there be a recall for EU cars (should the alleged VAG behaviour be proven to be true)? And what would such a recall do - change the software settings such that the car runs in 'emissions test' mode all the time? Impact on fuel efficiency, drivability, wear and tear?

Recall in America could cost VW £11.5bn

Read about it Here