Breaking VW Emissions Scandal -Mk I

[SurreyJohn]

There is nothing to sugest any Skoda's are involved at this stage only confirmed that Audi and VW are affected.

The problem was first announced in USA, don't think they sell Skoda (or Seat) there, but clearly they share some of the same engines as VWs and Audis so seems likely that it could affect other parts of the VW group, the news suggested South Korea are already investigating to see if affects cars sold there, potentially a version of this software could be in European spec cars, but too early to tell.

[lichfielddriver]

Will my ved go up?

[Paulbrown]

So no need to panic

[lichfielddriver]

I used to turn the pump down on my montego td for its test many years ago......

[Jevpls]

I don't  consider it a problem. Actually I don't care about CO2 at all. That's one large environmental business and nothing else.

But even someone thinks about re-testing the cars then I doubt that it's so easy. You bought your car and believed what the car seller said. You are not obliged to test everything to be sure that it's according to the manual. Therefore it's not your fault. There's even a term "goot faith purchaser" or something like that...

So, If some organization thinks about additional filters, charges or whatever - it should be paid by VW.

Edited 22 September, 2015 by Jevpls

[Huskoda]

I don't  consider it a problem. Actually I don't care about CO2 at all. That's one large environmental business and nothing else.

Well that's fine, as this is about nitrous oxides Which unlike CO2 are actually toxic to people in the street.

[Breezy_Pete]

Thanks JR RS for a very useful post. 

[vrskeith]

So were all diesel cars sold worldwide(during this period), with misleading performance Manufacturing Data - provided by VAG!  How big is the real problem?????

 

Is it only emissions ? or fuel consumption?????.............

[The Zee]

A few facts

We all drive (petrol or diesel)

We all pollute

We pollute less than 10 years ago

Things are improving all the time.

Naughty yes, but does it change anything?

Will you ignore VAG products now?

I doubt it, who can you trust?

[gadgetman]

Yup, now revealed as a global issue.

Not sure how it'd escape the various global versions of our MOT though for so long.

[Breezy_Pete]

Just for a bit of light relief, here's a good post on one of the (many!) other threads on here.

 

In a nutshell, for those who don't wish to click, VAG engines are different in the US from everywhere else in the world.

[muddyboots]

US spec cars I think tend to have more emissions control hardware fitted as standard than the "equivalent" engine in a euro car; certainly when I was looking at self-study guides for the CR engines, I recall more cats/filters etc being fitted in the exhaust.

 

As I understand it, the ECU could work out when it was being tested by monitoring parameters such as steering input, speed etc and then making adjustments accordingly to reduce emissions.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing is rife among car manufacturers, and it's just unlucky for VW they've been caught first...

[gadgetman]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-escalates-volkswagen-11m-vehicles-involved

11m affected worldwide so not just a US issue

[langers2k]

Just for a bit of light relief, here's a good post on one of the (many!) other threads on here.

 

In a nutshell, for those who don't wish to click, VAG engines are different in the US from everywhere else in the world.

 

Sure, but from what I understand it's linked to the EA189 engine which is the same basic engine in both in the US and ROW. It will then have the appropriate bits bolted on for the locality it's being used in.

 

I've also seen reports it may only affect engines which use adblue.

 

Still, we shall see as more details come out.

[Stuart_J]

We are reaching a point where with car production becoming more & more efficient as a whole there is more capacity than customers so were VAG to take a big kicking it will help others

 

Somehow the industry needs to loose capacity so it would benefit Ford & GM ( American, not saying any more ) if VAG were to loose many sales

 

I can see this only getting messier with a lot of mud slinging as other manufacturer cheats come to light

 

Only plus for us is VAG make good cars, factories have to be kept running so there could be some rather nice discounts coming

 

We all now this environmental stuff is bent & twisted to benefit manufacturers & wherever in life there's money to be made someone twists things to help if they can. Even Governments do, this is a 2009 article but shows how our government had been giving guidelines to councils to phase  traffic lights to make us use more fuel & pay more tax http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7998182.stm

[numskull]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-escalates-volkswagen-11m-vehicles-involved

11m affected worldwide so not just a US issue

VW have stated European cars are not affected, so they're fully compliant. We'll wait an see how true that is....

[Breezy_Pete]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-escalates-volkswagen-11m-vehicles-involved

11m affected worldwide so not just a US issue

Oh.

That's embarrassing.

Thanks for the correction.

[domhnall]

it's not CO2, it is nitrogen dioxide and they are compliant in the EU as the standards here are much more lax

[numskull]

EA 189 engines are those that are affected, and I think Octavia have these fitted?

[domhnall]

"What if something similar has been happening in Europe, where diesels have sold in far bigger numbers? It’s unlikely because NOx emissions standards are more lax (though they’ve got much tighter with Euro 6). But no doubt the reputational damage will ripple in this direction."  Top Gear Blog

[TsvRS]

An organization proven to have intentionally evaded its responsibilities or defrauded its customers is dead meat. You cannot regain trust by paying a fine.The direct consequences in this case are probably not greatly significant but it cannot be assumed that the practice of obscuring test-results is limited to this one case. What would have happened if they had discovered that loads of their engines were blowing up? Oh I forgot, they did ...

 

Karma.

[gadgetman]

VW have stated European cars are not affected, so they're fully compliant. We'll wait an see how true that is....

As said VW themselves are today saying it's 11m GLOBALLY.

[Kerans]

Well that's fine, as this is about nitrous oxides Which unlike CO2 are actually toxic to people in the street.

 

Spot on. Although it's about Nitrogen Oxides which are a slightly different group of compounds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_oxide / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_dioxide

 

Both of the above are toxic and both are generally dealt with by EGR, AdBlue and catalytic converters. I presume VW found some way to fiddle the EGR or the selective catalytic reduction process (what AdBlue uses) during testing to give better figures, then returned things to 'normal' when actually driving, to possibly give better performance and reliability. As we all know EGR systems are vulnerable to clogging and likewise SCR systems are. Bypassing them would possibly reduce the problems caused by this clogging, at a cost of greater emissions.

 

More here:

 

http://jalopnik.com/your-guide-to-dieselgate-volkswagens-diesel-cheating-c-1731857018

[jlwah]

News says that VW is putting aside £4.7B to cover the cost of the 'scandal'. Wonder if this will cause them to re-think buying Red Bull Racing?

 

Can't believe that it's only VAG that has done this, I'm sure more whistles are set to be blown.

[InfiniteDreamer]

In us they're allowed to emit 31mg of Nox

I'm Europe it's 80mg