^^^^oh dear!

How many can fit in 'the corner'?.

GCR today

BMW complaining that there diesel sales are down due to the public's loss of trust in diesel.

GCR today

BMW complaining that there diesel sales are down due to the public's loss of trust in diesel.

I have lost trust in the belief that (unelected) legislators will do anything other than make diesel ownership ever more difficult and expensive in the future. Having had a good look at how complicated a Euro 6 diesel engine is I no longer think is is a sensible ownership proposition unless one's circumstances can make a very strong economic case over petrol.

 

Was watching 'Down on the farm' on daytime Quest TV today and this bloke converted an old Citroen C15 van (non turbo I think) to run on veg oil and congratulated himself on his sound ecological principles. He did not of course mention the NOx coming out of the back with the smell of chips and he was a professional field scientist by profession!  OK this  was probably done in about 2005 or so but everything seems to have changed and all bets are off!

^^^^^ I get the impression the 'legislators' are on a 'mission' considering the 2017 world standard and the CARB's (world) 2020 standard to be met.

Another follow up by Autocar : differences in the fix requirements between USA and Europe cars.

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/vw-emissions-scandal-why-europe%E2%80%99s-software-fix-won%E2%80%99t-work-america

If you want to know about cutting edge science and how it might help diesel try Controlled Environments <cemag.us>

(Hope it works)

GCR has a story about FCA's Jeep Wrangler being available, for the first time in the U.S. market, with a diesel engine from 2017.

So they must have confidence that they can meet the CARB's 2020 emission standards.....hmmm

From today's Green Car Reports;

VW Bites Back

And amongst other things, claims

".....the defeat device used for U.S. testing was entirely legal in Europe".

So there!

http://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06z941f

 

The Westminster Committee made up of MP's is just a joke,

and what VW have done and are trying to pretend they have done.

All they are doing is removing the Defeat Device by applying new software, and they are saying no change because 

it was never about real world driving in the EU only about Tests. 

 

Being shown again now on BBC Parliament.  18.25-19.25

Recording from Monday 25th January 2016.

 

Paul Willis Managing Director Volkswagen Group UK, 

knows very little that is important and knows everything about things he wants to try to pretend are important.

Does not know how much VW are spending on lawyers. 'Why should he know?' was his answer.

Bluff and bluster.

 

He, Paul Willis is just 'Sales, Import & Finance', knew nothing, knows nothing, nothing to do with him or UK Employees.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

In response to a question from a committee member he said he didn't know how much VAG Worldwide  was spending on lawyers on this issue  and then admitted to a later questioner that he'd brought two lawyers with him  to the committee session ! Classic trip-up !

 

I thought he also corrected his answer about how many of VAG's boards he sat on, by admitting that he did also sit on the VAG Worldwide oversight board - this undermined his initial defence that VAG UK was essentially involved in sales and marketing and knew nothing about the engineering issues - its was the Gernans that did that.

 

He also said that Wolfsburg had no idea who commissioned the "Defeat" device or  who implemented it, even though his accomplice at the hearing (A German technical bod from VAG AG) stated that the effected EMU's had source code totalling a few million lines of code - very un-German not to have everything recorded to the smallest detail/last pfennig . . . .  and great corporate governance .

 

He also stated that no stone was being left unturned  to root-out these coding Jihadi sleepers in VAG  in that every company computer and communication device was being  examined for evidence of the perpetrators activity. Apparently, the amount of material to be examined during the search was estimated to be the equivalent of 15 million pages of text, so, the committee was told, it would take a very long time to get an answer . . let's guess sometime after 2018 ?

 

There you go, government gets ( And by implication the UK gets) what they deserve if they are content for the emission standards enforced in  in-service tests (MOTs) to run behind and be out of sync with emission standards incorporated in type approval  standards, even if they are EU in origin.. Crazy. If ever  this reaches court in Europe, VAG's lawyers will probably accuse HMG of inciting VAG to exploit the difference.

 

 

Postscript

 

As to the plastic addition to the air intake on the 1.6, I'm no aerodynamisist, but wouldn't something that long just create additional drag (Through friction) and break-up of the air-flow (Turbulence) downstream of the device, thus, further confusing the MAFF sensor ? Not so much  an airflow transformer as a bureaucrat bamboozaler ?

 

 

Nick

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

^^^^^ sounds like a 'Rupert'.........."humbling" and all that.

It must be THE standard defence nowerdays.

What is clear is that Paul Willis knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

 

He (They) know the value of the VW/Skoda/Audi/Skoda on Finance / Lease in the UK. 

They own them, they are on their balance sheet, VW borrow the money to hire out cars they buy from themselves then later need to sell them.

 

MP's never bothered asking about people that 'Own the cars'  people that bought them, and can not get what they might  normally have as a trade in at some other Dealerships that are not VWG.

 

So North American Owners are not allowed to sell Used Cars that have the Defeat Device now according to Paul Willis,

i never knew that, is that actually true, or is it only Dealerships.?

 

He is very bothered about his 900 employees involved in Sales in the UK, 

not so sure about those in Dealerships around the country he says are so supportive.

 

It is also interesting that he says twice he has written to 1.2 Million Owners, 

& 40,000 have replied.

 

Surely he can use his brain, 

if 30-40% of the VWG cars in the UK affected are actually owned by VW, he would be notifying himself, 

or the Fleet Owners, Lease Companies,

There are plenty Registered Keepers that have not received a letter, and lots of vehicles sitting in Dealers Lots, 

and those 'In Trade' are not getting back in touch with Paul Willis's team.

 

PS

Paul Willis said on Monday to the Committee how good VW sales were currently, 

he struggles to ever mention Audi, Seat, Skoda, and the MP's just seem happy to keep saying Volkswagen, 

and not Volkswagen Group.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Whoever owns it in the U.S. will get 'nailed' by their VIN, I guess.

I can't see where the real motivation to VAG (And other motor manufacturers)  was in adopting this apparently high-risk (Of discovery) fraudulent strategy ? 

 

Protecting a few extra horsepower made available to the real performance car owners  ? - Fingers of one hand in sales numbers

 

Deferring the introduction and deployment of the best emission limitation kit to the mass car market - what to stop a competitive  manufacturer technology war ?

 

Or, is it, that they have an understanding that the technology they are currently using hasn't really got the capability to meet the existing emission controls, let alone those coming in the near future and that going public, in this way i.e. with public ire on the issue raised,  would provide the opportunity to take this issue to the public domain and allow negotiations with governments  to start in the reversing of emission standards, without substantial loss of competitive advantage - especially if they knew that competitor companies took the same view ? 

 

Or is it the result of unbelievably self-centred (Bearing in mind the urban mortality figures associated with increased emissions), niave and parochial thinking in the car companies ?

 

Surely this is the ultimate in ****-up meets conspiracy at corporate and governmental levels ?

 

 

Nick

Edited 31 January, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

I can't see where the real motivation to VAG (And other motor manufacturers)  was in adopting this apparently high-risk (Of discovery) fraudulent strategy ? 

 

Protecting a few extra horsepower made available to the real performance car owners  ? - Fingers of one hand in sales numbers

 

 

 

Nick

 

The cheat software has no bearing on maximum horsepower as maximum horsepower is achieved with full throttle which is'nt used in the EU tests.

 

The cheat software prevents the various emission strategies being used at lower rpm and lighter throttle settings. 

 

So the the cheat software is there to give better low engine speed responsiveness and to prevent issues with hesitation.

 

Something that VAG will have to overcome with the new software maps. Everyone talks about loosing power and economy when they should be worried about loosing low speed responsiveness and driveability.

 

Lee

Paul Willis Managing Director Volkswagen UK's biggest foot in mouth moment was putting in writing that VW were doing what was being commonly done.

 

Now totally left in the sharn, unable to say who these are, how he knows, and he just tries to bluster through it.

I doubt he will be visiting the United States of America where he might be called before a set of Politicians that could hold him in contempt.

 

Paul Willis will no doubt be getting well remunerated now, and into the future because he is the fall guy for VW UK.

8 years with VW, (15 in total, obviously gathering knowledge and experience with the competition, as so many VW Seniors do, like Stafan Jacoby that was head of VW USA until 2010)

always there, never knowing much on anything technical, just the type of top man / woman VW want.

http://linkedin.com/in/paul-willis-a5192426

Edited 31 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

The cheat software has no bearing on maximum horsepower as maximum horsepower is achieved with full throttle which is'nt used in the EU tests.

 

The cheat software prevents the various emission strategies being used at lower rpm and lighter throttle settings. 

 

So the the cheat software is there to give better low engine speed responsiveness and to prevent issues with hesitation.

 

Something that VAG will have to overcome with the new software maps. Everyone talks about loosing power and economy when they should be worried about loosing low speed responsiveness and driveability.

 

Lee

To me it's about the EGR valve only being 'activated' during the test to achieve a low emission figure

But

Not on the road

I don't think they believe it will last reliably if it has to work 'on road'.

To me the challenge is in reliability of the EGR valve..... not fouling due to constant use.

SCR use has probably fixed that as such an issue in newer models by controlling the NOx after combustion rather than so much exhaust gas being directed to the inlet side to reduce the combustion temperature.

I doubt if testers care about any drivability issues, simply tailpipe emissions.

Paul Willis VW UK talks about owners not losing out.  

 

Well he might not be technical, but Customer / Owners were paying plenty for Blocked DPF,s,  the way the Regens waste Fuel, 

the EGR Replacements, 

VW saying out of Warranty, maybe paying a percentage for 'Goodwill'. 

Well VW had Fundamental Design of Engine Management on the road to have vehicle passing EU Testing.

 

Maybe he need to start setting money aside to recompense and refund many with crap performing 1.6 TDI in VW's, Skoda's, Audi,s & Seat's in the UK. 

Or just VW's if he only represents Volkswagen UK and not the VW Group in the UK.

Edited 31 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

The ABC's website has a story of piston failure in a VW Polo and Eos 'manual' cars and refers to a 24V9 campaign to fix the problem.

Just what they don't want; more bad publicity.

Is '24V9' not Wastegate Actuator and going back 4 years now with Skoda?

Is '24V9' not Wastegate Actuator and going back 4 years now with Skoda?

No idea actually but piston replacement sounds odd to me.......were they burning out, I wonder.

1.4TSI Twincharger Engines have been failing from those built from 2009-2012 and then the updated engine from 2012,

including in Australia.

Even replacement New Engines have failed, some under 5 year old cars have had 3 engines fitted already.

VW have never admitted any issues.  Hopefully now they might, doubt it though.

eg

http://revotechnik.com/support/technical/14tsi-twincharger-engine-issues

^^^^^ recall is a dirty word for them.

They call it a campaign.......avoids bad publicity.

More interesting reading as Bosch denies any culpability

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102147_supplier-bosch-defends-diesels-blames-vw-investigates-internally

More interesting reading as Bosch denies any culpability

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102147_supplier-bosch-defends-diesels-blames-vw-investigates-internally

 

This line "Many engineers at other car companies initially thought it was impossible for Volkswagen to meet U.S. emissions standards without SCR--and they turned out to be right."  

 

Sounds most telling and  summarizes much of the issue in to a half sentence perhaps.?  

Edited 3 February, 201610 yr by lol-lol