VAG - Naughty

[BiggestNizzy]

VAG are in the sh** in the US by having a cheat mode that allowed them to get better emisions figures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34311819

[Dominic]

Oh dear...

the device that allowed VW cars to emit less during tests than they would while driving normally

I wonder what the "device" was... and why not fit it to all cars?... cost / performance losses I would presume.

[cstrachan]

I though most manufactures ECUs had programs that worked out when on test to reduce emissions, maybe not allowed in the US though?

[woody]

The device was software & lowered the Nox emissions which are tighter in the states, esp California than in the EU.Diesels emit comparatively more nox emissions, so the 'device' was only fitted to these. Also have read nothing to suggest any other engine type hasn't had a similar device included only that this engine type was investigated.

[tut]

"I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public," Martin Winterkorn said.

No you are not, you are sorry because you were caught out. If this was pure deceit and an attempt to get better than official figures, they deserve to get hit for billions.

tut

[Andy G]

Naughty VAG would have been an entirely different sort of post in SE of old

[tut]

God we are getting old, what has happened to the usual suspects?

tut

[Sanjøy]

Just been reading about this, this is monumental deception! Hopefully it does not impact their subsidiaries too badly.

Audi
Lamborghini
Bentley Motors
Bugatti Automobiles
Porsche
Ducati
Ducati Corse
MAN SE
Scania
SEAT
Škoda Auto
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen
Volkswagen Marine
Designing Facilities
Italdesign Giugiaro
Financial Services
Volkswagen Financial Services AG
Volkswagen Leasing GmbH

[vet111s]

Someone's head had to roll.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34340997
What impact do you think that will have on vw plans to buy red bull f1 team? Martin whatshisname was apparently chief instigator in this deal and had eventually got his way after a long boardroom battle.

[graeme]

"Ve plan to invest heavily in Red Bull's Rulebook Interpretation Division, and ve are certain ve will see a new, high-performance interpretation technology trickle down to our road cars by 2018."

[tut]

I have not seen mention yet that Governments could well step in for loss of revenue.

The doctored emission results would have put the cars in a lower tax bracket.

tut

[fd]

Depend on what the US tax vehicles based on (I don't know) . . . this is NOx emissions and not CO2, so in the UK there would be no revenue change. Bigger issue for VAG is that this effectively invalidates the type approval for the vehicle, and could, therefore, ban the cars from being used I think (as they have no type approval). The US also has longer warantee regulations which may not be achievable if all the emissions control tech is switched on all the time (it wears out). So, they are pretty screwed, even more so because they are Germans and this is in America . . . I believe all new sales of VW vehicles with the dodgy engines in the US are now stopped . . . the type approval issue may cross borders . . .

As for what VW technically did - it's very easy . . . modern ECU's have all the data needed to very simply profile this kind of testing . . . we did a load of work on the Dodge Viper V10 ECU . . . modern ECU's are very clever . . . . . . given it's so easy there is no technological barrier to stop any manufacturer from doing it whatsoever . . . just morals . . .

[campbell]

Looking forward to some strong discounts on VAG diesels, starting from now

IMHO the emissions tests themselves are flawed in the first place, so Govts need to take a long hard look in their own backyard too.

[fd]

Yup, I am looking for a T5 for conversion to a camper, I hope they get reamed into the stone age . . . simply because the general public are to stupid to realise it makes no difference, to anything, whatsoever . . .

[campbell]

Snap! Albeit our Project T5 keeps getting deferred by things like MINIs and Evoras...

One day.