VW Faces $17B Fine for Emissions Scam

This article shows the sense of betrayal of a VW fanboy: The VW Diesel Scandal Has Encroached on My Own Garage – Column – Car and Driver

As the Volkswagen diesel scandal blankets the industry like so many, well, carcinogenic particulates, the doom has begun to encroach as far as my own garage. And I’m pissed.

Careful observers of this space— Dad!—will recall that I spent my own dwindling funds to outfit my wife with an Audi Q7 TDI. Its 3.0-liter V-6, we were told, was safe from scandal. But now the EPA is claiming, under its widening investigation, that 3.0-liter–equipped Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen diesel vehicles are also noncompliant. While our Q7 used to be true blue, the soot-stained vultures are now circling.

I shouldn’t get emotional about it. The EPA emissions tests are bitterly divorced from real-world behaviors; they are chiefly a way to control for key variables such as weather, speed, etc. All vehicles, whether diesel- or gas-powered, emit more than these compliance tests measure. And I understand that the current American smog standard is expensive to meet (even if it’s cheaper to clean up sources of pollutants than a trashed planet). Let us also not ignore the vastly higher emissions limits for big trucks, which outnumber diesel cars like the French at an automotive Agincourt. It’s as if the EPA doesn’t want us driving diesel cars, despite their suitability for our roads and driving patterns. With their turbocharged torque, higher mpg/reduced CO2, and bladder-straining range, they are, for most American drivers, a better solution than EVs—vehicles that pull, on aggregate, about 40 percent of their electricity from coal.​

He brings up every fig offered to excuse VW-gate but the bottom line, "even if it's cheaper to clean up sources of pollutants than a trashed planet." He goes on to write:

There is the professional embarrassment, of course. I’ve recommended these cars to a wide circle of friends and readers. I’ve bought them because I believe diesels are smart, brimming with personality, and wonderful to drive. The Volkswagen TDI captured the spirit of the original Beetle as it existed in Americans’ minds; it was the antiestablishment voice against a chorus of ’50s Yankee land yachts. VW was wise to position the TDI as the modern core of its brand here, for it’s an echo of the lovable, iconoclastic Bug, the car that embodied the notion of a better way and began America’s blind love affair with cars from Europe.​

This is the hurt that won't go away anytime soon. I have no illusions that this will be a mass movement of the fanboys but as VW-gate stretches out, the angst and resentment grows. Time is not on VW's side.

Bob Wilson

 

VW probe shows many bosses knew of 'defeat devices' as far back as 2006, report says

Many bosses? Many years knowing the problem?

Check-mate.

 

in my mind, the point is cheating, lying, and stealing. not pollution.

 

We got this headline from a 'subscription' source:
"Germany Approves Emissions Fix for First Volkswagen Diesel Model
Federal Motor Transport Authority approves fix for VW’s 2.0-liter diesel-engine Amarok"

Perhaps some of our EU friends might have access to an open source with more details?

My technical question is this the SCR/urea equipped 2.0L ?

I always expected the SRC equipped cars would be the first ones fixed. Very little hardware change would be needed and just fix the urea management.

Bob Wilson

 

it's highly likely that VW fears this outcome as precedent, or at least a logic/analysis /overlook from other courts.
.​

 

VW deny there is any loss to owners and are refusing the compensate them for loss of value etc. The class action lawyers are thinking otherwise and as Harry Hill would say....FIGHT!




The Government are also very very interested in back tax payments. Before the emission shenanigans VW's had fallen into low tax brackets. If the fix causes their mpg's to drop (and they're going to be retested), then UK PLC want VW to cough up the back and future tax the vehicle would have been, and likely to be charged. This is to stop owners being penalised and could cost VW a LOT.

VW still continue to remain arrogant and aloof which isn't helping their cause. If they just owned up, paid a reasonable amount and paid it quickly, they'd get away with paying out less. Dragging their feet is pissing off people, inc the Government.

 

Amarok is Pick-up, I guess the limts for pick-ups are not that strict and fix can be the same as in EU.

 

Yes, I would presume lightduty vehicles are less strict so it would be easier to revert to proper emission control operation. IF SCR is fitted, of course!!

 

If trucks get a free pass - Time to do a 'Das Conversion' -

 

is that a boom box?

 

Ok, good news bad news:

BAD NEWS

Source: VW chief casts doubt on whistleblower's account of emissions scandal| Reuters

Top players on the German manufacturer's supervisory board will hold their third meeting in three weeks on Wednesday as they continue to grapple with the scandal more than four months after it broke, sources have said.

"Is it really so difficult to accept that we are obliged by stock market law to submit a report to the AGM on April 21 and that it is not possible for us to say anything beforehand?", the CEO asked.​

This is bad because it means the sore continues to fester and time is not on the side of VW. I understand the issue of 'insider' information so this report may have to be held to April 21. But for VW, it just means more and more people are losing patience.

GOOD NEWS

Source: VW starts recall in Europe, gets serious about “BUDD-e” electric concept van | Ars Technica

A company official recently made a comment to a reporter at Car Magazine to indicate that Volkswagen would be moving forward with a concept design for an electric van that was on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

According to Car Magazine, Volkswagen’s head of electronic development, Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger, said that by 2020, Volkswagen would start serial production of an electric van using Volkswagen’s “Modular Electric Toolkit” (abbreviated MEB from the German) called the BUDD-e. "You will see a car that looks a lot like this,” Tanneberger said, referring to the car’s “microbus” design.


In a press release at the beginning of January, Volkswagen said that its BUDD-e concept car had a range of 233 miles, based on a drive-cycle estimate using the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines, and incorporated a flat battery with a motor at the front and rear axles. The concept car envisioned a high level of Internet connectivity, with touch panels instead of buttons and digital screens instead of analog mirrors. At the time, Volkswagen said its MEB platform would be the basis for its electric vehicles by 2019, but the BUDD-e vehicle was merely referred to as a concept.


Now, however, Car Magazine wrote that "in the wake of dieselgate, the VW Group is keen to fast-track alternative propulsion systems for its products.". . . ​

It took the death of cheat-diesels to get VW to finally do the right thing! So let me speculate that any past, diesel R&D budget has been moved to VW-gate remediation.

Bob WIlson

 

Well if they can build a BEV that has the stated range, sign me up!

This is a disastrous news for my beloved VW petrolheads at work because they always bag electric cars due to previous VW stand. Not sure how they would react after seeing this?!

SM-G900I ?

 

Digging in a new direction: VW dirty diesel recall plan on the road | All media content | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Good for EU,
Bob Wilson

 

Holy CARP!

Source: VW says defeat software legal in Europe - CSMonitor.com

In a statement to The New York Times, which published an article on the matter last week, the VW Group wrote that the software "is not a forbidden defeat device” under European rules.

As the Times notes, that determination, "which was made by its board, runs counter to regulatory findings in Europe and the United States."

"German regulators said last month that VW did use an illegal defeat device," the newspaper said, suggesting that the statement reflected VW's legal approach to the affair.

"While it promises to fix affected vehicles wherever they were sold," it said, "it is prepared to admit wrongdoing only in the United States."

The VW view only underscores the loosely-regulated European emission testing rules, now the subject of a fight in the European Parliament.​

Uh, this is bad news if (when) confirmed. It would be the height of hubris.

Bob Wilson

 

but not surprising. however, 'not understanding the rules', doesn't fly with the irs .

 

Everything "by the law".
Awkard move, maybe.
What goes around, comes around, one day VW will be chopped "by the law". My sincere hope is that USA takes the hell out of this POS manufacturer.

 

and on a lighter note;

UK named as the world's whiplash capital for car-shunt claims | This is Money

Glad I gave up professional driving.

"UK named as the world's whiplash capital as car-shunt claims make up 80% of all personal injury requests – more than the US"

 

Remember in the past how businesses did things for good will, taking an extra step simply for the sake of being nice?

True, it did help their bottom-line in the end, but there was a very real up-front monetary cost to the gesture. They saw value in reputation. Strengthening that by taking unnecessary effort went a long way.

With VW, we see them fighting the law to get us to accept their "good enough" claim through argument of detail. It's very clear that spirit of the law was violated. Whether that was intended or not doesn't matter. The violation happened. Now, they are making it worse by fighting instead of trying to negotiate an acceptable compromise.

Being "legal" wouldn't make it right anyway. Even if they do get Europe to accept weaker standards, that doesn't address the growing emission problem. Air pollution must be fixed. Allowing dirty cars to contribute to smog issues is not helpful. We've had to tolerate that nonsense for far too long. Diesels just barely met minimum requirements. Hybrids like Prius are the opposite extreme, earning the highest emission-rating for any fossil-fueled vehicle.

It's sad the problem could get so out of hand. It's disheartening to see some people defending those actions.

 

This reminds me of the 2007 sub-prime mortgage/financial collapse, where 1st, you lobby hard to get laws that allow you to F over your customers - all the while you profit. History repeats itself, and then we forget the history and to it all over again.
"see? we didn't break the law . . . we just made sure what we were doing was PART of the law before we did it". Anyone want to say VW didn't have a part in forging the law that they didn't break?
.

 

That's not universally true now. Several of BMW's U.S.-spec diesel vehicles effectively meet the SULEV emissions standard, even though they're "only" officially certified ULEV.

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
0	Emission (g/mi)	2016 BMW 328d	SULEV PC Standard
1	NMOG/NMHC (FTP)	0.009	0.010
2	CO (FTP)	0.1	1.0
3	NOx (FTP)	0.01	0.02
4	NOx (HWY)	0.00	0.03
5	PM (FTP)	0.00	0.01
6	NMHC+NOx (US06)	0.01	0.14
7	NMHC+NOx (SC03)	0.00	0.2
8	CO (US06)	0.1	8.0
9	CO (SC03)	0.0	2.7