Maverick61

Give it time

This is a huge blow to VW/Audi - fines that could go up to $37,500 per vehicle or $18 Billion. As well as to those diesel lovers who argued they are benefiting the environment

NoahWeb

For those interested, here is the link to the UWV Study, published May 14, that lead the EPA to the conclusions it has drawn for the 2.0 TDI. Link - http://www.theicct.org/sites/default...al_may2014.pdf

It's 133 pages of academic reading. Page 106 has the conclusions. Of note, Vehicles A and B are the VW's, while Vehicle C was a BMW.

Also, here the link to the Notice of Violation the EPA sent VW/Audi - http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/cert/docume...a-09-18-15.pdf

I suspect the 3.0 TDI's are up next and further guess that there will be a software update in the future for all Diesel's to address this. Interestingly, this brings about a question of APR/TD1 flagging if VW/Audi is cheating the system to obtain better performance. Though that is a conversation for another thread.

hockeyfox

Makes you wonder what other software "tricks" they have up their sleeves when your cars warranty runs out.

2014a6tdi

Being a software guy myself, I'm going to guess this wasn't done with any sort of ill-will or attempt to go around regulations. I'm going to guess this was a test mode someone put in the software way back when and it just hung out there because simply nobody ever went back to that code and looked at what it was doing. Seeing that its spread out amongst the 2.0 line sorta indicates this since I'm sure the control software is likely very similar.

That being said, should VW be fined heavily for this? Yes. Are there likely to be class action lawsuits for "clean diesel misrepresentation?" yes. After the upgrade will there be a lot of people complaining about "performance decreases" and looking for massive cost savings on new cars too? Yup. Audi/VW (I think its Bosch actually) misrepresented the performance of the 2.0 with the disablement of these emissions systems. They need and will be held accountable.

I'm going to bet that the EPA portion of this will be resolved with a simple software upgrade.

2014a6tdi

I can honestly say I have never met someone who described driving any type of car as "benefiting the environment". However, I know many people who bike to work that do say they are "benefiting the environment" and I'd tend to agree with them. They are also lowering our overall medical benefits cost too, so hooray for people that bike to work.

Anyways, isn't our collective goal at this point to only have CO2 come out of the tailpipe? Further, less CO2 is better? I'd say your gasser and my clean diesel do a pretty good job of that.

Inyoury

Really? I met so many people who would say they bought a hybrid or electric car to benefit the environment. I don't agree with them, but there isn't much you can do that won't leave a carbon footprint these days. Even Al Gore who claims he brings back more oxygen to the world than C02 is full of crap. His house alone pollutes more than 100 families.

DSL_PWR

The possibilities are endless. There is so much diesel programming out there and it doesn't take too long to defeat the security measures to get in the computer and make those changes.

DB22

The "Splat" you hear when you run over a cyclist is hardly saving his medical bill? Roads with cyclists and cars don't mix, check out the problems in most big cities. Many cities advocate bike lanes and have spent millions installing them and the medical bills have escalated.
Going green doesn't make sense when it kills you.

Maverick61

Indeed. There have been some of those same people here making those claims

Maverick61

The issue just went from 500,000 to 11 million cars
And the CEO is out

Oy vey

Volkswagen Admits 'Defeat Device' On 11 Million Engines Worldwide, Sets Aside $7.2B