EPA accuses Volkswagen, Audi of evading emission laws

PaulS said:
As far as a solution, I thing the EPA should... issue waivers for the affected cars, allowing them to exceed the limits... Any further penalty or fix will just screw over the poor slobs who bought these cars.
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Nah. That's what these guys are for. :rolleyes:

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Unfortunately El Paso, the lawyers will end up with a big payout while the owners will get pennies on the dollars lost. Issue waivers and the wind will be taken out of the lawyers sails, the cars sold will keep most of their value and Volkswagen will be suitably spanked but not destroyed.
 
PaulS said:
Unfortunately El Paso, the lawyers will end up with a big payout while the owners will get pennies on the dollars lost. Issue waivers and the wind will be taken out of the lawyers sails, the cars sold will keep most of their value and Volkswagen will be suitably spanked but not destroyed.
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Note the eyerolling ":rolleyes:" after my comment...

I was almost surprised to see how many sharks had already bought google ads.
 
I did a browse of diesels on craigslist, and have found prices lower than I remember a month ago. That could be good for me if I decided to buy one.

Of course, I have no need for a "new" car now.
 
^^

That's nothing new or shocking. Everyone designes their vehicle to do well in tests. If tests are well designed, then ideally it will mimic real life. Otherwise, real life results may very... A lot. Same goes with MPG.

Difference is that others do not disable emission devices intentionally. As far as it is known now.
 
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weilke said:
That's the same EPA that just recently filled a river with yellow minining sludge.

The fact that vehicles exceed the emission standards in actual operation is nothing new. If the standard is supposed to apply in day to day operation, it needs to be written in a way that requires on the road testing.
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Thank you for the reminder! I'm wondering just how many violations the EPA would have levied if they were not responsible for this spill.
I expect the fines levied against VW should just about pay for the clean up of the Animas River.
 
Sleepingsquirrel said:
Thank you for the reminder! I'm wondering just how many violations the EPA would have levied if they were not responsible for this spill.

I expect the fines levied against VW should just about pay for the clean up of the Animas River.
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LOL. And the fuel for the Gulfstream to fly everyone out here for the pity party with the Press that week.
 
This should be no surprise.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
This should be no surprise.
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I suppose it's not a surprise, but this is different engines with urea, so the reasoning for cheating is a bit less straight forward.

Also Porsche involvement is a pretty big deal I think. Certainly from a reputation point of view in USA.
 
genna said:
I suppose it's not a surprise, but this is different engines with urea, so the reasoning for cheating is a bit less straight forward.
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I think it's pretty straightforward. If you can get better mileage or more power while cheating (which you can), then your customers will be happier.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I think it's pretty straightforward. If you can get better mileage or more power while cheating
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Which is why people buy aftermarket chips or tunes for their cars. Same thing in a way, except VWs came "tuned" from the factory.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Which is why people buy aftermarket chips or tunes for their cars. Same thing in a way, except VWs came "tuned" from the factory.
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Exactly. Engineers go to great efforts and spend millions of dollars to meet the regs so that people can undo all that effort with a $50 chip. :)
 
Interesting that this time VW's PR rapidly issued a denial. The first time they admitted.
 
genna said:
I suppose it's not a surprise, but this is different engines with urea, so the reasoning for cheating is a bit less straight forward.

Also Porsche involvement is a pretty big deal I think. Certainly from a reputation point of view in USA.
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Why? A significant percentage of the buyers really didn't care about the emissions, they just wanted the tax credits.

Of course some did, but the fat lady hasn't finished singing on how many companies really cheat on this stuff.

So the ultra green won't buy Porche? Don't think it'll mean much to their bottom line. Maybe though. Depends on how much it's about image and how much it's about the actual capabilities of the vehicles.

If it's matching a PC image amongst rich friends, or attempting to impress someone... Well maybe you're right.
 
My Ram Cummins is deleted and gets 4-5 mpg better all the time...5 inch turbo back exhaust.

We have a TDI Passat and will not be letting anyone work on it or fix the emissions issues knowing that we will end up with less MPG and efficiency. The emissions equipment on these vehicles these days is too new in terms of technology and reliability and kills the longevity of the engine. I have an employee with a '14 Ram Cummins with DEF fluid and he just had 15 thousand dollars worth of emissions crap replaced under warranty at only 55k miles.
 
In today's Yahoo! news:

Frankfurt (AFP) - Top executives at Volkswagen are refusing to forego their bonuses this year, despite prescribing belt-tightening for the carmaker's workforce in the wake of the massive emissions-cheating scandal, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported on Thursday.

Without naming its sources, the magazine said that shortly before a supervisory board decision that executive board members had made it clear they were willing to "accept a cut in their bonuses, but not forego them entirely", even though they have repeatedly told the workforce that the crisis threatens the group's very existence.

VW's former chief executive Martin Winterkorn received a bonus of more than three million euros ($3.4 million) a year ago.

A company spokesman told AFP that the board pay would be published in VW's annual report on April 28.

"The management board is determined to set an example when it comes to the adjustment in the bonuses," he said, dismissing the Spiegel article as "pure speculation."

Winterkorn's successor Matthias Mueller was parachuted in last year to steer the carmaker out of its deepest-ever crisis which erupted when VW was exposed as having installed emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.

At the time, Mueller told the workforce that there would have to be "belt-tightening at all levels" from management down to the workers.

But according to Der Spiegel, the former finance chief Hans-Dieter Poetsch, who was appointed to the head of the supervisory board in October, pocketed nearly 10 million euros as "compensation" for the lower pay he would receive as a result.

The scandal is expected to cost VW still incalculable billions of euros in fines and possible legal costs.

Unions are concerned that the belt-tightening needed to cope with the fallout from the engine-rigging scandal could lead to job cuts.

"We have the impression that the diesel engine scandal could be used as a backdoor for job cuts that weren't up for discussion until a couple of months ago," the works council wrote in a letter to the management of VW's own brand and published on the website of the powerful IG Metall labour union.

The works council called or "an end to speculation regarding the future of the workforce and of the sites at VW" and for a "pact for the future."

VW's labour chief Karlheinz Blessing described the works council's letter as "a very good basis for further cooperation.

"We expressly welcome the offer for negotiations on a long-term pact for the future," Blessing continued.

"Guaranteeing production sites is also in management's interests. The talks will proceed quickly and constructively," he added.
 
Management always seems to come out ahead. I'd bet their contracts give bonuses for "innovation". Scamming the tests would fit.
 
I think there are many more manufacturers evading these regs. I'm amazed at the number of cars, gasoline engines, that stink as they are driving down the highway, most that I notice are Japanese cars, GMs are also pretty bad IMO. I'm willing to bet if someone were to dig a little there would be many more cases of manufacturer cheating.
 
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