OT: VW cheating emissions on TDI vehicles

[christian]

Hey Dave, I guess one could say that this is another piece of car technology derived direct from F1 (a la the 1994 traction control scandal).

[PacNW2Ford]

Originally Posted by christian

The federal government should reject the type certification of all the affected cars as it was attained by fraud, collect them, crush them, and let the owners settle with VW via the court system. Or use the threat of it to levy the appropriate fines of VW.

They won't do that, but intentional fraud to beat a regulation should mean billions in fines.

So the solution to having cars that cause too much pollution is to create 700,000+ tons of solid waste?

[David Kirk]

It's going to be very interesting to see how this shakes out and what VW has to do to our cars. Mine was in for basic service not that long back and I was told there was a service campaign and that the ECU was updated. I wonder if it was due to this?

I just read in the Times that VW could be fined as much as $37K for every car they sold that was part of this scheme and they said that would total $18,000,000,000 - yep 18 billions dollars.

That could hurt the bottom line. The thing that sucks is that there will be one guy at the most high up who's head will roll and then it will be the guys on the line that pay for it in the long run.

I'm pissed. I bought the car because of its high MPG and lower emissions not in spite of them.

dave

[Louis]

And of course what we really need is less government regulation, not more, because that interferes with the proper operation of the economy.

[don compton]

In the mid 1990's my son was dating a girl whose father worked for CARB. He told me that over 90% of car pollution was caused by old cars. But, the state knowing this, would not do anything about this because it would cause a tremendous uproar. There's a lot of bull���� when it comes to pollution measurements.
As bad as it sounds, I just don't believe anything politicians or gov't spokesmen say anymore. Lying to the public seems to be their MO

[eddief]

me and Sheldon Cooper are learning.

Originally Posted by Louis

And of course what we really need is less government regulation, not more, because that interferes with the proper operation of the economy.

[mvrider]

I read this too. The gist seems to be that Europe is reconsidering their love affair with diesels.

Originally Posted by Saint Vitus

I'll just leave this right here...


http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34257424

In this case, VW admitted the existence of the defeat device.

EPA's Notice of Violation:
http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/cert/docume...a-09-18-15.pdf

[gavingould]

Originally Posted by velomonkey

I dig the VW, but that car can't fit tall people

i'm guessing you mean "tall people in the rear seats behind a tall person in the front"? i agree if there are 6 footers in the front, avg adults in the back might not be too happy with legroom. supposedly this has been helped with the new 2016 model year MQB platform.

i'm 6'5" and have no issues finding a comfortable driving position in the Sportwagen. considering decreased headroom with the panoramic moonroof, i still don't have the seat pushed all the way back...

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by gavingould

i'm guessing you mean "tall people in the rear seats behind a tall person in the front"? i agree if there are 6 footers in the front, avg adults in the back might not be too happy with legroom. supposedly this has been helped with the new 2016 model year MQB platform.

i'm 6'5" and have no issues finding a comfortable driving position in the Sportwagen. considering decreased headroom with the panoramic moonroof, i still don't have the seat pushed all the way back...

Me too - I'm 6'4" and if I put the seat all the way back I can't push the clutch all the way in. Lots of room for me.

dave

[ergott]

I'm glad you two chimed in. I'm not tall at all, but know from cleaning my car that the seat goes way back on the rails. Sure you'll take out the knees of the person behind you, but I have the seat pretty far forward and even have the height up all the way.

[DHallerman]

Originally Posted by don compton

As bad as it sounds, I just don't believe anything CORPORATE CEOs and other top executives say anymore. Lying to the public seems to be their MO.

Ah, fixed that.

Dave, who owns a 2013 SportWagen TDI and is quite pissed by this corporate malfeasance

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by velomonkey

Call me old fashion: but the VW wagon never got anywhere with me cause I'm 6'3" and, while the tall need a car - that car aint for me (the SAAB 95 wagon with a 4 cylinder engine and turbo and far roomier interior was a superior car - one of the best highway cars ever made). Also, 'turbo' and a hatchback was the original cheater: cars in Europe are taxed on weight and HP - hatchbacks give you more room, turbo gives you more speed without HP. Tesla is a hatchback for a reason.

I dig the VW, but that car can't fit tall people and, well, surprise, surprise.

I'm 6'2" plus a bit. I find my VDub wagon fits my longer torso'd body better than some SUVS (Toyota 4Runner to be specific). No issues for me.

Specific to the thread at hand, if the original story is true, I have NO IDEA, how they can reduce emissions without a total recoding of the ECU, which would render the car materially different.

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by ergott

There's a forum I check in with for VW JSW stuff.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/forumdisp...tta-SportWagen

This issue is specific to TDI VWs. Vortex is good, but there's also this:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/

[akelman]

So either the car performs as advertised or pollutes more than advertised? Terrific. I fear that VW will f��ix the problem with the recall, lowering performance by some amount that the article fails to mention, but then many VW owners, a group already renowned for tweaking their cars, will install an after-market software patch to restore performance. Like I said, terrific.

These cars don't work the way that VW promises at the point of sale. I think TDI owners should be allowed to return them. I suspect the class-action suit will be very interesting.

[akelman]

I mean, if you can't trust German industrialists, who can you trust?