Oops, German engineering is superior, but......

[Rob]

I still love my TDI Golf.  Even more so now that I know she's a dirtier girl than I originally thought.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA DAMMIT!!!

OK that got weird.

[chromium]

One thing I'm curious about is how the car computer knows when an emissions test is being done - like is there a sensor on the tailpipe or something?

I read that they may have used a combination of sensors to detect when the vehicle is in a "test scenario" - e.g. steering wheel is straight, drive wheels are accelerating to and holding 30mph for a certain amount of time, etc.. as it would be in the emissions testing facility.

[Dave W]

It wouldn't shock me if this turns out to be widespread, but I won't jump to conclusions.....yet.

GM won't be involved, though, no one there bright enough to pull it off. Only thing they're good at is flooding the airwaves with shitty commercials.

[Aussie Mark]

[Highlander]

Jake's question and Joe's reply to it is correct... the testing is "predictable" and the software is designed to "know" when it is being carried out...

Well, I can say this much (with some notable exceptions), as there is no longer any "British" manufacturer, were in the clear (as CO... COugh, COugh...) 

ps another glorious day in the Highlands... Bit like Australia and NZ ... hardly anyone here...

[vates]

I read that they may have used a combination of sensors to detect when the vehicle is in a "test scenario" - e.g. steering wheel is straight, drive wheels are accelerating to and holding 30mph for a certain amount of time, etc.. as it would be in the emissions testing facility.

That's right:

"Since 2009, we now know, Volkswagen had been inserting intricate code in its vehicle software that tracked steering and pedal movements. When those movements suggested that the car was being tested for nitrogen-oxide emissions in a lab, the car automatically turned its pollution controls on. The rest of the time, the pollution controls switched off."

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/21/9365667/volkswagen-clean-diesel-recall-passenger-cars

[Chris P.]

I have the same thoughts as Rob Basvarken. VW is Porsche (hardly any Diesels), Skoda, Seat, Audi, and some brands using their engines. But if VW does it, and I think the doping comparison is very good, others will do it. BMW has some problems now, but Opel (Vauxhall, GM in General) said they didn't use it... I'm very curious. I also think this is just the beginning and VW gets all the blame now.

[uwe]

I'm rubbing my eyes, a Dutchman defending deutsche carmakers caught cheating? The world is off-kilter ... 

Some hilarious comments here, love the Volkswagen choo-choo and "Vorsprung durch sleight-of-software" - you guys are a hoot!



Dave, that comment on GM was nasty, you know how I was raised on GM money! They also paid for my visit of The American School of Kinshasa and if it hadn't been for that I would have probably never gotten to know Loggins & Messina and Three Dog Night!

Back to the topic. I'm not surprised (except a little at the uproar): In my cynical world view I take it for granted that all auto makers - except for Rolls Royce and Ferrari who say: "If you ask that question you should maybe get another car." - lie about fuel consumption. I've never driven a car anyway near the proclaimed fuel consumption nor do I know anyone who has. Similarly, I naturally assumed that all the carbon emmission values thing is bullshit too - as an owner of both Status and Parker basses my carbon footprint is in any case irrelevant to me and should well be nor have I ever given a thought whether my 300 hp bi-turbo Volvo is good for the environment, it sure is no fuel-saver! - and that the testing is geared to deliver certain results (my brother is a learned car mechanic, ok?). Did others do it as well? Most likely. Does that exculpate Volkswagen? Not a bit. But I won't lose any sleep over it, they'll survive, they can still produce good cars (although I hated my beetle even back then, crap car) in good quality and as I said: My heart beats DNA-ingrained for GM. Detroit is closer to me than Wolfsburg (I've been to Detroit, but never been to Wolfsburg, it is unfathomable to me what would possess someone to go there  ).



The fact that their stock value slumps to 60% because of this just confirms to me once more that the world of stock trading is a madhatters' casino.

Did I mention that I hate the look of a Golf? It's the P Bass of cars. 

Volkswagen will now receive/are now receiving a horrendous amount of stick, but they have resilience. May 1945 was worse after all.

[Alanko]

VW announce new all-electric transport aircraft...

[slinkp]

Audi is family. Seat is family. Porsche is family...

Yup, sure looks like the fallout is spreading through the family:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/24/us-audi-scandal-idUSKCN0RO19S20150924

[Granny Gremlin]

Did I mention that I hate the look of a Golf? It's the P Bass of cars. 

Sizist! ;P  Just becasue you're a giant doesn't mean you should discriminate against cute little girls (yes, I think Golfs are cute - GTIs are even better looking IMHO but they don't come in a diesel version so not interested). .... this reminds me of a picture from before we left the fatherland; my uncle (similarly a  tall fellow) bending over to talk to me in front of his white Fiat mini (the 2 cars available under communism were the mini and the,  only comparatively, 'large' Fiats - most people had the mini).  The car looks like a toy (and apparently, as another uncle once told me, the original issue of the Fiat mini had but a single cylinder).  I should scan that pic; love that one.

[nofi]

gm has stuff recalled all the time. only because they can't build anything right first time around.

[Pilgrim]

I'm not a stock market investor, but if I were, yesterday I'd have bought a BUNCH of VW stock. 

They're like the German Terminator:  "I'll be back."

(I'd use the term Germinator, but I'm not into horticulture.)   

[uwe]

True, they are a good investment now. But we have a policy here according to which partners in the firm cannot buy stock fullstop due  to the affiliated potential insider trading risks.

[Granny Gremlin]

Yep - I was looking into grabbing some stock yesterday but then got busy. Maybe not such a bad thing because it might not have hit bottom yet.