Volkswagen under investigation over illegal software that masks pollution

[Ryeman]

I started this in the Diesel section as the story was a diesel one but there is no mention that I can find......there are so many subsections of the VWwatercooled site but I wonder how many know it's simply a 'General Discussion' and ever go there.

[Eaglehawk]

Name and shame file:

Dieselgate: Euro governments probe VW – Car Reviews, News & Advice - CarPoint Australia

[hoi polloi]

All the reports from the US had the 2 litre units only mentioned, but this includes 2 1.6 litre units as well.

The 1.6s may not be sold in the states...

- Anthony

[Cossor]

Swiss bans sale of suspect diesels

My current model Passat when ordered was to be 125kw. When it arrived, rating changed to 130kw.
I see somewhere that this version of Passat is included in the suspect list, but not apparently not the
earlier versions.
Of even more interest is the increasing claimed power outputs of 2.0L VW diesels. I think 150KW now possible?
Is this because VW had become more confident their cheating software would allow passing ever stricter tests?

Regarding new release of Passat, due next month, I wonder if diesel version will now be included? or only the 1.8?
Or will instead the mid "Comfortline", supposed to be a diesel, now become petrol? With twin charger as per 1.4 Golf?

As for me, perhaps I should consider Toyota Camry Atara SL Hybrid instead of my eagerly awaiting chance to upgrade to new Passat?
Camry is lots cheaper.
Combined power 150kw
Claimed fuel consumption similar to Passat (But cheaper)
Reversing camera Identical to Passat version
Has front parking sensors
Has Sat nav

But
I hate the styling
I love the Passat multifunction display
Despite its quirks, I like the transmission verses CVT used by Camry
Passat satnav works well, much better than base MB
Upholstery is SUPERIOR. No mention of lumber support.

So, gee, I hope this gets sorted out before earlier next year. as otherwise either
a Mercedes or a boring Toyota

On reading BBC news, Switzerland has put a temporary ban on sale of selected VW group

Volkswagen models sale halted in Switzerland - BBC News

[Ryeman]

My current model Passat when ordered was to be 125kw. When it arrived, rating changed to 130kw.
I see somewhere that this version of Passat is included in the suspect list, but not apparently not the
earlier versions.
Of even more interest is the increasing claimed power outputs of 2.0L VW diesels. I think 150KW now possible?
Is this because VW had become more confident their cheating software would allow passing ever stricter tests?

Regarding new release of Passat, due next month, I wonder if diesel version will now be included? or only the 1.8?
Or will instead the mid "Comfortline", supposed to be a diesel, now become petrol? With twin charger as per 1.4 Golf?

As for me, perhaps I should consider Toyota Camry Atara SL Hybrid instead of my eagerly awaiting chance to upgrade to new Passat?
Camry is lots cheaper.
Combined power 150kw
Claimed fuel consumption similar to Passat (But cheaper)
Reversing camera Identical to Passat version
Has front parking sensors
Has Sat nav

But
I hate the styling
I love the Passat multifunction display
Despite its quirks, I like the transmission verses CVT used by Camry
Passat satnav works well, much better than base MB
Upholstery is SUPERIOR. No mention of lumber support.

So, gee, I hope this gets sorted out before earlier next year. as otherwise either
a Mercedes or a boring Toyota

On reading BBC news, Switzerland has put a temporary ban on sale of selected VW group

Volkswagen models sale halted in Switzerland - BBC News

we love our new 308 Peugeot with its fab engine.

[Ozsko]

I find it curious that around the time the cheating is said to have started the OBD port was blocked preventing access to add a tune.

[Pinarelloman]

$20bn fine and company shares down by 1/3.
Someone's head might roll?
Or like the company I work for the person gets a promotion.
Interesting to see what the Aus regulators do about this.

[fox]

Surprisingly the regulators in Australia are comparatively quiet. In light of no information from VAG Australia, they should as a minimum ban sales of all new VAG Diesel cars.

[wai]

Or like the company I work for the person gets a promotion.

Like the 7 stages of a project:

Phase 1: Uncritical Acceptance
Phase 2: Wild enthusiasm
Phase 3: Dejected disillusionment
Phase 4: Total confusion
Phase 5: Search for the guilty
Phase 6: Punishment of the innocent
Phase 7: Promotion of nonparticipants

[wai]

Surprisingly the regulators in Australia are comparatively quiet. In light of no information from VAG Australia, they should as a minimum ban sales of all new VAG Diesel cars.

By rights, they should, but they won't. It will take them a long while. Remember the DSG debacle? No mandatory recall was ever announced. They waited, and waited, and waited for VW to eventually announce a voluntary recall. Then and now, there was knowledge of the problem, but a failure to act decisively.

[gldgti]

Surprisingly the regulators in Australia are comparatively quiet. In light of no information from VAG Australia, they should as a minimum ban sales of all new VAG Diesel cars.

Why?
It doesn't make any sense to apply a blanket ban. All that does is reinforce the overreaction in the media. There are plenty of VAG diesels you could buy which are apparently not affected.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[brad]

$20bn fine and company shares down by 1/3.
Someone's head might roll?
Or like the company I work for the person gets a promotion.
Interesting to see what the Aus regulators do about this.

Fine hasn't been imposed yet

Share price was already down 20% before all this started. (peaked at 250 Euro on the 16th March) so they are down 53% at the current 116Euro price.

Winterkorns gone. That's 1 head

If they are like where I work, all those non-compliant diesel engines will win an award to be proudly displayed in the entrance foyer.

Surprisingly the regulators in Australia are comparatively quiet. In light of no information from VAG Australia, they should as a minimum ban sales of all new VAG Diesel cars.

Australia doesn't have the same emissions standards as the EU or USA / California. You don't even know if the on-road emissions don't comply.

I'd guarantee you that the Australian Regulator has sent enquiries to VW Australia - that doesn't mean they have to advertise it on the front page of The Australian.

Of course, VW AU won't have the answers & will have to refer the enquiry back to Germany. Answers might take a little longer than you'd hope as Australia is a relatively small buyer of diesels compared to the Euros & Americans.

[Ryeman]

THE monster question is, irrespective of whether 'our' cars are involved,
what is going to happen to used car values?.....surely not at all good
and
what compensation?.

[Ryeman]

Hopefully, as VW management have indicated, we shall get clarity on with a definitive list early this week, hopefully late Monday.

[bluey]

Don't know that clarity will come on Monday. All I think we can expect is a list of which models of car have EA189 engines with the same ECU code and that further testing will need to be done to determine the impact of the code on emissions in combination with local fuel quality.

Assume global engines have the same ECU code. Emissions regulations are different. Assume that the ECU has code which works hard to minimise NOX emissions under the testing load scenarios. At other times, the engine has to manage CO2, particulates and performance. As we have seen in the ICCT Sept 2105 white paper, almost all small diesels on the market have problems blowing more NOX in real world tests. Not sure this is "cheating" more than any organisation puts its best foot forward for accreditation or certification and does things differently in the "real world".

If the engines to euro5 standard manage to pass our euro4 based legislation, there is not an issue with compliance. There is a media driven perception problem if the code is more specifically to "turn off" emissions control when not in test, but I think this is really rather an unlikely scenario. More likely that emissions are optimised in test scenarios and less optimal in real world and all small diesels are guilty. (Does the BMWX5 do better because it is bigger??) The corporate embarrassment problem is that emissions were 35x higher in "real world", but that test might have been biased to hills.

Maybe the problem started when the pre-EA189 engines with LNT changed to oxidising catalyst+DPF unit and then the code gets tweaked to maintain emissions performance without having to re-engineer????