Volkswagen under investigation over illegal software that masks pollution

[Ryeman]

Seems Audi developed the cheat in 1999 but didn't bother to install it but looks like VW picked it up instead.

[Cossor]

Biofuels? Maybe — BUT — you have to plant the raw material, wait for it to grow, harvest it, process it, distribute it.

Most of these operations also burn energy and create emissions that have to be taken into account as part of the general scheme of things.

Plus the ever-expanding population of this smallish planet still needs to eat, and biofuel raw materials grow the same way as food (but then so did our fossil oil deposits, and one day they'll all be gone...)

Battery-driven electric transport depends on batteries, and the raw material for just about all kinds of these seems to be less than plentiful.

Maybe we harvest the solar wind...

What about all those McDonalds chip cookers? Lots of good diesel Biofuel there

[Guest001]

What about all those McDonalds chip cookers? Lots of good diesel Biofuel there

Where do you think that originally comes from?????

[ian]

If you think Vw has problems Ford is going down hard very soon there are over 5,000 complaints about the CTV gearbox and there is a major class action under way at the moment ,
Vw USA just paid $5,000 to every Diesel owner as Compensation ,so ive heard .

[Sunny43.5]

If you think Vw has problems Ford is going down hard very soon there are over 5,000 complaints about the CTV gearbox and there is a major class action under way at the moment ,
Vw USA just paid $5,000 to every Diesel owner as Compensation ,so ive heard .

According to a media automotive site the Ford one is a similar design to VW's DSG and they claimed the VW one was even more diabolical than the Ford one .

[muli]

Focus/Fiesta/Mondeo/Kuga have a cvt option?

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Eaglehawk]

Focus/Fiesta/Mondeo/Kuga have a cvt option?

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I think they meant DCT...PowerShift...whatever...dry clutch systems bad bad bad

[Amalgam]

I think they meant DCT...PowerShift...whatever...dry clutch systems bad bad bad

Ford have their own version of DSG developed by Getrag.

Dual clutch transmissions | GETRAG

It was also used by Mitsubishi for their Lancer RalliArt and Evo X and it was equally problematic.

An interesting read

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-clutch_transmission

[BluChris]

Yep, dumped for the LZ Focus, which is now back to 6 speed conventional auto but with 1.5 litre Ecoboost engine rather than 1.6 or 2.0 NA. I notice the Kuga is also conventional, and I imagine only a matter of time before the Fiesta is the same. Tells you something doesn't it?

[VW Convert]

Tells you something doesn't it?

Yep, if you're going to build twin clutch gearboxes, make sure they are wet clutch!

Cheers

George

[Amalgam]

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/features/who-is-to-blame-for-dieselgate-driving-tracks-down-the-engineers-and-asks-could-the-scandal-really-destroy-vw/

Volkswagen had previously licensed BlueTec technology from Mercedes that involved injecting an additive called AdBlue into the car’s exhaust to convert harmful NOx into harmless nitrogen and water vapour. That licensing deal was cancelled in 2007 because, it has been suggested, VW was uncomfortable using a rival’s technology. Neither did it want to fit its vehicles with a costly additive tank that would require regular top-ups — a chore that Winterkorn knew would be unpopular with owners.

With the clock ticking, Hadler came up with an apparent solution, which he detailed in May 2008, in the engineering journal Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium. Hadler’s paper describes how software in a car’s computer could be used to help meet emissions targets. In conjunction with fuel injectors and exhaust filters, the software could make continuous adjustments to the way an engine runs, making it less thirsty and less polluting, but no less powerful. The paper referred to “engine modifications, some of which are unique worldwide”. In short, it was the engineering equivalent of alchemy.

The only problem was that it didn’t quite work. Try as they might, Hadler and his team seemed not to be able to translate theory into practice. They struggled to cut pollution enough to comply with Californian regulations without affecting the car’s fuel economy or performance. As time ran out, so did their ideas. So, under instruction — from whom it is not clear — Hadler’s EA189 engine was programmed with additional software, supplied to Volkswagen by Bosch, an automotive-parts maker as well as a manufacturer of power tools.

The software was intended to be used in engine development, but never in production vehicles, according to insiders at Bosch. But who would even know it was there? Invisible among the millions of lines of code that a modern car’s computer uses, it lurked in the background, silently monitoring how the vehicle was being driven.

Most of the time, the code remained dormant, but it sparked into life when it detected only two of the car’s four wheels moving, and when the steering wheel was stationary — a combination that occurred when the car was on a rolling road in a lab. When this happened, the engine switched into a mode that was much cleaner — but that would have given a poorer performance during normal driving.

[Idle]

So it would have been picked up immediately if their rolling road supported 4WD's and all wheels were turning?

[Ryeman]

For the EGR valve's sake I'd be avoiding the 'fix'........they're problematic enough as it is.

[Amalgam]

Surprise, Surprise

Dieselgate: VW Board clears itself – Car Reviews, News & Advice - CarPoint Australia..

Dieselgate: VW Board clears itself

Internal investigation clears Volkswagen board of Dieselgate responsibility

[Amalgam]

Just incase you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Volkswagen to be sued by Norway fund over emissions scandal - BBC News

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, plans legal action against Volkswagen over the firm's emissions scandal.

It said had been advised by its lawyers that the company's conduct "gives rise to legal claims under German law".

Volkswagen admitted last year that it had installed secret software to cheat US emissions tests.

The move, from one of VW's biggest investors, is the latest in a flood of legal actions over the scandal.

It faces action from US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and its own dealers.

Norges Bank Investment Management is worth $850bn (£592bn; €751bn) and has stakes in more than 9,000 companies.


To put USD 850 Billion into perspective, it is equivalent to AUD 1.17 Trillion or 4 times the assets Apple is rumoured to have in the bank.

That is a lot of fancy lawyers.