VW wanted that plant to unionize. It was the workers who said no, not VW.
Also keep in mind that both Chevy and FCA are looking to have small diesels in the US market shortly. Chevy brought their turbo diesel back a few years ago in the Cruze and the TDI Jettas still out-sold them. I was told by one of my Subaru corporate reps the reason their boxer turbo diesel isn’t in the US is because if the goofy EPA restrictions on car diesels. Mazda has openly said the EPA regs are why they Mazda and CX-5 diesel versions haven’t materialized here. It is only the smaller diesels that are impacted, none of VW/ Audi’s 6 cylinder TDIs are in play. The EPA regs are skewed against small diesels.
I hope VW takes this to court and wins. The EPA is hurt because someone played their game better than they did. They left a loophole that was brilliantly exploited by VW and I’m sure a few other companies that weren’t involved in the follow on testing.
When it comes to protecting the American auto industry I wouldn’t put anything past the feds or their agencies. The DoJ has already begun a criminal investigation into this.
VW programmed the cars ecu’s to detect when the cars were being run in an emissions test cycle and switch to a different tune when specific parameters were detected by the ecu. This “test” tune fully utilized all of the emissions reduction equipment on the car and allowed it to pass the emissions test. This “test” tune likely greatly reduced fuel economy, power, and driveability characteristics of the car. Once the ecu detected normal operation it switched tunes to the “normal” map and started belching out 10-40% nox emissions along with improved fuel economy and power. There is also speculation that the emissions equipment in the cars couldn’t handle being used 100% of the time over the long haul and may have caused excessive warranty claims due to failure of that equipment.
Since the traction/stability control systems get freaked out by having the front axle spinning while the rear is stationary anyway, the Dyno mode was tweaked so that it would make better emissions on nitrous oxide emissions in dyno mode, so they didn’t have to rely on any urea injection system in their TDI models.
I’m still thinking the cheapest way for VWG to solve this would be a full recall to run an ECU reflash and catalytic converter update so that it’s legit, then pay whatever prorated fine they can negotiate.
Still shows how bass-ackwards the EPA is, since relatively efficient diesel cars are still better on emissions than the land barges driven by lone soccer moms.
They are probably hosed not matter what, but if it is tuned to run a certain way only when it is tested, then they are screwed. If the envelope is a bit wider as to not target the test specifically and they can wave their hands about dynamic driving conditions, they might have a chance.
Will people blame VW or the EPA when their cars perform like crap after the fix? Make you have to get the fix done to get your sticker, but then how hard would it be to flash it back to the original codes?
I don’t have a turbo VW, just a 5 cylinder 2013 Passat. I will continue to proudly drive the car that the company figured out a way to game the government’s system. Sorry that they got caught. I will probably buy another VW when it’s time to replace the next car. Go VW.
Somebody said it right, GM’s ignition switch problems killed people and got a small fine. VW hasn’t killed anybody and got a huge fine.
We cannot let a good crisis go to waste in this administration go to waste, can we?
My anecdotal experience is the Europeans and the rest of world generally cheat, lie and bribe whenever it is possible. We have some silly notions in the US that seriously handicap us, like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, on the world stage. No doubt Hans, head of VWs software team, had a huge smirk when they rolled out the dyno mode.
They got caught this time, but are likely looking to rollout the 2.0 workaround next week. That said, the US administration will pillroy them, make them grovel worse than Toyota and then find a way to deliver more of GM to the UAW.
I have had 2 VWs, a 1991 Jetta Diesel and a 2012 GTI. Currently driving an Audi A3 2.0T quattro. I will continue to buy and lease VW/Audi products. One of my best friends who I consider family has a 2013 TDI Jetta Sportwagen. I sell Subarus for a living and we own a VW and Audi store. When this broke I did an informal poll of my VW and Audi TDI clients and very few said they wouldn’t get another. I was a little surprised how proud they were that VW pulled this off as long as they did.
I suspect if this was an American branded company doing the same thing the comments would be different. Not to mention the US Gov’t will do almost anything they can to protect the American auto industry, no matter how badly they f*** up. When Cash for Clunkers hit, American buyers flocked to foreign cars to bail out of their American cars, trucks and SUVs. I was with Ford at the time. We sold a lot of smaller cars but the local foreign dealers straight sold out of cars.
The EPA and vehicle emissions requirements are royally screwed up. They highly regulate the passenger car market where as trucks and SUVs can still drink gas and in turn dump those emissions but if something is considered a light or heavy duty truck, the rules are much more lax even though the majority of trucks sold to private consumers are used for day to day commuting. Imagine if pick-ups were held to similar standards to cars?
The US Gov’t hates foreign auto makers. Chicken Tax anyone?
VW also did not give the political contributions to the DNC that GM/Chrysler/Ford has.
Think THAT factored in to the equation?
I would never own a VW, after our disastrous Jetta. What a POS and it had parts prices that rivaled parts costs on BMWs, Volvos and Saabs we have owned over the years.
An unreliable economy car with luxury car parts prices…pass!
Our Volvo S-40 has been TWICE the car that POS Jetta was. I’d buy another S-40 Volvo in a minute.
The S-40 was assembled in Belgium…not Mexico like the Jetta.
FRANKFURT — Martin Winterkorn resigned as chief executive of Volkswagen on Wednesday, taking responsibility for an emissions cheating scandal that has gravely damaged the carmaker’s reputation.
“As C.E.O., I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines,” Mr. Winterkorn, 68, said in a statement.
Hairstylists all over the country are now traumatized by the German cheating. Funny how no other companies have been able to make the economics of smaller car diesels work, given our EPA restrictions which are far more stringent than “Green” Europe.
On ABC news tonight they interviewed some tree hugger that owns a VW. He said he is trying to drive his VW less because he feels ashamed that he has it. He was wondering what its value is now due to this scandal. I wanted to puke.
