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Volkswagen Ordered To Recall 500K Vehicles Over Its Own Malicious Programming

Posted by Soulskill on from the hand-in-the-cookie-jar dept.

Etherwalk writes: The Obama Administration today ordered Volkswagen to recall 500,000 4-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from model years 2009-15. The vehicles were programmed to turn on more thorough emissions control and generate cleaner readings when tested for emissions than they did when in ordinary operation. In effect, the software made everything operate normally when you looked at it, just like any good malware.

2 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Don't take yours in. by suutar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Depends which emissions they're concerned about. Diesels (as I recall) are worse for particulates and NOx, but better as far as CO2.

  2. Yes, Emissions free, tragedy of the commons by Etherwalk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For the majority of people, a slight difference in emissions would be preferable to a noticeable drop in performance.

    For the majority of individuals, yes. Because you're not *paying* for the harm your emissions do.