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Volkswagen Could Face $18 Billion Fine Over Emission-Cheating Software
After getting caught cheating on emissions testing by means of software, Volkswagen could face up to $18 billion in fines, reports USA Today. That number is based on the company being assessed the maximum penalty of $37,500 per affected vehicle. That's not the only bad news for Volkswagen, which has halted sales of its 4-cylinder diesel cars; the linked article reports that the violations "could also invite charges of false marketing by regulators, a vehicle recall and payment to car owners, either voluntarily or through lawsuits. Volkswagen advertised the cars under the 'Clean Diesel' moniker. The state of California is also investigating the emissions violations."
most European standards are STRICTER than the American ones.
Not for diesels, which is what we are talking about here. In this case the American standards are stricter. You have to pull out some massive engineering mojo to make a diesel passenger car that's street legal in the US. Apparently VW doesn't have what it takes.
€ € € you mean. Germany hasn't used Deutchmarks since 1999.
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Yes, there is such a law. 40 CFR 86.1809-10 - Prohibition of defeat devices. So much for the "if it's legal it's wonderful" pseudo-argument.
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Honda and Ford have already been under investigation for similar emissions manipulation. For 1.6 million affected cars, Honda paid a $12.6 million fine plus $250 million in remedial costs. Ford paid a $2.5 million fine plus $3.8 million in other costs for 60000 vans (Source). The investigation into VW's manipulation is about roughly 500000 cars.
So, while I agree that these manipulations are despicable and beyond stupid, an $18 billion fine is not likely at all, and other automakers probably don't want to rock the boat too much either. This issue reminds me of smartphones that clock higher when a benchmark is running, and of graphics cards which get lower scores when you rename the benchmark executable. If only those were regulated as strictly...
They do not meet the requirements to be on the road and any use should be immediately prohibited
You realize a turn of the PREVIOUS century model T ford a meets the requirements to be on the road, and their idea of emissions control amounted to having the exhaust exit outside the vehicle instead of inside. There is a big difference between 'legal to drive on the street' and 'legal to register as a new vehicle'. And lots of cars that would NEVER EVER EVER pass modern rules for emissions, for safety, for anything are still perfectly legal to operate.
And hundreds of thosuands of vehicle owners have bought a new car, and then promptly had it retuned for performance. (One guess what that gain was at the expense of!) And in jurisidicitons where they need to get it tested periodically they'd even install switches to cut it back over for the test, to make sure they'd pass, then after exitting the test facility flip it back to fast+dirty.
Hell, you can buy aftermarket kits for this. And people 'chipping' their cars... etc, etc...
with VW ordered to repurchase all affected vehicles at original price and to pay all costs for replacement transportation until impacted drivers can obtain a US-legal alternative
Impacted drivers, by and large, probably want their TDI left exactly the way it is. TDI owners buy them for the excellent fuel efficiency and decent performance.
If there was a button in the car where they could push "better mileage, worse emissions" I'd bet most of them would have pushed it.
VW deserves to get slapped hard for this, what they did was brazen and deceptive... but lets not go off the deepend. They aren't gong to be hit for $37,000 per vehicle... at worst they'll settle for buying some extra carbon credits to offset the extra pollution they've caused, plus some punitive damages.
When called on it their response was, "well yes, the test definitions should be improved but it would be unfair to alter the standards without a few year advance notice."
Yup, gaming the testing standards is par for the course in every industry ever. And yes, the onus is on the regulatory body to change the test standards (or clarify them); and yes, a couple years lead time is both normal and the way it should be.
According to the previous article about this, the cars are still LEGAL, they are just nowhere near as clean as they claim. It's not a "clean" or "dirty" question, all cars are dirty to a certain extent.
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I would assume that numerous nations
why would you assume this? USA has the most stringent diesel emissions requirements on the planet, these cars are probably perfectly legal in other parts of the world.
According to the previous article about this, the cars are still LEGAL, they are just nowhere near as clean as they claim. It's not a "clean" or "dirty" question, all cars are dirty to a certain extent.
Uh, no.
During normal driving situations, the controls are turned off, allowing the cars to spew as much as 40 times the pollution allowed under the Clean Air Act, the E.P.A. said.
During the test (as I've understood the emission chemistry explained elsewhere) the EGR enables and causes the exhaust to burn hotter, rather than colder. The catalyst needed to reduce the NO2 in the exhaust requires a high temp, which the EGR system supplies by counter-intuitively burning more fuel to achieve. Apparently this is why many/most VW TDI's get better mileage than their stickers - the ECU disables the EGR during normal driving, "saving" the fuel that would otherwise have been used to keep the emissions catalyst hot enough to properly scrub the exhaust.
Then you have misunderstood the EGR. What the EGR do is to recirculate some exhaust lowering the oxygen content in the combustion chamber, which in turn lowers the combustion temperature and result in a lower NOx level. The EGR gases are usually also cooled down before entering the intake.
The downside with a lower combustion chamber temperature is that the engine will provide less power as well, all according to the ideal gas law. To compensate for this the boost pressure through a turbocharger is pretty high - newer engines conforming to the latest emission standards have a higher boost than previous generations - even up to 4 bar (4 atmospheres) boost. (way more than what a gasoline engine have)
On a diesel there's a catalytic converter to take care of some HC that may remain, but the primary objective is that there's a particle filter that catches most particles - where the majority are soot particles. This filter has to be regenerated at regular intervals which is done by injecting some additional diesel into the filter where it's ignited. However since the soot isn't entirely clean there's an accumulation of ash residue that requires a replacement of the filter at regular intervals - usually >= 100000 km.
In order to lower the NOx even more there's also on modern vehicles also an injection of a selective catalytic reagent (SCR), often named AdBlue or Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) (which is a clear water-based liquid containing urea) into the exhaust system that combines with the NOx and other compounds in the exhaust fumes to produce nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water.
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