Slashdot Mirror
Volkswagen CEO Issues Apology Over Emission-Cheating Software
cartechboy writes: Last Friday we learned that Volkswagen got caught cheating on emissions testing via software programming. The punishment? It could get slapped with up to $18 billion in fines. While the company has yet to admit to any wrong doing, the CEO has now issued a formal apology and said the automaker will cooperate fully with any and all investigations. It's issued a stop-sale on all new and used TDI vehicles until further notice. VW's currently in talks with the EPA and the California Air Resources Board in regards to these allegations. It's also ordered an external investigation of its own into the matter. Whether criminal charges will be filed is yet to be seen.
When Toyota had the audacity of becoming number 1, their CEO got dragged in front of the US congress about some acceleration issues.
VW just made the mistake of becoming number 1, and suddenly we discover they've been cheating at emissions. Expect a congress hearing and lots of demands for sanctions.
Was there a punishment when GM recently had a major oops?
The Audi A3 is one of the models implicated in this scam. It appears that it includes any VW and Audi vehicles that don't have a urea injection system.
I suppose I'll have to get my firmware updated which will cut my performance down. I could decline the recall but then I probably wouldn't be able to pass the emissions here in CA to get my tag renewed.
Goodby 42 MPG.
You must be confused: the Nazis would never stoop so low as to lie about fuel economy...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
If not, nothing was learned here. Either by accident or intentionally, it will happen again, eventually.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
No I didn't RTFS but exactly what would the criminal charges be in a case like this? There was something similar a while back in which some car maker used a distinct programing settings in the ECM which allowed fuel economy to be inflated but shipped a different version so the consumer didn't complain the car was a turd in performance. As far as I know, the only thing that came of that was a change in economy measurement standards and revised estimates.
The firmware changed to pass while it was being tested, so it seems the fix will be to leave the car in 'test' mode permanently. Apparently performance will suffer when that happens, but that doesn't really matter when you're stuck in a line of traffic on the freeway.......
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Saavik: On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know.
McCoy: Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario.
Saavik: How?
Kirk: I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible......
Saavik: What?
David Marcus: He cheated.
Kirk: I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
In the German press, the CEO is already painting this as a bunch of rogue American engineers doing this.
One problem: If there was any engineering in the US, it was probably only to tweak the existing calibrations. It's pretty rare to see the actual source to ECUs, which is mostly unchanged over long periods of time. Most of the adjustments made are in the calibrations - a checksummed block of mapped constants in the ROM image file where the symbolic map has been exported by the compiler.
As somebody who has actually authored calibration tools used in the automotive industry, and worked on some of the software used to provide version control, I have a pretty clear idea of what is going on here.
In this case, the code itself - the algorithms used in the ECU, specifically disabled emissions controls (either by an alternative set of calibrations, or by skipping entire routines) when in Emissions Test Mode. If it's using an alternative set of calibrations... it still demands an answer to why it would need a second set of calibrations to begin with.
Sadly, the press and many of the investigators involved in this will probably not understand the techical aspects of this, and why this is a fundamental cheat that could only have been created by the team that engineered the ECU.
US standards are pretty strict in comparison to Europe.
Part of the reason VW got caught was that the people doing the testing were looking at European diesel cars, found they polluted more than they should, and decided to test US cars for comparison.
They got caught with their dick in the pig.
I fail to see what the Clinton family reunion has to do with this.
This will be reduced to some completely unimportant sum like 18 million. Further its hilarious how the CEO is blaming rogue American engineers when it's clearly a upper management decision. Reading 'they launched an independent investigation' actually made me spit up my coffee it was so hilarious.
Obamacare was based on Romneycare from MA, which was created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. So you are saying Obama is a secret Republican? If so, then I agree completely. He wages war like a Republican, he deports immigrants like a Republican, he drills for oil and gas like a Republican, even in the arctic, and he goes after whistleblowers and journalists just like a Republican. So I think you've got something there.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
"The European mileage tests are absolutely silly."
Well, they probably are a bit stretched as, no doubt, are American, but I for one have to say that my 15 y-o car behaves as advertised (and, of course, YMMV): it was published as making 10.4 l/100Km mixed and mine makes 10.2 l/100Km (so even slightly better).
Check out this 70mpg VW that's already in Europe.
110 HP
0-60 in 10.7 seconds.
Spews cancer causing NOx.
Whats not to love!
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
And in all practical terms doesn't resemble that smaller state-level program in any meaningful way.
Are you fucking kidding me? It's a CLONE of Romneycare.
Unprecedented.
As was the abuse of the filibuster by Republicans, so I guess they're even then, right?
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Full text: "We're sorry we got caught!"
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
It depends a lot on your driving. If you do a steady 100 km/h on the highway, your mileage will be excellent. At 130 km/h, you may use about 20% more, and can more than double if you take the road for a race track.
Maybe your driving is more economical than most.
It appears that all diesel VW and Audi vehicles do have a urea injection system, but some only enable it during tests.
There's a reason that Pelosi, Reid and Obama had to ram that law through using procedural shenanigans
Indeed and that reason is the not so latent racism in the GOP base over a black president and the lock step opposition to *anything* he proposed. Every major piece of the ACA was *favored* by the GOP, just not 'Obamacare'.
Also note, the meeting with all the GOP players on the night of Obama's inauguration to 'oppose anything he did'. They knew that if they cooperated at all, Obama would get credit for saving the country from depression and become a transformative icon of history; and of course discredit the GOP agenda for decades to come.
So they played politics with basically everything. The extreme of which was Sen. Cruz voting against funding for Hurricane Sandy relief money...and then demanding quick aid when Texas was hit by floods. His argument? The pork in the Sandy Relief bill. While laudable policy wise, playing political football with people's lives to make a point is exactly what's wrong with the GOP these days.
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
My 2014 TDI at 80mph in 6th gear and no traffic gets 56mpg. In moderate traffic @ 50 - 65mph I get no less than 42mpg. I am a gear head and I know you would need to adjust the fuel injection (no spark it's a diesel) to occur a little before the power stroke to get a hotter burn and reduce NOx. The problem is this will reduce performance and mpg.. both the main reasons why I bought a diesel tdi. I want my money back. once the ecu is updated to be EPA compliant the car will not perform as well and mpg not as good. I want a refund + tax , title, registration, +6% of sale to cover taxes on my new non VW vehicle purchase since I won't have a trade and be subject to full sales tax.
The firmware changed to pass while it was being tested, so it seems the fix will be to leave the car in 'test' mode permanently. Apparently performance will suffer when that happens, but that doesn't really matter when you're stuck in a line of traffic on the freeway.......
It's a compression/peak flame temperature thing. With the high compression of a diesel engine, max economy comes at the expense of NOxide emissions.
Here is a really nice explanation of the parameters involved. It''s an old pdf scan of typewritten pages, but very clear and understandable
http://web.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel...
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
A3 and A4.. plus any other audi diesel that has a 2.0L TDI engine
it's amazing what people think they can hide in code, on a chip, and in the wiring to that chip.
i am not saying they're all cheating on emissions..
i assume it's all wide open to "gaming"..
is it not?
That new federal law was opposed by the people that didn't vote for it .... like forcing people to engage in business with insurers whether they want to or not
“With regards to the individual mandate, the individual responsibility program that I proposed, I was very pleased that the compromise between the two houses includes the personal responsibility mandate" - Mitt Romney, 2006
In the video released Wednesday night, Mr. Romney appears to share that view, at least as it relates to the Massachusetts plan.
The individual mandate, he said, “is essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need.”
Washington Post:
George H.W. Bush put together a plan with an individual mandate, but left it on the shelf because there was no way it’d pass in a Democratic Congress.
And yes, it's easily possible to drive the fuel consumption up to 10 l/100 km (about 25 mpg) by inapprobriate driving.
What is the appropriate language to use when declining a left nut?
Virtually the same protocol as the right nut.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.