EPA To Overhaul Emissions Testing In the Wake of VW Cheating

New submitter kheldan writes with this snippet from The Consumerist: A week after ordering Volkswagen to recall 500,000 vehicles that contain "defeat devices" designed to cheat emissions tests, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would overhaul its compliance processes to ensure vehicles meet standards not only in controlled environments but in real-world driving conditions, and adds What may be the story-behind-the-story here, are the two Elephants in the Room: One, how many other automakers in the world have been 'gaming' the system like German automakers apparently have been all along, and Two, are these changes to the certification process at the USEPA going to 'trickle down' to the state and local levels, affecting routine emissions testing of individual vehicles? Questions peripheral to these may include: How much is this going to affect new vehicle prices in the future, and how much is this going to affect the fair market value of used vehicles?

Comments

Cheating more of an issue for diesels

[goodmanj]

First let me say that this change is urgently needed.

But, it's unlikely that automakers who build gasoline cars are cheating like VW did. It's especially difficult to clean NOx from diesel engine exhaust because unlike gasoline engines, the exhaust contains lots of extra oxygen. Diesels need special NOx-cleaning devices which add cost and weight, and can seriously limit performance in some situations. Gasoline engines just need minor modifications to the engine computer software and the catalytic converter to clean NOx, so there's very little need to cheat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
http://www.google.com/patents/...

Re:Cheating more of an issue for diesels

[oic0]

Motorcycles cheat like crazy. Almost all of them. They severely lean out portions of the fuel map that get used in the test and leave other portions at optimal or even a little rich to reduce warranty claims. First thing most owners do is buy an exhaust system for the sound, often eliminating the cat, and a tuner to fix the horrible EPA test cheater fueling.

Not necessarily "cheating"

[sshir]

I know, it might be unpopular, but consider this explanation: what if that mode was designed to be turned on when car detects running in a badly ventilated area like indoors or in a tunnel and such? Just to avoid becoming a health hazard. And nobody realized that such mode would interfere with EPA tests. And VW own testers were simply replicating EPA testing rig to insure that ther testing is the same, while having no clue how engine works. While it is still probable, that someone in VW realized that there is a problem, they kept their mouth shut for various reasons. But generally this explanation does not require any wide conspiracy or anything.

Re:On the fly/road measurements

[NormalVisual]

because most people can't afford to keep cars of that age on the road at all

If we assume the average new car is $20,000 today, it works out to close to $450/month over four years. I don't know too many people with older cars that are having to spend anywhere near that much on maintenance.