Slashdot Mirror
Reports: Volkswagen Was Warned of Emissions Cheating Years Ago
An anonymous reader writes: More fuel was thrown on the Volkswagen fire today after two German newspapers reported that Volkswagen's own staff and one of its suppliers warned years ago about software designed to thwart emissions test. Volkswagen declined to comment on the details of either newspaper report. "There are serious investigations underway and the focus is now also on technical solutions" for customers and dealers, a Volkswagen spokesman said. "As soon as we have reliable facts we will be able to give answers."
This is a Reuters news story - why is the submission linking to Newsweek, which locks the article behind their ad wall?
Here's a Reuters link:
http://www.reuters.com/article...
there are unreliable facts?
Why would a "warning" make any difference? They knew what they were doing. You cannot just completely change the emission profile of a motor by magic, so every competent motor designer knew the performance the VW diesel-engines where claiming to have was bogus. That alone will be up to a hundred people. Of course their bosses knew and so did the VW leadership. The really interesting thing is whether this can be proven.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Before this becomes Naci bashing thing, just some facts:
-> this cars are probably illegal only in the USA (where they should conform to almost the same standard as EURO 6) in EU they are declared to be EURO 5
-> it looks like this motors are only a bit off in the laboratory test (they are almost EURO 6 - but not without the cheat)
-> in real life all cars produce more exhausts as allowed => problem is in the testing procedure which should be fixed (see reports bellow)
-> EURO 6 from VW is fine (see http://www.theicct.org/nox-control-technologies-euro-6-diesel-passenger-cars) as other German manufacturers, but some others have problems.
And nobody is talking about the elephant in the room (http://www.theicct.org/laboratory-road-2015-update), especially look at the page 6, Figure 5. for hybrids... What a joke...
But in the end it is again a stupid bean counter who caused all this as he did not allow SCR system for cars in the USA which would cost 300 € per car... So to save 150M they will spend 7B. Nice work!
The share holders end up paying for this mess and the share holders never had a clue. Meanwhile the typical manager or executive who was responsible has probably already sold off their shares and are beyond punishment. Seriously when will people get the point that corporations exist in order to avoid responsibility. Doesn't the term LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) declare upfront the intent to not be liable or responsible?
Whenever something bad happens - 9/11, Challenger, Katrina, Bill Crosby, SUV rollovers, every president, Deepwater Horizon - someone will selflessly step forward and say "I knew it was going to happen, I warned you, but nobody would listen!"
Next time a screw-up is in the news, pay attention and wait for the inevitable soothsayer.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
I think you're overestimating the socialist influence. I worked there from 2010-2014, and most of the upper management I met there was definitely capitalist rather than socialist.
Capitalists always overestimate the socialist influence when the issue in question is a symptom of something wrong with capitalism, which this situation is.
Short term profits at any cost at all, including extra pollution, lying, deception. The surprise isn't that they did it, it's that other corporate misdeeds aren't published to this extent.
... to find a couple of middle managers and engineers to throw under the bus.
Unrealistic.
The existing cars are already able to run in a compliant mode. All VW needs to do is patch them so they're always in that mode rather than only during emission tests.
Mind you, resulting engine performance will suffer and they'll probably get sued for false advertising, end up paying major penalties on top of what the governments are going to hammer them with, and have an uphill battle for future sales which might make them wish they could have just offered everyone brand new cars.
Log in or piss off.
If you just watch Autoline After Hours 303 (if you're not interested, you can skip all the stuff about the Honda unibody and jump to after the break) you'll hear that the EPA was warning automakers about the illegality of "defeat devices" (terminology which covers device or code) for gaming the emissions tests in the seventies. This is so far from being a new idea, it's not even funny.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We are treated this worse then a safety issue where people died.
This is a safety issue where people are dying. NOx causes premature death and a whole host of respiratory illness'. Just because you can't grab a single person out of the mix and say "this person is specifically dead because of it", doesn't mean that people are not dying as a result of the deception. Its people like you who keep voting for the liars and scumbags that are ruining every democracy in the world. If someone came up with a law to disqualify people with your demonstrated lack of ability to understand consequences, I would support that law, no matter how flawed the test was, just on the basis of having some chance of keeping you and your ilk out of my political system.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
So your argument is that since we have had theft as long as there have been things to steal, it's not really wrong to steal?
VW defrauded a few million people.
Consumers bought the cars in good faith and got the performance they were promised. They didn't get the emissions controls the state was promised. The customers got "better performance than was possible with compliance " cars, despite the regulators attempts to artificially suppress MPG for the sake of NO2 emissions.
The only* reason consumers should be unhappy is if they are forced to get 2016 firmware upgrades to pass smog testing. Under those circumstances: they will no longer be getting the performance they were promised and have a right to be pissed off.
*assuming they don't care about pollution/global warming
Really, the driveway, my 6.7L turbocharged Scoprion diesel engine just got 22mph heading to and from Duluth and the twin cities.
You're proud of 22mpg? Seriously? That's not even remotely impressive. If you got that kind of mileage out of a 6.7L engine then it means you weren't hauling anything which means you have a ludicrously over sized engine for the trip. 22mpg isn't anything special by the today's standards for truck fuel economy.
And all with with no black soot what so ever in the tail pipe, looks just like the day I bought it, shiny new metal inside the exhaust.
Unless you bought it yesterday I'm going to call BS on that one. No tailpipe, diesel or gas, stays shiny on the inside for long. I'm sure it's a nice truck but I'm equally sure about what comes out of the tailpipe and the corrosive properties thereof.
I am suggesting they don't have much room for improvement, unless by improve, you mean : change to electric vehicles.
Diesels can almost without question be made substantially cleaner than they currently are. Far more research and money has been put into making gasoline engines clean than diesel if for no other reason than because diesels don't sell in the US car market. I have little reason to doubt that diesels couldn't be similarly improved.
That said your point is a fair one that we probably are well into diminishing returns on emission controls for internal combustion engines of any description. I think electric vehicles and plug in hybrids are the future. Honestly I'd buy one today if they sold a good one in the type of vehicle I'm looking for for a vaguely reasonable price. (pickup truck) I think it's just a matter of time.
Just so you know, though, you can't register and drive them on public roadways. They don't meet emissions requirements.
If there is a record of a warning, then there already is a paper trail. Where o you think evidence that a warning ever even happened came from?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'