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Volkswagen Boss Blames Software Engineers For Scandal (bbc.co.uk)
hattig writes: Today VW's Michael Horn is testifying to Congress and has blamed the recent scandal on engineers saying: "It's the decision of a couple of software engineers, not the board members." However, 530,000 cars in the U.S. will need to be recalled for significant engine modifications, not a software fix. Only 80,000 Passats are eligible for the software fix. There is no word on the effects these modifications will have on the cars' performance, fuel consumption, etc. The BBC reports: "The issue of defeat devices at VW has been a historic problem, points out a Congress panel member questioning VW US chief Michael Horn. In 1974, VW had a run-in with US authorities regarding the use of defeat devices in 1974, and in December 2014 it recalled cars to address nox emissions."
Yes. They omitted the diesel exhaust fluid (urea) injection system. I heard it saved about $400 per car.
The link does not go to the article. Could somebody post the actual link?
Here are some other sources:
http://www.newser.com/story/21...
http://www.theguardian.com/bus...
http://www.npr.org/sections/th...
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Bosch guys said it would be illegal to use this specific feature.
Forbidden!
Have gnu, will travel.
It's not about efficiency, it's about emissions, which runs counter to efficiency. It's the whole problem with diesel engines to begin with: if you want better fuel economy, you have to increase combustion temperature. Doing so with diesel gives you higher NOx emissions. So you have to lower combustion temps to keep those down, but then you sacrifice mpg and also horsepower (both of which are very important to drivers for fairly obvious reasons).
If the company could, they'd maximize fuel economy and power and ignore emissions, but that would give you huge NOx emissions, which causes serious smog problems (Paris has much worse smog than most American cities from what I hear, because of all the diesel engines).
There really isn't a great solution to this it seems. Urea injection is supposed to help a lot though. But it seems like the best answer is to give up on diesel for small passenger vehicles and stick with gasoline or just move to EVs.
Ontario has already announced that you will be unable to register your vehicle next year until you provide documentation showing you've had the work done.
http://www.kitchenerpost.ca/news-story/5951438-ontario-vw-owners-could-be-forced-off-road-without-clean-up/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/vw...
That article explains a lot.
So, VW hired a top engineer away from Daimler to revamp the VW line. He brought in clean-diesel technology ("BlueTec") licensed from Daimler, but the engineers at VW hated the idea of licensing technology from a rival, because they said they could do just as good with the turbocharged direct injection designs that they'd been working on for years. Nevertheless, VW went through with an engine design with the licensed BlueTec, made a prototype engine... and then the CEO got pushed out, the chief engineer got pushed out a month later, and the new CEO put the engineers who'd opposed licensing outside technology in charge of making a new VW clean-diesel engine and cancelled the license from Daimler. So, they had essentially doubled down on the bet that they could do just as good on efficiency and NOx emissions without licensing the Daimler BlueTec, And right as they did that, the new CEO announced ambitious targets for selling clean diesels in the US.
The story is beginning to make a bit more sense now.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Don't be such a douche bag. Getting your car e-tested to prove it's playing environmentally nice is no different then getting a license to prove you know how to drive.
You haven't met many managers have you ?
It did in the building industry
[snip]For 16 years the Consulting Association compiled a secret database on thousands of construction workers[/snip]
They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight