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VW Engineers Have Admitted Manipulating CO2 Emissions Data (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: According to a report in German newspaper Bild am Sonntag several Volkswagen engineers have come forward and admitted manipulating carbon dioxide emissions data, blaming the overly ambitious goals set by former Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn. Reuters reports: "The paper said VW engineers tampered with tyre pressure and mixed diesel with their motor oil to make them use less fuel, a deception that began in 2013 and carried on until the spring of this year. 'Employees have indicated in an internal investigation that there were irregularities in ascertaining fuel consumption data. How this happened is subject to ongoing proceedings,' a Volkswagen spokesman said, declining to comment on the Bild report."
So take that up one level. The governments set CO2 emissions requirements for vehicles that, it seems, were impossible to meet given the current technology. After expending a large effort and resources on improving the technology, it was still impossible.
Those companies will then be punished by the government for failing to do the impossible. Should not the various governments who set the emission levels be held accountable? They essentially set the bar at an impossible level, given the time and resource constraints, and then threatened the livelihoods of all the participants who were guaranteed to fail.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
So just one week or so after the CO2 emissions scandal came to light we already have rank-and-file employees admitting fault. Contrast that with their NOx emissions scandal that has dragged on for over a month with no hints from VW about the perpetrators - that should tell you the blame there lies with executives.
Newsflash, EPA and CARB are re-testing other manufacturers too, and nobody else is cheating. Everybody else so far has real numbers, and modern cars really do meet modern emissions standards. Except for VW-owned brands.
They left out the controls on the smaller engines so that they could sell them as sportscars, which small diesels are definitely not. Then they put a defeat device in the firmware to game the test. Just because you got tricked, doesn't mean that everybody else did, too. If you want a small engine and high performance, you're an idiot to think that is available in a diesel, and an idiot to think it is not efficient in other types cars.