Opel Dealers Accused of Modyfing the Software of Polluting Cars (deredactie.be)

An anonymous reader writes: Belgian public broadcasting station VRT has discovered that GM Opel dealerships in Belgium seem to be updating engine management code when Zafira cars equipped with the 1.6 litre CDTI diesel engine are brought in for service. After the software change, the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions drop sharply, at the cost of reduced power output. Bern University of Applied Sciences and environmental lobby club DUH previously found this model to pass European emissions standards only when the rear wheels are not rotating. When the rear wheels are made to spin along, NOx emissions increase to several times the limit set by European regulations. General Motors denied using defeat devices as well as the update program that seems to be taking place. However, an anonymous mechanic at an Opel dealership states that GM started pushing updates shortly after the Dieselgate scandal broke.

Comments

I'm somehow not surprised.

[Z00L00K]

I suspect that the majority of brands do the same thing more or less, so I'm not surprised.

It's back to the drawing board for those that sets up the conditions for tests and the emissions limits to get figures that better reflects reality. And this is not only diesels that are circumventing the regulations, I expect everyone of doing similar regardless of fuel type.

There's no surprise to customers that the fuel consumption figures provided by car manufacturers are almost impossible to achieve in reality, no matter what the gauges in the cars says.

Re:I'm somehow not surprised.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem wasn't the laws or the tests, the EU regulators knew the tests were being cheat on, the regulations already forbid defeat devices in plain language. They could have thrown the book at them at any point they want, but all the diesel manufacturers have factories in Europe, so it didn't and won't happen. VW got cocky and thought they could do the same thing in the US, where political considerations offered them no protection. Fucking them over has no impact on the US economy, so they got proper fucked.

Now public pressure is forcing the EU manufacturers to fix their shit, but the economic impact of trying to fix it fast and the clear evidence of regulatory capture and corruption ensures it's all kept outside of public view as much as possible.

Business as usual.

Re:I'm somehow not surprised.

[whoever57]

I suspect that the majority of brands do the same thing more or less, so I'm not surprised.

I suspected as much myself. Other manufacturers must have tested the VWs and found out about the cheating -- so why did the cheating stay secret for so long? Probably because everyone was doing the same.

Re:How to tell a regulation has failed utterly

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

So if pretty much every manufacturer is doing this, how is this not equal to a kind of mass civic protest?

Money.

Re: How to tell a regulation has failed utterly

[Namarrgon]

"Overly ambitious" standards? In whose opinion, the car manufacturers or those who suffer the consequences?

This isn't some civic protest akin to Prohibition, these are regulations designed to avoid Tragedy of the Commons scenarios with real costs to society. In the UK alone, nitrogen dioxide emissions cause 23,500 extra deaths, costing around £13bn per year.

Re:Volvo messed too

[thegarbz]

How do you explain 15% more fuel usage other than trying to cover up software 'flaws'?

A fucked up service by an apprentice who didn't know what they were doing?

15% is a low number in the scheme of assembling something incorrectly. I'm not saying they didn't do what you claim, but do watch your cause and effect conclusions.

Volvo have screwed themselves

[Viol8]

They're new engine line up consists of ONE engine - a 2.0L 4 cyl in various stages of tune and turbocharging (presumably to save development costs). Good luck to them getting decent NOx figures out of that in the high power versions, not to mention longevity. There does seem to be an obsession with shriking engines below what is reasonable (3 cyl 1.0L in a Mondeo?? Hello Ford!) simply to meet CO2 emissions targets. Thats all well and good but you don't get something for nothing and high pressure small engines just don't last so you will probably find the car scrapped years earlier than otherwise and so completely negating any CO2 benefit accrued by the engine. Short term thinking at its finest.