Slashdot Mirror
Volkwagen Finally Pleads Guilty On 'Dieselgate' Charges (cnet.com)
Friday Volkswagen admitted in court that they'd committed fraud in their diesel emissions tests, also pleading guilty to falsifying statements and obstruction of justice. An anonymous reader quotes CNET:
It marks the first time VW admitted guilt in any court in the world, according to a VW spokesman speaking to Reuters. The judge overseeing the case in the U.S. District Court in Detroit accepted the plea and will issue a sentence at a hearing on April 21. "The agreements that we have reached with the US government reflect our determination to address misconduct that went against all of the values Volkswagen holds so dear," Volkswagen said in an emailed statement... The road to Dieselgate's conclusion still has plenty of pavement, though. The company is still under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service. And that's in the US alone.
"VW AG is pleading guilty to all three counts because it is guilty on all three counts," the company's general counsel told the judge. Reuters also reports that VW offered to buy back half a million vehicles just in America, and agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the U.S. to address claims from unhappy owners.
"VW AG is pleading guilty to all three counts because it is guilty on all three counts," the company's general counsel told the judge. Reuters also reports that VW offered to buy back half a million vehicles just in America, and agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the U.S. to address claims from unhappy owners.
We know how that turns out!
American cars (except Ford) have barely any presence in Europe, because they are lower quality than most other cars. So I guess Americans buying VW's were looking for quality.
This really saddens me too.
I used to avoid Ford like the plague because they were the American vehicle with quality issues while GM was the reliable one.
I know from my Saturn with a stick-shift that GM transmissions turned to crap, as did many other things from GM in the recent decade or two. Ford decided to stop building trash and stepped up their game. I now have a Ford Transit Connect outfitted for passenger as a family vehicle. We love it, we get lots of questions about it, lots of people tell us how much they like it and are considering getting one. It's got a great reliability rating from consumer reports. The GM and Ford of the 80's and 90's switched places in the 2000's / 2010's.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Well, the company VW might have admitted guilt . . . but the management, from the top down to the bottom have not. First, the CEO tried to blame it on "a couple of rogue programmers." Yeah, right.
Now all the managers are singing the Sergeant Schultz Schtick: "I know nuh-thing! Nuh-thing!" Again, some engineering manager must have known that something was amiss, and this could only be kept secret by an extensive company internal conspiracy.
The folks who will really suffer from this fiasco, besides the customers, are the simple assembly line workers, who have been or will be laid off. It's the top managers who really need to be torched for this.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
The real problem here is the severity of the regulations, not the cars themselves. If passenger trucks were held to the same standard there wouldn't be a single redneck "rollin' coal" out there.
"Severity of the regulations" should be the banner of every whining industry that's been forced to clean up their act.
In this case, it's possible to be compliant but VW et al didn't want to implement a system that might have reduced performance or increase cost slightly.
So they chose to lie & cheat. Not the 1st to do this, won't be the last.
The US trucking industry is very proud that more than 1/3rd of medium & heavy commercial trucks are considered near-zero for particulate emissions, up from less than 10% in 2007 and claims that a single truck from 1988 would emit as much as 60 new trucks.
http://www.dieselforum.org/new...
My response is that it's all long-overdue, that it should be at least 75% compliance by now and that ALL vehicles should be held to the standard.
Because it's (almost 20 years into) the 21st century
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
you're not going to audit the code in your car. you're not going to audit the code in your Instant Pot.
you want the code to be available to the community, so that others can get together and audit it.
and no carmaker is going to permit that unless compelled to, because the code is too critical.
so be focused on real accountability.
i see no VW execs nor engineers yet facing the possibility of real jail time.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Yes. A fact that is generally universally accepted. I take it you have had a Japanese car and a bad experience with it? Pick 6 numbers between 0 and 42. I'll make sure never to play them in the Lottery.
If you need your car to bring excitement into your life, perhaps you're doing something wrong?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
This is pretty standard on most European cars (and in fact true of all modern vehicles with traction control). The braking system is biased towards the rear brakes, which keeps the car from nose diving during hard braking. Also, in slippery conditions prior ABS/ESP kicking in, it allows the front wheels, which steer, to stay turning longer before locking up (and triggering ABS/traction control).
My VW typically goes through 3 sets of rear pads before I have to replace my fronts.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
If you need your car to bring excitement into your life, ...
... then you need to cut your brake lines. That'll solve your problem right quick.
Old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?