Germany Detects Emissions Cheat Software In Audi Models (reuters.com)

The German government has accused Audi of cheating emissions tests with its top-end models, marking the first time the company has been accused of such wrongdoing in its home country. Reuters reports: The German Transport Ministry said it has asked Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) luxury division to recall around 24,000 A7 and A8 models built between 2009 and 2013, about half of which were sold in Germany. The affected Audi models with so-called Euro-5 emission standards emit about twice the legal limit of nitrogen oxides when the steering wheel is turned more than 15 degrees, the ministry said. It is also the first time that Audi's top-of-the-line A8 saloon has been implicated in emissions cheating. VW has said to date that the emissions-control software found in its rigged EA 189 diesel engine does not violate European law. The 80,000 3.0-liter vehicles affected by VW's emissions cheating scandal in the United States included Audi A6, A7 and Q7 models as well as Porsche and VW brand cars. The ministry said it has issued a June 12 deadline for Audi to come up with a comprehensive plan to refit the cars. Ingolstadt-based Audi issued a recall for the 24,000 affected models late on Thursday, some 14,000 of which are registered in Germany, and said software updates will start in July. It will continue to cooperate with Germany's KBA motor vehicle authority, Audi said.

Comments

Re:Steering Wheel?

[tlhIngan]

The trigger for the violation was when the steering wheel was turned more than 15 degrees. That seems an odd trigger. It's not like the position of the steering wheel should affect the combustion in any way, nor would it be something a reasonable person would use to start a secret 'less pollution for the testing mode'.

It seems more like a major coding flaw rather than an intentional cheat. Like someone assumed that a set of values would be inside a range but when the wheel was turned, it gave an out of range reading that confused a computer, resulting in poor pollution control.

Very different than a 'test mode', that VW clearly used just to intentionally fool government agencies.

Here's how the VW cheat worked, and how Audi's does as well (aren't they same company?).

Basically, when you start the engine, it goes into "test mode" or the low pollution mode. There are a bunch of triggers that would take it out of test mode and into "normal high performance" mode. These are triggers that are believed if they occur, the car is not under testing. One of them is steering wheel - during the emissions test, it's not done on a road, but on a dynomometer, There's no reason to turn the wheel while on the dyno so it's assumed if the wheel hasn't moved it's to stay in test mode.

For Audi, another reason is acoustic management - when a diesel starts up, it makes a heck of a racket. However, if you inject a bit more fuel at start up, it quiets down at the cost of emissions (it's why the VW code references "acoustic management"). Since Audis are considered higher end vehicles, being able to do a nice quiet start is a plus.

And that's really the essence of the cheat.

Re:Emissions mobile

[Thelasko]

Going forward all emissions testing should be done with the car at maximum weight rating, driving up a steep mountain road. I'm sure they can make these devices small enough to put in a trunk. They could also do a lightweight test with just a driver.

That can and has been done. The drawback is that the testing won't be done in a controlled environment, so the results may not be repeatable.