I’ve got a fair amount of questions asking about Volkswagen’s diesel nightmare where the company was caught using software to cheat on emissions tests, known on social media as #dieselgate. That’s led to investigations by various nations and the exit of their CEO. That’s made me put together a quick primer on this:
What’s the core issue?: Volkswagen and Audi cars with “clean diesel” engines sold in the United States from the model year 2009 onwards have been found to be in violation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for tailpipe emissions. As a result, the company has been ordered to recall about 500,000 of them in the US to fix the issue.
How did Volkswagen cheat?: It’s actually very clever. Programmers working for Volkswagen came up with a software algorithm that used the car’s sensors to monitor the movement of the steering wheel and accelerator pedal. Using that information, the algorithm determined when the vehicle was in a lab being tested for emissions. If that were the case, it would tell the engine and emission systems to do everything possible to minimize the emissions coming from the tailpipe. When this was no longer the case, emissions returned to normal, which was as high as 40 times what it should have been.
Why did Volkswagen feel that it had to cheat?: That’s a tough question to answer. But I suspect it was a combination of things. First they wanted to be the #1 automaker on the planet. Something that they had achieved when this scandal hit. So they might have decided to do whatever was required to get there. Second, sometime around the mid 2000’s, the standards for tailpipe emissions got much more stringent. To meet those standards, anyone who was making a diesel powered car for North America (BMW and Mercedes Benz for example) had to use an additive in the exhaust which was a mixture of roughly 35% urea and 65% de-mineralized water to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) coming from the tailpipe. But this is expensive from a service standpoint as well as being less convenient as these cars would not start if you ran out of this solution or you had problem with the plumbing that delivered the solution to the exhaust. I am guessing that Volkswagen, who was in the process of making their cars more price competitive with the GM’s, Honda’s and Toyota’s of the planet didn’t want to go this route, so they instead cheated.
Why is this an issue in North America versus the rest of the world?: Diesel fuel in North America has one thing that diesel fuel in Europe doesn’t have. Sulfur. This creates loads of NOx that car companies have to deal with if they want to sell a diesel car in North America. Also, In Europe, the focus is on carbon-dioxide emissions; In North America, the emissions standards also focus on NOx. So that puts car companies in the position of having to make cars for two different markets. That’s not a cheap thing to do. The fact that they may sell only a fraction of diesel vehicles in North America compared to what they sell in Europe makes this kind of expensive for a car company.
What penalties are Volkswagen facing?: At the very least, Volkswagen is facing a fine that could be as high as $18 billion dollars from the EPA. But they’re also facing investigations in other countries that could lead to criminal charges and further fines. They are also facing lawsuits in Canada and the United States that could get expensive in a hurry.
Is Volkswagen finished?: They have a very loyal group of owners and that could help them to survive this. But that would assume that their owners still trust them. They will also likely not be getting many new customers anytime soon. They have to also survive the lawsuits, fines, and potential criminal charges. That might be a bigger problem for them. File this one under “to be continued.”
The #DieselGate Scandal Gets Even Worse For Volkswagen
Posted in Commentary with tags Volkswagen on October 15, 2015 by itnerdThe noose is tightening around Volkswagen as German officials have ordered to company to recall vehicles that were rigged with software to evade emissions tests. Here’s what the CBC had to say on that:
German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the country’s KBA automotive watchdog had ordered Volkswagen to start a mandatory recall of 2.4 million vehicles at the beginning of next year.
The Bild newspaper said the KBA had rejected the idea owners could voluntarily bring in their vehicles.
The KBA has given Volkswagen until the end of the month to come up with a plan for a software fix needed for 2.0 litre vehicles affected by the recall, Dobrindt said.
The carmaker has until the end of November to come up with a technical solution for 1.6 and 1.2 litre vehicles, he added.
That pretty much forces Volkswagen to come up with a fix now rather than sometime early next year which is what they announced that they were going to do. But the story doesn’t end there. It is now being reported that 2016 diesel models have additional software installed that may help them to cheat on emissions:
Volkswagen has disclosed to U.S. regulators that there is additional suspect software in its 2016 diesel models that would potentially help their exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests.
Volkswagen confirmed that the “auxiliary emissions control device” at issue operates differently from the “defeat” device software included in the company’s 2009 to 2015 models disclosed last month. That disclosure triggered the worldwide cheating scandal engulfing the world’s largest automaker.
The newly revealed software makes a pollution control catalyst heat up faster, improving performance of the device that separates smog-causing nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases.
VW spokeswoman Jeannine Minivan said the new issue with the 2016 diesel models, known as an auxiliary emissions control device, was first revealed last week to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California regulators.
“This has the function of a warm-up strategy which is subject to approval by the agencies,” Ginivan said. “The agencies are currently evaluating this and Volkswagen is submitting additional information.”
Automakers routinely place auxiliary emissions control devices on cars, though they are required by law to disclose them as part of the process to receive clean emissions certifications required to sell cars in the country.
Well, that’s just delightful. Even if this doesn’t help them to cheat on emissions, it’s likely not going to go over well just because of what has happened to date. If it does help them to cheat on emissions, expect a mushroom cloud to appear over VW HQ due to the bomb that is sure to be dropped on that company.
Leave a comment »