Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500,000 Vehicles Over Emissions Software

[McRat]

...

(Here in UK there is an annual inspection for all vehicles over 3 years old)

Sorry, I have to...

Yes, if you study the history of the British auto industry, you can fully understand why they think a 3 year old car might be falling apart already.

Sidebar - Recently we stayed in the Jaguar suite in London, The Jaguar Suite - 5 Star Suites - Signature Suites London - Taj 51 Buckingham Gate which is how I found out that Jag is now an Indian company. If you stay in London, check it out sometime.

 

[Carl]

Jag (and Land Rover) have indeed been sold by a US company (Ford) to an Indian company (Tata) eight years ago. JLR sales have doubled since then. I suspect there is a good reason for that (despite the fact that there are, on the other hand, certainly some snobbish people not wanting to buy an "Indian" premium car, but those racists are apparently a very small minority, luckily).

 

[WannabeOwner]

Yes, if you study the history of the British auto industry, you can fully understand why they think a 3 year old car might be falling apart already.

Sure. More often than not in recent times my cars (once 3 years old, but I don't own anything more than about 7 years old) have passed the annual test without any work. I check the bulbs & tyres, so they won't fail on that. But there is plenty in the test that I don't know about / cannot inspect easily / don't have skills for, including items which would be a liability to me, and other road users, if not roadworthy. People who have old cars moan about the fact that they have expensive repairs as a consequence of the annual test - so it does find cars with faults, as is to be expected.

Presumably the USA test, in those states that have one, is similar.

So ... beats me why a 1st world country wouldn't want to have regulation like that, in all states, to protect people from the occasional idiot who can't be bothered to maintain a vehicle and consequently sooner or later someone will be killed as a consequence.

 

[voyager]

VW's U.S. manager Oliver Schmidt was arrested by the FBI.

 

[adiggs]

My experience in the US is that smog tests are the exception, rather than the rule, and I don't know of anywhere that has an annual mechanical inspection with teeth. (I imagine there's at least a few jurisdictions in the US that have the mechanical inspections - I just don't know where they are or how serious they are).

The counterpoint to your final observation, is that there is very little of the US where you can (today) live without a vehicle. There are plenty of people that fall into the category you describe - able to maintain their vehicle but can't be bothered, and without the annual inspection, there is no corresponding forcing function to get those vehicles off the road.

There are plenty more people that can't live without a vehicle, and they can't afford to maintain it to a high standard (or they trade off food, clothing, and / or shelter to maintain the vehicle).

As a point of comparison - the UK is ~65M population while the US is ~320M (population of the uk - Bing). That's in an area of 241,000 sq km for the UK vs. 9,100,000 sq km for the US (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.TOTL.K2). So ~5x the population in 45x the area for the US - we aren't packed in as well, and that translates to a need for more driving.


I suspect that one benefit of annual inspections with teeth is you don't have "rolling coal" as a thing (

).

 

[jgs]

Six Volkswagen executives indicted in emissions-cheating scandal

 

[mspohr]

I figured that Bosch must have been involved.
Looks like they finally have admission from Bosch that they programmed all of the diesels to avoid detection:
Bosch, a Volkswagen Supplier, Agrees to Settle Over Diesel Scandal

From the article:
Later, Bosch helped conceal the software from authorities, according to the class-action suits. It altered an onboard diagnostic system so it would not provide warnings that the emissions system was malfunctioning. The suits also said Bosch helped delete text from software documentation that might have raised suspicion.

“VW and Bosch continued over the next few years to refine the defeat device,” one of those lawsuits said. “This was a lengthy and complicated process.”

The sheer amount of work required to install the software in Volkswagen vehicles suggests that a large number of people were involved. The software had to be altered for each model and option package. There are 11 million tainted diesel engines in more than 30 Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat and Skoda models, which were available around the world in dozens of variations.

 

[gene]

Hmmm....I am not pleased with the only $15k buyback we received for our Jetta. It would be nice if Bosch hsd to pay something to consumers as well.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Still beggars belief, to me, that Europe thinks that VW has no case to answer in terms of compensating [EU] owners.

We have 3x VW vehicles, I would have dearly liked to get shot of them on Day One of this debacle, but that would have meant losing my shirt on depreciation and diminished value.

The recall was only a couple of months ago (no sooner than that ... it took a year or more before we even received notice that the vehicle was effected).

Never ever going to buy a vehicle from the VW stable again in my lifetime. Had a similar problem with Sharklays Bank - the lying and cheating there turned out to be endemic; we moved all our banking and will never deal with them again - if I had my way we wouldn't accept payments from Clients via Sharklays - what sort of message does it send to Suppliers that you are clearly happy banking with charlatans? Same with driving a VW IMHO. I have no confidence that the rot isn't endemic at VW too, particularly as they appear to feel no moral obligation to compensate victims in one jurisdiction and yet they do in another.

 

[mspohr]

End UK tax incentives for diesel vehicles, ministers are urged

End UK tax incentives for diesel vehicles, ministers are urged
VW killed the diesel

 

[mspohr]

Looks like the diesel fixes in the UK aren't going so well.
Up in smoke: the VW emissions ‘fix’ has left our car undriveable

 

[Grendal]

Here is a series of pictures showcasing the arrival, unloading, and deck damage to SpaceX's ASDS. All of that is cool but someone noticed the vast amount of cars sitting on the dock in the background are the buyback VWs. Ironic that Elon's space achievement is happening right next to the disgusting recall of thousands of vehicles by a cheating car company. Cheating by polluting the environment....

Aerial photos of SpaceX B1021 recovery

 

[3mp_kwh]

Aerial photos of SpaceX B1021 recovery

Juxtaposition is delightful, isn't it

The technology of re-landing rockets, versus the "lean NOx trap". I'm going with SpaceX.

 

[mspohr]

There is now book about the scandal.
Looks like the cover-up was most damaging.
Inside VW’s Campaign of Trickery

 

[mspohr]

VW's CEO was told about emissions software months before scandal:...

Looks like CEO was told about the scandal two months before it became public.
His defense for not informing investors is that he didn't know how big the fine would be ???

 

[Sharkbait]

Meh, VW has Merkel in their pocket, be damn with emissions and software fiddling.

 

[mspohr]

Now VW is whinging that EVs are too expensive to make.
Of course, they are only making small numbers and they farmed out the batteries so of course they are too expensive. They still don't get it.
VW CEO says electric car costs higher than expected, sees competition making progress