Volkswagen under investigation over illegal software that masks pollution

[Amalgam]

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/featur...ly-destroy-vw/


Volkswagen had previously licensed BlueTec technology from Mercedes that involved injecting an additive called AdBlue into the car’s exhaust to convert harmful NOx into harmless nitrogen and water vapour. That licensing deal was cancelled in 2007 because, it has been suggested, VW was uncomfortable using a rival’s technology. Neither did it want to fit its vehicles with a costly additive tank that would require regular top-ups — a chore that Winterkorn knew would be unpopular with owners.

With the clock ticking, Hadler came up with an apparent solution, which he detailed in May 2008, in the engineering journal Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium. Hadler’s paper describes how software in a car’s computer could be used to help meet emissions targets. In conjunction with fuel injectors and exhaust filters, the software could make continuous adjustments to the way an engine runs, making it less thirsty and less polluting, but no less powerful. The paper referred to “engine modifications, some of which are unique worldwide”. In short, it was the engineering equivalent of alchemy.

The only problem was that it didn’t quite work. Try as they might, Hadler and his team seemed not to be able to translate theory into practice. They struggled to cut pollution enough to comply with Californian regulations without affecting the car’s fuel economy or performance. As time ran out, so did their ideas. So, under instruction — from whom it is not clear — Hadler’s EA189 engine was programmed with additional software, supplied to Volkswagen by Bosch, an automotive-parts maker as well as a manufacturer of power tools.

The software was intended to be used in engine development, but never in production vehicles, according to insiders at Bosch. But who would even know it was there? Invisible among the millions of lines of code that a modern car’s computer uses, it lurked in the background, silently monitoring how the vehicle was being driven.

Most of the time, the code remained dormant, but it sparked into life when it detected only two of the car’s four wheels moving, and when the steering wheel was stationary — a combination that occurred when the car was on a rolling road in a lab. When this happened, the engine switched into a mode that was much cleaner — but that would have given a poorer performance during normal driving.

[Idle]

So it would have been picked up immediately if their rolling road supported 4WD's and all wheels were turning?

[Ryeman]

For the EGR valve's sake I'd be avoiding the 'fix'........they're problematic enough as it is.

[Amalgam]

Surprise, Surprise

Dieselgate: VW Board clears itself – Car Reviews, News & Advice - CarPoint Australia..

Dieselgate: VW Board clears itself

Internal investigation clears Volkswagen board of Dieselgate responsibility

[Amalgam]

Just incase you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Volkswagen to be sued by Norway fund over emissions scandal - BBC News

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, plans legal action against Volkswagen over the firm's emissions scandal.

It said had been advised by its lawyers that the company's conduct "gives rise to legal claims under German law".

Volkswagen admitted last year that it had installed secret software to cheat US emissions tests.

The move, from one of VW's biggest investors, is the latest in a flood of legal actions over the scandal.

It faces action from US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and its own dealers.

Norges Bank Investment Management is worth $850bn (£592bn; €751bn) and has stakes in more than 9,000 companies.


To put USD 850 Billion into perspective, it is equivalent to AUD 1.17 Trillion or 4 times the assets Apple is rumoured to have in the bank.

That is a lot of fancy lawyers.

[theresanothersteve]

And now Opel! (not to mention Daimler and Fiat Chrysler)

GM’s Opel to Meet German Commission Amid Dispute Over Emissions - Bloomberg

General Motors Co.’s Opel unit plans to meet with a German government commission looking into possible emissions manipulation as the carmaker pushes back against allegations by local media and an environmental advocacy group that its engine software may breach regulations.

Representatives of GM’s European division will appear before the commission on Wednesday, the Transport Ministry said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. The move follows Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s request late last week that the country’s automotive regulator, or KBA, recheck Opel models following “reports” that pollution controls may have been manipulated.

Opel is disputing the results of a joint investigation by Spiegel magazine, ARD television’s Monitor program and the Deutsche Umwelthilfe environmentalist group that found software on Zafira compact vans and Insignia sedans cut off emission controls under certain conditions, such as speeds exceeding 145 kilometers (90 miles) per hour. The conclusions are “wrong,” Karl-Thomas Neumann, head of the GM division, said Tuesday in a statement. “We at Opel don’t have any illegal software.”

[team_v]

Suzuki now caught up in fuel economy scandal:

Suzuki says it used wrong fuel economy tests in Japan | Reuters

[Amalgam]

This Is The Loophole GM Exploited To Legally Cheat European Emissions


Published a year after cycle beating first made the news in Europe, this is the rule that explicitly prohibits defeat systems, however it also includes this little proviso in Article 5:

The use of defeat devices that reduce the effectiveness of emission control systems shall be prohibited.

The prohibition shall not apply where [...] the need for the device is justified in terms of protecting the engine against damage or accident and for safe operation of the vehicle.

This loophole, as Forbes noted two days ago, is what carmakers in Europe have commonly used to get around the defeat system ban in the EU. Carmakers can specify certain parameters where they can claim they need to run extra dirty for safety. That’s exactly what Opel admitted to today.

[Amalgam]

Fiat, Chrysler and Jeep could be banned in Germany – Car Reviews, News & Advice - CarPoint Australia..

Fiat, Chrysler and Jeep could be banned in Germany


The fury arose following emissions tests carried out on a Fiat 500X SUV that discovered emissions equipment that shut off after running for just 22 minutes – two minutes after the official test cycle finishes.

Once switched off, emissions of the diesel vehicle test rapidly exceeded legal limits.

[OilBurna]

Can't see them banning VW in Germany bit hypocritical no doubt payback for the US


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk