News EPA says Volkswagen installed software to cheat on emissions

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Volkswagen AG admitted to using software that allowed its diesel vehicles to cheat on U.S. emissions tests, leading to potential fines and criminal prosecution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified this software, termed a "defeat device," which enabled cars to meet emissions standards only during testing, while polluting significantly more during regular use. The scandal affects approximately 482,000 vehicles in the U.S. and could result in fines totaling up to $18 billion. The EPA has indicated that violations of the Clean Air Act may lead to criminal charges, and Volkswagen is facing lawsuits from affected vehicle owners. The investigation has raised concerns about the broader implications of emissions cheating in the automotive industry.
  • #121
It seems to me there are at least two separate deals in the works if you parse all the news stories.
1. Buy-back program with incentive compensation for 2.0L cars without urea injection to get those off the road in the US unless there is a (unlikely) fix at some future date.
2. Some sort of cash compensation levels and limits to owners with 3.0L urea injection cars to get them fixed later when that deal details are worked out.
 
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  • #122
I don't see a plausible path for an uncompensated "fix" solution. How many will volunteer to have their vehicle modified for either worse mpg or lower power, which are the consequences of retuning the engine parameters to lower emissions, as I understand it.
 
  • #123
mheslep said:
I don't see a plausible path for an uncompensated "fix" solution. How many will volunteer to have their vehicle modified for either worse mpg or lower power, which are the consequences of retuning the engine parameters to lower emissions, as I understand it.
Yeah, that's exactly what I've been thinking. I think VW is engaging in wishful thinking and they are in deep trouble financially and are still not ready to fully face it even though they seem on the surface to be owning up to it all. Sort of.
 
  • #124
mheslep said:
I don't see a plausible path for an uncompensated "fix" solution. How many will volunteer to have their vehicle modified for either worse mpg or lower power, which are the consequences of retuning the engine parameters to lower emissions, as I understand it.
Only the ones who want to pass a state inspection...

Currently, the state's are operating on a principle of see no evil, hear no evil, detect no evil with a combustion gas analyzer. I would think that once the fix comes out that will stop and the owners will have to prove the fix was installed.
 
  • #125
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/04...official-its-buying-back-500000-2-0l-diesels/
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a28916/vw-tdi-emissions-settlement/

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-idUSKCN0XI24G
U.S. Judge Charles Breyer said the settlement is expected to include a buyback offer for 482,000 2.0-liter vehicles and a possible fix if regulators agree on it, or the cancellation of an outstanding lease.

Two people briefed on the matter and several analysts say VW may have to spend more than $10 billion to comply with the U.S. agreement.

It's amazing we still don't know exactly who did what in this scam but a $10 billion payoff must be cheaper to VW than going to court in the US.
 
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  • #126
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/b...-showed-how-to-foil-emissions-tests.html?_r=0
FRANKFURT — A PowerPoint presentation was prepared by a top technology executive at Volkswagen in 2006, laying out in detail how the automaker could cheat on emissions tests in the United States.

The presentation has been discovered as part of the continuing investigations into Volkswagen, according to two people who have seen the document and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the legal action against the company. It provides the most direct link yet to the genesis of the deception at Volkswagen, which admitted late last year that 11 million vehicles worldwide were equipped with software to cheat on tests that measured pollution in emissions.

kids.jpg
 
  • #127
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-settlement-idUSKCN0Z9235

Volkswagen AG (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=VOWG_p.DE) will pay more than $10 billion to settle claims by nearly 500,000 owners stemming from its U.S. diesel emissions cheating scandal and fund efforts to offset pollution, three sources briefed on the agreement said on Thursday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, due to court-imposed gag rules, a source said that owners will receive an average of $5,000 in compensation along with the estimated value of the vehicles as of September 2015, before the scandal erupted. Owners would also receive the compensation if they choose to have the vehicles repaired, assuming U.S. regulators approve a fix at a later date.
...
The settlement is complex, requiring owners to fill out detailed worksheets about their vehicle to calculate the buyback value.

Reuters reported in April that owners may have two years before having to decide whether to sell back vehicles.
...
VW is not expected to be allowed to resell or export repurchased vehicles, unless they convince regulators that they can be fixed, sources said.

Former owners of the polluting vehicles will also be eligible for compensation - although less than current owners, sources said.
 
  • #128
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...said-to-face-15-billion-tab-in-u-s-settlement
Volkswagen AG’s price tag to settle lawsuits in the U.S. over its rigging of diesel emissions tests has jumped to more than $15 billion -- $5 billion more than previously reported -- on the eve of a settlement to be filed Tuesday in a San Francisco court.

Under the deal, VW will set aside up to $10.03 billion to cover costs including buying back vehicles at pre-scandal values and compensating drivers as much as $10,000 per car for their troubles, two people familiar with the negotiations said. Those figures could rise if VW misses certain deadlines.

In addition, Volkswagen will pay $2.7 billion in fines that will go to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board and invest $2 billion in clean-emissions technology, one of the people said. The carmaker is also expected to announce a settlement with states, including New York, for about $400 million, another person said.

That's it ... I expect owners under CARB will have mandatory registration requirements for affected cars very soon.
http://media.vw.com/release/1214/
 
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  • #130
U.S. authorities have found three unapproved software programs in 3.0 liter diesel engines made by Volkswagen's (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=VOWG_p.DE) Audi (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NSUG.DE) unit, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported, without saying where it had obtained the information.

The software allowed the turbocharged direct injection (TDI) engines used in Audi's Q7, Porsche's Cayenne and VW's Touareg models to shut down emissions control systems after about 22 minutes, the paper said. Official methods to measure emissions usually last about 20 minutes, it added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-audi-idUSKCN10I0PB
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...ting-software-reportedly-found-in-vw-diesels/
 
  • #131
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-paris-engines-exclusive-idUSKBN12E11K
Independent testing in the wake of VW's exposure last year as a U.S. diesel emissions cheat has shed more light on the scale of the problem facing automakers.

Carmakers' smallest European engines, when driven at higher loads than current tests allow, far exceed legal emissions levels. Heat from the souped-up turbos generates diesel NOx up to 15 times over the limit; gasoline equivalents lose fuel-efficiency and spew fine particles and carbon monoxide.

"They might be doing OK in the current European test cycle, but in the real world they are not performing," said Pavan Potluri, an analyst with influential forecaster IHS Automotive.

"So there's actually a bit of 'upsizing' going on, particularly in diesel."
 
  • #132
It's a bit unfair to criticize manufacturers for meeting standards for the conditions they were told to meet them for, but not for different conditions. Particularly when these standards are being set for political reasons. Brussels has decided that electric/PHEV cars are the way to go, so they publish absurdly optimist electric range estimates (roughly 2x what the US EPA estimates) and at the same time tighten diesel requirements.
 
  • #133
Vanadium 50 said:
It's a bit unfair to criticize manufacturers for meeting standards for the conditions they were told to meet them for, but not for different conditions. Particularly when these standards are being set for political reasons. Brussels has decided that electric/PHEV cars are the way to go, so they publish absurdly optimist electric range estimates (roughly 2x what the US EPA estimates) and at the same time tighten diesel requirements.
Isn't that analagous to saying 'it's a bit unfair to charge me with tax evasion when my taxes are set by political agenda and are too much for me to pay'?
 
  • #134
DaveC426913 said:
Isn't that analagous to saying 'it's a bit unfair to charge me with tax evasion when my taxes are set by political agenda and are too much for me to pay'?
No: if you remove the sentence about politics, the problem still exists: the standards don't match reality. That's a fact, not a self-interest driven opinion like "my taxes are too high". And that's a problem regardless of why it happened.
 
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  • #135
russ_watters said:
No: if you remove the sentence about politics, the problem still exists: the standards don't match reality. That's a fact, not a self-interest driven opinion like "my taxes are too high". And that's a problem regardless of why it happened.
It's one thing to optimize the performance of a car for testing conditions. That might be called gaming the system.

It's another to actually turn off an emissions compliance system that is supposed to be operating at all times when one leaves the testing conditions. That seems like cheating the system.
 
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  • #136
I can't remember the last time that I heard of a corporate executive actually being charged with a crime. Usually it's just the pay a fine and admit no wrongdoing game. :oldeyes:

F.B.I. Arrests Volkswagen Executive on Conspiracy Charges in Emissions Scandal

Oliver Schmidt, who led Volkswagen’s regulatory compliance office in the United States from 2014 to March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by investigators in Florida and is expected to be arraigned on Monday in Detroit, said the two people, a law enforcement official and someone familiar with the case.
 
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  • #137
... 2004, Grass pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement to serve at least eight years in prison ...Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison ...Forbes ... was sentenced to 12 years in prison ...Scrushy was finally sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison...Embers...currently serving a 25-year sentence in a Louisiana jail...Skilling...sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison...
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/05/17/top-ten-ceos-sent-to-prison/3/
 
  • #138
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bertels...perils-higher-ups-at-volkswagen/#3d87e6283c4e
“VW bosses live dangerously,” was the headline in Germany’s BILD tabloid (German – paywall) after the FBI arrested Volkswagen manager Oliver Schmidt over the weekend during a trip to Florida. The U.S. Department of Justice is assembling an array of witnesses against Volkswagen while the company is trying to close a deal to make a criminal case go away before Donald Trump comes in.
...
The FBI didn’t catch that meeting, but it found evidence of another one, a year later.

“On or about July 27, 2015, SCHMIDT and other VW employees presented to VW’s executive management in Wolfsburg, Germany, regarding the existence, purpose and characteristics of the defeat device,” the FBI claims, continuing that “in the presentation, VW employees assured VW executive management that U.S. regulators were not aware of the defeat device. Rather that advocate for disclosure of the defeat device to U.S. regulators, VW executive management authorized its continued concealment.” The same executive management claimed later not having heard anything of a defeat device until the scandal broke in September 2015

The plan to keep the defeat device concealed was duly followed, until a month later, “Volkswagen stunned U.S. regulators with a confession,” as Reuters wrote. According to Reuters, it was at the sidelines of a green car conference on August 21, 2015 when VW employees admitted to EPA and CARB that “the automaker hacked its own cars to deceive U.S. regulators,” as Reuters put it. The FBI says the admission came two days earlier, on August 19, 2015, in a meeting at CARB’s offices in El Monte, CA. “In direct contravention of instructions from his management,” a Volkswagen engineer fessed up at the meeting, the Feds claim.

That engineer is one of two “cooperating witnesses” the FBI found in VW’s engine development department. Both have, says the FBI, “agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation in exchange for an agreement that the government will not prosecute [them] in the United States.” Also, the government has the cooperation of VW engineer James Liang, who cut a plea deal last September.
 
  • #139
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges on Wednesday against six Volkswagen executives for their roles in the company’s emissions-cheating scandal, a substantial turn by a departing administration that is trying to remake its image of being soft on corporate crime.

The six executives include a former head of development of the Volkswagen brand and the head of engine development. One of those charged on Wednesday, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested in Florida last week; the other five are believed to be in Germany.

Volkswagen also formally pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations and obstruction of justice. Many of the 600,000 cars in the United States equipped with emissions-cheating software were imported from Germany or Mexico.

The automaker is set to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties in connection with the federal investigation, bringing the total cost of the deception to Volkswagen in the United States, including settlements of suits by car owners, to $20 billion — one of the costliest corporate scandals in history.
 
  • #141
I just saw this thread existed and wanted to mention that my parents just turned in their Volkswagon Jetta (I think it was a jetta). They paid around $19,000 for it, put 85,000 miles on it over 5 years, and Volkswagon bought it back from them for about $18,500. My parents are very happy.
 
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  • #142
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/03/1...obstruction-justice-falsification-statements/
Volkswagen has plead guilty in US courts to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction of justice, and the entry of goods by false statement. The guilty plea was accepted by US District Judge Sean Cox, who noted when commenting on sentencing: “This is a very, very, very serious crime. It is incumbent on me to make a considered decision.”
...
Commenting on the company’s fraud scheme, an assistant US attorney by the name of John Neal noted that it “was a well thought-out, planned offense that went to the top of the organization.”

A statement on the matter from Volkswagen read: “Volkswagen deeply regrets the behavior that gave rise to the diesel crisis. 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 today is not the same company it was 18 months ago.”

Correct, it's Volkswagen minus a lot of wasted time and money.
 
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  • #144
phinds said:
And reputation

IMO their reputation for being one of the best at automotive engineering remains. Their engineering solution (cheating) to the emissions problem reflects badly on the company management culture.
 
  • #145
nsaspook said:
IMO their reputation for being one of the best at automotive engineering remains.
Well, for a while they had a reputation of being able to make a "clean diesel", but they don't anymore.
 
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  • #146
Clean Diesel is an anagram for Cleaned Lies. (And Declines Ale, but that's not as a amusing)
 
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  • #147
russ_watters said:
Well, for a while they had a reputation of being able to make a "clean diesel", but they don't anymore.

That's the one thing about this story that's a little odd. It seems others in the business knew it was too good to be true and had to know VW was cheating at a very sophisticated level so they held back a bit on claims and performance to not stand out. I assumed it was normal to cheat a bit on EPA standards, like doping in Baseball during the Bonds era.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...talled-software-to-cheat-on-emissions.833291/

VW was busted mainly because their "clean diesel" cheat was so good at the engineering level that people outside the business wanted to prove that others in the automotive industry could do the same with their engine systems. The level of attention to detail it took to pull this off at the design and engineering stage is amazing now that's it's been mainly exposed.
 
  • #148
Where they go to die.


 

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