EPA says Volkswagen installed software to cheat on emissions

[Drakkith]

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.

 

[nsaspook]

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.

 

[phinds]

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/03/1...obstruction-justice-falsification-statements/Correct, it's Volkswagen minus a lot of wasted time and money.

And reputation

 

[nsaspook]

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.

 

[russ_watters]

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.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Clean Diesel is an anagram for Cleaned Lies. (And Declines Ale, but that's not as a amusing)

 

[nsaspook]

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.

 

[nsaspook]

Where they go to die.

 

[Borg]

How they did it (pdf) - Computer code that Volkswagen used to cheat emissions tests uncovered

 

[Vanadium 50]

Apparently something similar went on at Fiat-Chrysler

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fiat-chrysler-emissions-idUSKBN18J28F

 

[Vanadium 50]

The first criminal sentence in the US: the head of US emission compliance got 40 months.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...nced-to-40-months-for-emissions-cheating-role

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volk...ison-role-conspiracy-cheat-us-emissions-tests

The former general manager of Volkswagen AG’s (VW) U.S. Environment and Engineering Office was sentenced today 84 months in prison for his role in VW’s scheme to sell diesel “clean diesel” vehicles containing software designed to cheat U.S. emissions tests.
...
Oliver Schmidt, 48, a citizen and resident of Germany, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox of the Eastern District of Michigan, who also ordered Schmidt to pay a criminal penalty of $400,000. Schmidt pleaded guilty on Aug. 4 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, and to one count of violating the Clean Air Act.

“Upon learning of Volkswagen’s massive scheme to defraud and mislead U.S. consumers and regulators, Oliver Schmidt chose to join the conspiracy and deceive U.S. regulators,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “This case, along with the prior prosecution of the company and another Volkswagen engineer, further demonstrate the Criminal Division’s unwavering commitment to hold both corporations and individuals accountable for their wrongdoing.”

 

[Drakkith]

The former general manager of Volkswagen AG’s (VW) U.S. Environment and Engineering Office was sentenced today 84 months in prison for his role in VW’s scheme to sell diesel “clean diesel” vehicles containing software designed to cheat U.S. emissions tests.

You won't hear me complain.

 

[russ_watters]

The former general manager of Volkswagen AG’s (VW) U.S. Environment and Engineering Office was sentenced today 84 months in prison for his role in VW’s scheme to sell diesel “clean diesel” vehicles containing software designed to cheat U.S. emissions tests.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volk...ison-role-conspiracy-cheat-us-emissions-tests

Excellent! Now if we can only get the murder charges to stick for corporations who kill people we'll be all good!

 

[nsaspook]

You won't hear me complain.

Those Rouge Engineers won't complain either.
http://eveningharold.com/tag/rogue-engineers/

And now VW, who find themselves engulfed by emissions test fixing scandals, are suggesting that rogues working as engineers at VW are to blame.

“We just do what they allow us to do,” writes an anonymous rogue in a book that promises to ” lift the lid ” on rogue culture, breaking their strict code of silence.

“Or we just do what everyone else is doing…but with a naughty glint in our eye, and a cheeky smile.”

However rogue community leaders have distanced themselves from the new book, dismissing it as the work of a rogue rogue.

“Emissions? No, this cigar has a catalytic converter.”

 

[nsaspook]

https://jalopnik.com/ten-cartoon-watching-monkeys-breathed-diesel-fumes-in-s-1822432802

Among the research efforts, The Times writes, was one conducted in Albuquerque in 2014, which involved pumping exhaust into the lungs of monkeys in order to challenge a 2012 World Health Organization division’s assertion that diesel exhaust is a carcinogen.

The Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute was chosen to run experiments comparing a newer VW Beetle’s exhaust gases with those coming from a 1999 Ford diesel pickup using “10 cynomolgus macaque monkeys.” The New York Times describes the experiments in detailing, writing:

Volkswagen took a lead role in the study. Company engineers supervised the installation of a treadmill that would allow the vehicles to run on rollers while equipment sucked exhaust from the tailpipes.

The gas was then diluted and fed into chambers containing the monkeys. To keep the animals calm during the four hours they breathed fumes, lab workers set up a television showing cartoons.

 

[256bits]

Those Rouge Engineers won't complain either.

Caught red-handed and red in the face.

 

[nsaspook]

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler was arrested Monday in connection with parent company Volkswagen's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, with prosecutors saying they feared he might try to suppress evidence.

The dramatic development comes a week after Munich prosecutors raided Stadler's home after charging him with fraud and falsifying documents that allowed diesel vehicles equipped with cheating software to be sold to European customers.

Four police officers detained the Audi boss at his home at between 6 and 7 am, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors told AFP, saying that the arrest was justified as he is suspected of "seeking to influence witnesses or other suspects".

https://www.yahoo.com/news/audi-boss-arrested-diesel-probe-110012059.html

 

[Vanadium 50]

Nobody who speaks German could be an evil man!

 

[nsaspook]

http://www.team-bhp.com/news/germany-cancel-registration-unfixed-dieselgate-cars

The motor transport authority of Germany has ordered people who have not yet fixed their cars affected by the dieselgate emissions scandal to either fix them or gear up for having their registrations cancelled. According to a media report, the authorities in Munich and Hamburg have already canceled the registrations of multiple Volkswagen and Audi cars.
...
It has been reported that some users have noticed a 10 percent decrease in performance post the fix. Hence, many of them are reluctant to hand over their cars to the company to have them fixed.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The fix in Europe doesn't involve compensation to the owners, so it's not surprising that people are dragging their socks-in-sandals feet. It's also not surprising that Munich and Hamburg are mentioned and not Hanover. VW is partially owned by the state of Lower Saxony.

 

[edward]

There was no great feat of engineering needed to fool the USA emissions tests. The CPU simply recognized when the front wheels were turning and the rear wheels were not which is the situation during testing. During test mode full NOX prevention such as EGR was engaged. With both front and rear wheels turning the NOX reduction equipment was bypassed.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...erkorn-charged-in-germany-over-diesel-rigging

Former https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/VOW3:GY head Martin Winterkorn was charged with serious fraud in Germany for his role in the diesel-rigging scandal that rocked the carmaker and cost it about 29 billion euros ($33 billion).
The former chief executive officer was accused alongside four other managers of equipping vehicles sold to customers in Europe and the U.S. with a so-called defeat device, authorities in Braunschweig said Monday in an emailed statement. Fraud charges carry a sentence of as long as 10 years, and prosecutors also want to seize bonuses paid to the five men, which ranged from 300,000 euros for some managers to about 11 million euros for Winterkorn.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/8/2...daimler-emissions-cartel-fine-audi-porsche-eu

Volkswagen, BMW fined $1 billion for colluding to make dirtier cars​

Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler spent years illegally colluding to slow the deployment of cleaner emissions technology, says the European Union, which is dishing out fines as a result.

The EU’s executive branch hit the Volkswagen Group (which owns Audi and Porsche) and BMW with a collective €875 million ($1 billion) fine on Thursday for their role in the scheme. Volkswagen Group must pay €502 million ($595 million), while BMW will pay €373 million ($442 million). Daimler, however, evaded a €727 million fine of its own because the automaker revealed the collusion to the regulators.

The scheme described by EU authorities is separate from the Volkswagen Group’s massive Dieselgate scandal, in which the company installed software on its diesel vehicles that helped fool environmental regulators into believing they were compliant, when in reality, they were polluting far more than the legal limit. Dieselgate ultimately led to nearly $40 billion in fines, buybacks, and legal fees for the Volkswagen Group. Daimler also installed software on some of its diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests and has paid billions of dollars in fines. BMW was careful to point out Thursday that, unlike the other companies it was caught colluding with, it had not cheated emissions testing.

Good for BMW.

 

[DaveC426913]

What coinky dink!
I have been mentally referencing this very incident in the last 24 hours!

When this came out, I swore I would never buy a VW after those lying bastards lied their lying heads off.

Today, I am having the unfortunate circumstance of needing to rent a car, and I wasn't really given a choice which. The gave me a VW Jetta.

 

[berkeman]

Today, I am having the unfortunate circumstance of needing to rent a car, and I wasn't really given a choice which. The gave me a VW Jetta.

Just don't inhale...

 

[Vanadium 50]

I swore I would never buy a VW after those lying bastards lied their lying heads off.

Or were they just the ones who got caught?

Today, I am having the unfortunate circumstance of needing to rent a car, and I wasn't really given a choice which. The gave me a VW Jetta.

Not a diesel, I hope!

First, be thankful that you got a car at all. Rental cars are in short supply.

The Jetta is not a bad car. The engine, the 1.4T EA211 Skoda engine, is one of the best out there.
Or so the specs say.

 

[DaveC426913]

Or were they just the ones who got caught?

No. In fact, others such as Daimler-Chrysler originally endorsed the campaign, thinking it was legit, until they found out that it was a lie, and pulled out.

This is why I'm so pleased with Chrysler - for doing the right thing, and so furious at VW - for knowingly doing the wrong thing.

Or so the specs say.

Indeed.