VW Diesel Cheating

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I believe the VW Passat is assembled in Chattanooga, TN. The plant opened in 2011 to produce a North America-only version.

If I am not mistaken the Jetta though has been made in Mexico since the early 90's.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Carol H

If I am not mistaken the Jetta though has been made in Mexico since the early 90's.

You're right, Carol, (not sure of the dates, though) and never in the US. VW built Rabbits/Golfs at a plant in PA from 1978-1988, an unfortunate venture that lasted longer than it should have by most accounts. The Chattanooga plant is the only other US manufacturing operation I am aware of. I clearly overstated when I said they had a "major US economic presence."

[Bob Miller]

[QUOTE=Jon in AZ;549066]You're right, Carol, (not sure of the dates, though) and never in the US. VW built Rabbits/Golfs at a plant in PA from 1978-1988, an unfortunate venture that lasted longer than it should have by most accounts. The Chattanooga plant is the only other US manufacturing operation I am aware of. I clearly overstated when I said they had a "major US economic presence."[/QUOTE]
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Which is somewhat surprising as they recently laid claim to being the largest automobile manufacturer on the planet.

[Captleemo]

If the EPA is so concerned about pollution maybe they should resolve the pollution problem they caused in the Animus river in Colorado. And before everyone jumps on VW's case lets find out the facts. How much pollution could there be from a car that goes 50 miles on a single gallon of fuel.

[minke]

Originally Posted by Captleemo

If the EPA is so concerned about pollution maybe they should resolve the pollution problem they caused in the Animus river in Colorado. And before everyone jumps on VW's case lets find out the facts. How much pollution could there be from a car that goes 50 miles on a single gallon of fuel.

How ironic. In the '70s the US automakers fought like mad to insure that pollution measurements were measured as ppm. VW and the other imports fought for total quantity and lost.

[Roger C H]

We had a gasoline 2001 2.0 VW Golf.

I notice some trucks blowing huge clouds of black smoke...

We now have a PZEV Subaru Outback. (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle)

I thought that PZEV meant that the fuel feed to the engine shut down when coasting, but it really has something to do with the gas tank.

IMHO This thread is skirting political...

[Captleemo]

I have noticed that some of the late model pickup trucks do spew a lot of black smoke but that is because the owners put some kind of aftermarket chip in them that vastly increases the horsepower and the chips probably say for off road use only and your right Rodger this thread is skirting political whatever that emoticon is but that's kind of hard to avoid with the govment involved.

[steve dunham]

Financial penalties against large corporations seem to do little to change corporate behavior.
The stockholders and the public bear the cost of the faulty decisions made by coporate executives . Maybe if the executives were subject to fines ,legal costs and imprisonment for their action, things would change but I highly doubt it.

[Glenn Baglo]

There are a number of idiots that pride themselves on blowing black smoke. You can find decals on their rear windows that say "Coal Burner" or some such ( that's if you can see it through the smoke ). Has nothing to do with more power. The idea is to make as much pollution as possible to show that you don't conform and don't believe in global warming.
They modify their vehicles to blow huge clouds.
I haven't watched this, but here's a link: http://www.vocativ.com/culture/socie...e-rollin-coal/

[minke]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

There are a number of idiots that pride themselves on blowing black smoke. You can find decals on their rear windows that say "Coal Burner" or some such ( that's if you can see it through the smoke ). Has nothing to do with more power. The idea is to make as much pollution as possible to show that you don't conform and don't believe in global warming.
They modify their vehicles to blow huge clouds.
I haven't watched this, but here's a link: "Rollin' Coal" Is Pollution Porn For Dudes With Pickup Trucks

In the Ford Truck Enthusiast someone occasionally speaks of blowing partially burnt diesel fuel at Prius's. (What is the plural of Prius? Prius'? Priui?)

[Darwin Maring]

Minke - Around here we call those guys SKEETER. They usually have a cap on their head, turned around backward with a fish hook on the bill, their Blue Tick Hunting Dog cost more than their bass boat that cost more than their Pickumup truck that cost more than their house trailer and they all have a pinch of Skoll Bandet between their gum and cheek.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

/I]QUOTE]
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Which is somewhat surprising as they recently laid claim to being the largest automobile manufacturer on the planet.

They may well be...... "the planet" is big place with lots of countries in it so even if they only had one manufacturing plant in the USA it does not mean the above is not true.

In 2015 the VW group was ranked the 8th largest company in the world on the Fortune Global 500 list and were #1 in the automobile sector - Toyota was just behind the in 9th place.

[Bob Miller]

The point I though that I was making, is that VW is huge in the rest of the world, just not a major player in the US. Maybe they see adherence to US laws as an inconvenience for a small part of their market.


At one point, before the "New Beetle" appeared, VW of A was down to a shell company of well less than 100 employees.

[honda03842]

• Automobile manufacturers - vehicle sales worldwide 2014 | Statistic

[Andrew Gibbens]

Maybe it happened becasue VW are so familiar with the European fuel economy tests which the manufacturers helped to write, so they are loopholes held together with good intentions. For example, the manufacturers were allowed to use a test track slightly out of level (nothing in this world is perfect, eh?) so there are now specialists who can build test tracks that are exactly out of level by the maximum allowed amount. Or there is nothing in the Euro regulations that say the doors have to be able to open, so the panel joints around all openings can be taped up to marginally improve aerodynamics. It is hoped that there will be new Euro economy test rules one day soon, but of course the manufacturers are saying they can't do that in less than 5 years.......

And a little person sitting on my shoulder, with a tail and a trident, says that most people think it's OK to cheat by quoting to employers academic qualifications that they obtained by staying up most of the previous night memorising stuff, but they won't be doing that when working for the employer. Why is it different for auto makers?

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by honda03842

• Automobile manufacturers - vehicle sales worldwide 2014 | Statistic

VW's #1 worldwide position was in a press release from VW early last week and would have been based on 2015 production numbers.

When truck and "technical" numbers are removed, two markets in which VW is not as dominant, VW produced more vehicles worldwide than Toyota in 2014.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

The point I though that I was making, is that VW is huge in the rest of the world, just not a major player in the US. Maybe they see adherence to US laws as an inconvenience for a small part of their market.
.

Suspect it more likely that they see the strong unions and higher wages in Canada and the USA as the inconvenience - just as many/most of the other auto manufactures do.

[BuzzBunny]

I'm sorry but every time I see the headline for this post, I read to myself
" VIN Deisel cheating". Sorry I find it funny.

[MC1]

On the news today VW admitted to the dirty deed and said they would cooperate with the authorities in every way re accountability.

[Scamper Jim]

It looks like VW in fact has not violated anything. They simply read the rules as written and simply used them to their advantage. The vehicles just had to meet the emissions standards at the time of testing, as pointed out in the quote below regarding the written regs. As usual, only the information that supports one’s own bias has been presented

From Hot Air:

“The way most of the regulations are written seems to indicate that the vehicle must have a functional system of this type which is accurately monitoring system performance and meets the maximum emissions requirements at the time of testing. Obviously the VW vehicles in question were doing just that. But cars today have all sorts of bells and whistles which drivers can use to customize their driving experience. They can switch from “performance” mode to “economy” mode with the push of a button. Things like that obviously affect the vehicle’s emissions. Other such options are available. And when you think about it, the “disable device” was really just putting the car into a different mode of operation which includes heavy emissions control. When it was disconnected and ready to head back out on the road it was switching back to a different mode with a bit more performance. None of that changes the fact that the emissions were within the required limits at the time of testing.

Of course that’s a horribly transparent dodge in terms of legal tactics, but the law is generally held to and enforced based on how it is written. Volkswagen was obviously gaming the system here but if it’s going to come down to 18 billion in fines I can’t help but wonder if they won’t make a run at a defense like that in court.”

Full story here:

How Volkswagen cheated on the auto emissions rules « Hot Air

Bring on the attorneys!!

Jim