Those ****** at VAG!

[syncrosfan]

"I do not think for one minute VAG are the only ones doing this but I bet they are going to bare the brunt of the backlash."
Other companies that are betting on Diesel are being awfully quiet about this... Mercedes just announced that they're switching their focus on Hybrid technologies (well knowing that diesels won't pass emissions as the regulation get tighter). Even the Add Blue (horse piss injection) is not a cure-all for that problem and both manufacturers and the testing officials know that, up to now there seemed to be a somewhat precarious balance between manufacturers and lawmakers along the lines: don't ask don't tell. here's how we test for emissions, you guys sort it out how to make it work... It might become obvious that a lot of diesel manufacturer were most likely De-tuning their engines when in test mode, and the testing officials knew about it. (VAG were the most brazen about it). Which could boomerang back to the EPA along the lines: you knew there was something deeply flawed with your testing method yet continued along with it and now it turns out nobody can ace the test (if taken under realistic driving conditions). What'cha gonna do now? Outlaw all diesels? (not only the small vehicle market but commercial as well?) Good luck with that!

 

[mattr]

There are a good number of manufacturers who took one look at CARB/US diesel requirements and quietly shelved their diesel into the US . The horseshit diesel you have out there doesn't help. But an unachievable emissions standard kills it.

And there is a difference between working the test/homologation cycles, and cheating.
Everyone knows what the tests are, and how they are run, and what needs to be done to legally pass them, and what you can do to improve the results. It's like revising for an exam where you already know the questions.

What VW have done is nothing at all like that.

My money is on Mercedes next.

 

[mattr]

Not really, neither of those owners knew why and if you read the tweets from the BBC news article, not many others know much about why their car does what either.

Which is why using twitter and suchlike to find out about stuff is fraught with danger. And massive inaccuracies.

And the rest of your post is what i've spent the last ten years trying to stop happening. It's bloody hard sometimes.

 

[ajm]

Re:

The day new diesel passenger cars are banned can't come soon enough for me. Hateful stinking things, as I've regularly said here - there is nothing worse than a diesel powered vehicle to share the road with, particularly when you're on foot or on a bike.

 

[ajm]

Its too much, I feel we're just guinea pigs. I'll never buy a brand new car unless I'm really rich and stupid rather than just a bit skint and stupid.

As I see it car design and manufacture peaked round about the late 90s. Since then, manufacturers have focused on (1) chasing "environmental" fads whilst ironically making really harmful emissions worse; (2) driving down cost of manufacture and hence quality; (3) mostly pointless and badly implemented electronic gadgets; (4) fashion over function both inside and out.

Yes, overall there have been some improvements in safety (though the bulk of that work was in place by the end of last century) but other than that, cars from 2010 are not better in any practical, measurable way than cars from 2000, and cars from 2015 shaping up to be even worse.

 

[The History Man]

Does this mean my Passat kills bunny rabbits?

 

[syncrosfan]

"Does this mean my Passat kills bunny rabbits?"
Most definitely does! Those poor bunnies suffocating slowly from exhaust fumes.... such a shame!

 

[ajm]

Does this mean my Passat kills bunny rabbits?

Only if the ECU detects that there is a bunny nearby and switches into murder mode...

 

[legrandefromage]

Most audi and bmw have a **** mode...

 

[mattr]

So many different words we could put in behind those four little asterisks......... none of them polite.