Breaking news now, the EPA is claiming that Volkswagen/Audi diesel cars deliberately cheat on emissions tests. Per the article:
Whooo boy… At least the General Motors ignition scandal was just a basic case of a flaw that got ignored. This is Volkswagen deliberately thumbing its nose at regulations. Assuming it’s true, VW is going to get bitten hard. Probably much worse than the $900 million fine GM just agreed to.
I’d love to hear the whole backstory about how this was uncovered. But yeah, gonna suck to be a VW shareholder for a while.
IIRC, this is permitted in the NEDC (European equivalent) test program because it is supposed to simulate ideal conditions or something along those lines. So it might be a genuine screw-up rather than a deliberate evasion. Not exactly holding my breath, though.
The EPA typically comes down hard on things like this with fines and recalls. It’s happened before. One manufacturer adjusted the vehicle to have better emissions when the hood was open. The only time your car would be doing 60 mph with the hood up would be in a test cell. For diesel testing, they used different test points of speed and load to get an overall average. Pretty much every manufacturer was accused of designing around these tests so the vehicle did better when at these specific points. The total fines, IIRC, were close to a billion.
From the OP’s article:
“The EPA said VW faces fines of up to $37,500 per vehicle for the violations – a total of more than $18 billion.”
Who wrote those laws, the International Olympic Commision? And people say that US regulators are too chummy with the industry… :dubious:
highly unlikely they’ll go for the maximum fine.
Am I the only one surprised that VW has sold half a million diesels in the US?
From here: EPA accuses Volkswagen of cheating Clean Air Act, orders recall
So it’s up to $18 billion and, in addition, the cost of retrofitting half a million cars.
So how will they retrofit the cars? Will they simply change the software so that the pollution control devices function all of the time?
The only reason I can see for them having cheated like this would be to increase performance and / or mpg. If that’s the case, then changing the software will reduce either performance or mpg or both. If it does, will the consumer then have recourse for the performance or mpg not being as advertised?
If it were to reduce mpg, what happens if the vehicle no longer meets the legal mpg requirements?
Is this a gigantic kettle of worms?
Any fines could be nothing compared to the costs of having to install fully compliant emissions controls on a whole bunch of used cars. Cars whose drivers might not get quite as much “fahrvergnügen” once their cars are no longer belching as many pollutants.
New buyers, yes. Used buyers are SOL, with the possible exception of those who purchased CPO vehicles.
As the owner of a 2011 Jetta TDI I’m very interested in the ramifications of this news. In particular I’d like to know if/how the resale value is affected.
Why wouldn’t used car purchasers have recourse? I certainly check the ratings on the used cars I buy, and expect them to be accurate.
And if they turn out not to perform as quoted by the manufacturer, do you need to sue the manufacturer or the first owner?
it’s also very sad that they marketed this car as a clean diesel, that probably swayed a lot of people to consider it, even gave some of them Prius like bragging rights, though all along it was, relative to it’s size, the same black smoke belching vehicle as a mac truck. 
nitrogen oxides are not black smoke. black smoke is particulate matter (soot,) meaning solid carbon.
When the airbag’s on my Honda were recalled, Honda fixed it, although I was the second owner. I would expect the same here.
The first owner in neither case had any control over the problem.
Yes, but Fahfromovah? 
My brother had a car he loved, then he got mail explaining that the advertised MPG was incorrect. Since then, he gets a check each year based on the miles he drives, to rebate his gasoline expenses!