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Schadenfreude und Das Auto
Do you remember the Green Police ad for Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand? The spot ran during the 2010 Super Bowl and depicts an Orwellian dystopia where citizens are subject to arrest for possession of a plastic bag or incandescent lightbulb, and overheating the hot tub really gets you in hot water.
Just when a conservative might be tempted to smile at a politically incorrect swipe at the environmental zeitgeist, however, the ad swerves in a bizarre direction. A young man idling at an Eco Check roadblock is waved to the head of the line. The reason? He is driving an Audi A3 TDI clean diesel, the “Green Car of the Year.” As our hero roars ahead of the punters in their dirty, conventional cars, we learn that “Green has never felt so right.”
So after 40 seconds spent mocking eco-tyranny, Audi gives it a warm embrace, in effect telling the customer, “We’ve got this nailed.”
Perhaps Audi was on-the-level after all. Wired reports:
When engineers at Volkswagen allegedly inserted a few lines of code into the diesel cars’ electronic brains to circumvent emissions testing, they found a solution to this existential automotive conflict [fuel economy versus low emissions]. Drivers got low emissions during the test, and high performance the rest of the time. The only problem: It’s way outside of the rules. The company might have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those pesky engineers—and the basic chemistry of the diesel engine.
According to the US EPA, those lines of code hid the fact that nearly half a million diesel VWs in the US spewed up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide from their tailpipes than testing indicated. Volkswagen has now confirmed that the problem actually affects approximately 11 million diesel cars worldwide.
Now Audi is reserving $7.2 billion to pay the anticipated fines. Trying to beat the system has never felt so bad for the company and its shareholders.
But the computer algorithm that drove the deception is pretty darn clever.
Michigan’s Stefanopolou says computer sensors monitored the steering column. Under normal driving conditions, the column oscillates as the driver negotiates turns. But during emissions testing, the wheels of the car move, but the steering wheel doesn’t. That seems to have have been the signal for the “defeat device” to turn the catalytic scrubber up to full power, allowing the car to pass the test.
Audi’s slogan: “Truth in Engineering.”
Published in Culture, General
I bought it for the milage. Will they now neuter her? What’s my remedy?
A shame. I’ve thought about a Golf turbo diesel for a long time. Done.
Related question: how much of Green Europe is simply Dirty Europe with factories outside the EU?
It seems they’re not big on “truth in advertising.”
a) So, how was the deception discovered? I assume it wasn’t a government detective that cracked the case.
b) How many owners of these cars will give two hoots about the amount of Nitrogen Oxide they’re emitting as long as the cars can still pass an emissions test?
c) Nitrogen Oxide? Like, as in, laughing gas?
They promise that the car will pass an inspection by the Green Police.
If it wasn’t for those pesky kids and their dog blowing the whistle, they would have been telling the truth.
a) Here is Wired’s explanation:
b) The stunt Volkswagen pulled is most noteworthy in that the software was installed by the manufacturer. Aftermarket “tuning chips,” as they are called, are a big business. A performance-oriented entrepreneur remaps the engine power curve–advising the owner that this is strictly for race track use, of course. The more advanced offerings maintain a stock programming mode that can be set before heading in for a smog check
c) Laughing gas is nitrous oxide, N2O; nitrogen oxide is an actual pollutant with the formula NO–no laughing matter.
John, thanks for the correction. You are of course exactly right.
I had a 2006 TDI. It averaged 50 mpg. When I bought it diesel was 20% less than gas. When I sold it diesel was 30% more tan gas. It was not one of the best cars I have ever owned and VW parts and service is expensive. My model engine was the one prior to this model with the pollution problem.
I have been driving diesels for 15 years, first a Jetta wagon, then a sedan, presently an Audi A3. The joy, however, is gone due to the price of ultra low sulfur diesel. With my first, diesel was about the price of regular gas. Now, it is usually 10% above premium. The math no longer works. Although diesel contains about 30% more energy per gallon than gasoline, one can easily purchase a vehicle which runs on regular and gets nearly (maybe 10% fewer) MPG than diesel. Factor in the (at least) $2000 higher purchase price of a diesel car and….why bother. This is all the more the case with larger than 2.0 liter engines which require a urea tank, the refilling of which adds a cost of 2 – 3 cents per mile. Being nitric oxide-free isn’t free.
Whew. For a minute I thought it might have been spewing carbon dioxide. That would have been a real environmental disaster.
The problem is you still have to buy the hardware and install it with After market tuning chips. I am waiting were you just by the software on a USB chip plug it in, and it overwrites the programming copying the existing so you have a back-up.
I own the car, I want to put what ever software I want on it easily. If it burns out the engine faster, well that is my fault. Car companies are just as bad as Cell Phone companies used to be.
I am still bitter, My 2014 Honda Accord does not let me customize my on board display and steering wheel controls. I have Bluetooth, why can’t I set-up custom interface just with software. Car hardware is always way behind. I think last year was the first time a manufacturer released a sound processor you could actually via blue-tooth adjust EQ on.
These gasses, by their nature, can never be merely produced or emitted; they can only be spewed.
The funny part was where they were testing the European cars, saw how high their emissions were (even for the less-stringent European market), and decided to test the US versions as a baseline to see how well a car could do.
…and if they’d done the normal hookup using a dynamometer and the car’s built-in sensors for the report, they would never have found it. Instead, they did a real-world test and got much, much higher emissions from the tailpipe.
Strange, how the real world overrides computer data, eh?
Ausgezeichnet!
Most ausgezeichnet, dude!
When the commercial first ran, I was stunned at the end. It seemed they were glorifying something akin to collaboration with the totalitarian regime.
I like German cars because they are great cars. I couldn’t care less about the “green” crap. Big whoop the wackos at the EPA have their nickers in a twist over this. Audi’s and VW’s are wonderful cars.
This is going to be awesome to watch unfold.
The governmental penalties will be huge. Even if VW can bribe the Feds, my guess is states will attempt some big fines. Foreign governments (even where there are weak emissions standards) will try to get something.
The class action lawyers will make a killing. My guess is that the US owner class actions end up going for $3 billion if only the 2.0 TDI engine is involved. If it turns out some of the larger engines in more expensive cars are involved, we could see another $1 billion.
Perhaps the urea manufacturers can sue on the grounds that they invested in research with the expectation of a certain usage that the disabling of the emissions controls has deprived them of.
You then have the securities law class actions…
I for one applaud this clever use of technology to bypass burdensome government regulations.
Now I want one!
Robert, I agree: Audi makes great cars. However, aren’t you concerned that the company’s evasion of the rules marks another erosion in the rule of law?
Consider that the Volkswagen Group was loudly supporting the Obama eco agenda while simultaneously and secretly disregarding performance-sapping EPA regulations. The company PR buttressed the No Tradeoffs Ever Obama worldview: You can have higher taxes and more investment, cleaner renewable energy and lower prices, free college tuition and a sustainable national debt. And, I might add, affordable high-mpg performance diesels without tailpipe emissions.
The company should have told the truth. Instead of “Green has never felt so right,” why not something like “Green has never been so expensive and overhyped?” In short, I’d like to see the corporation make a straight-up argument in favor of allowing citizens to purchase an economical, high-performance automobile, rather than playing along with the Left.
Is this too much to ask?
What is amazing is that this remained secret so long. I wonder how much those code writers were bribed to shut there mouths. I guess it is some what like the ignition switch at GM.
I suggest that VW diversify into toilets, shower heads, and incandescent light bulbs.
I wonder about the European side of the affair. We have a diesel VW Touran. Diesel fuel is significantly cheaper than gas here in Italy, which is what prompted our decision to spend a little more on the diesel model rather than the cheaper gas model. Did engineers use the code on European cars, too?
In a word? No, not at all. Okay that’s four words. Look, the real issue this episode exposes is the gross use of the Treasury to encourage certain consumer choices through subsidies. From what I have read this is what is really ruffling feathers out there, that some $50 billion was doled out for folks who bought these cars based on them being “green.” It makes me wonder where is the outrage from these same people for companies like Solendra? I am sure folks here on Ricochet were just as upset, but I am talking about the Lamestream Press and other low information voter cesspools.
Also, you are never going to get that, sorry. Today is a day where PR buzz and what is “trending” are rules of the day. You are never going to see a company go out there and do/say something that is going to damage their PR.
Was fuer eine Unverschaemtheit! The papers here are temporarily distracted from the refugee/border crisis by this.
And note: It is easier to find incandescent bulbs in a German store than it is at Lowes.
The Europeans prefer incandescents because they make better Molotov Cocktails.
These guys
I preferred this VW commercial….
I’m in the same boat and was in the process of buying a brand new Passat TDI.
I hope there will be an aftermarket chip that undoes the “fix” about to be imposed.