VolksWagen TDI

[p m]

Very enjoyable story.

I remember wondering several years ago - how could possibly VW achieve the same level of NOx emissions as BMW and MB, without urea injection. VW were adamant that they had a way.

That said, nobody yet mentioned that CARB NOx emission requirements were pulled out of someone's behind in the 70s, without any scientific basis for it.

 

[az_max]

Maybe I can get that jetta TDI all that much cheaper now! I'd chip it anyway, so their stock tune doesn't matter to me

 

[kennith]

I love how they were called out on something so simple, yet so easy to miss, and so damned clever they should get an award for it after they pay the fine.

Hell, all they did was automate the process of fucking your car up for half an hour. People have been pulling that exact same stunt for decades once inspection time comes around. VW just took the effort out of it.

Isn't that what technology is all about? :rofl:

They may have broken rules, though; we'll see once it's all over. To be fair, though, the rules aren't fair over here, and many of them don't make much sense at all.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[Some Dude]

Can't wait to find out what this does to the resale value of my Jetta TDI.

 

[Tugela]

I bought a 2013 Jetta SportWagen TDI in April of this year. A few weeks ago I received a letter from VW asking me to bring my car in for an emissions system software update. I figured it was a routine, periodic software issue so didn't think much about it when I dropped it off. Sure enough, a week later, this news hits. Of course nobody at the dealership said anything about WHY the software needed an update. I wonder if the service department even knew?

My average fuel economy over a 32-mile trip this morning was 44.6mpg, mostly highway. That's what the dash readout told me, anyway. I'm not sure I trust that now. Doing the primitive calculation of refuel gallons / trip odometer has been netting me closer to 37mpg on highway road trips. Not sure which is more accurate.

 

[kennith]

I bought a 2013 Jetta SportWagen TDI in April of this year. A few weeks ago I received a letter from VW asking me to bring my car in for an emissions system software update. I figured it was a routine, periodic software issue so didn't think much about it when I dropped it off. Sure enough, a week later, this news hits. Of course nobody at the dealership said anything about WHY the software needed an update. I wonder if the service department even knew?

My average fuel economy over a 32-mile trip this morning was 44.6mpg, mostly highway. That's what the dash readout told me, anyway. I'm not sure I trust that now. Doing the primitive calculation of refuel gallons / trip odometer has been netting me closer to 37mpg on highway road trips. Not sure which is more accurate.

Either way the mileage is good for a NAS vehicle. Cars are hamstrung over here, if they even make it to the US in the first place.

As for the techs, they'd probably conjured up a few rumors. I suspect VW was keeping it close to the belt, just in case any manufacturer-specific mechanics had big mouths, which is often the case anyway.

I personally wouldn't worry about the vehicle at all. This news wouldn't put me off a VW if I was out for one.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[p m]

I remember wondering several years ago - how could possibly VW achieve the same level of NOx emissions as BMW and MB, without urea injection. VW were adamant that they had a way.

I guess I wasn't the only one wondering: here's more in C&D:

Everyone wondered how VW met emissions standards while foregoing urea injection for the cited 2009–2014 models. As it turns out, they didn’t. It wasn’t magical German engineering. Just plain old fraud.

 

[mgreenspan]

37 is terrible for a tdi. I got 50+ with a gas vw polo this summer in the UK. If I drive 55 mph I can get over 32 in a 1.6 ecoboost ford escape.

 

[garrett]

We get 40 mpg in town with a 2013 Jetta tdi and close to 50 mpg if we keep it reasonable on the highway. It has 90K on it with only oil changes, fuel filter a few set of tires.

 

[ThaCrabapple]

I had a 2009 Jetta TDI 6- Speed Manual.

With babying it I could achieve high 40s to 50MPG.

I had some crazy rear suspension problems with that car that myself, mechanics and VW Vortex could never figure out, so I sold it. I really loved that car.

 

[SGaynor]

Very enjoyable story.

I remember wondering several years ago - how could possibly VW achieve the same level of NOx emissions as BMW and MB, without urea injection. VW were adamant that they had a way.

That said, nobody yet mentioned that CARB NOx emission requirements were pulled out of someone's behind in the 70s, without any scientific basis for it.

But hey, the NOx requirements are a-OK. From the EPA's leader:

McCarthy defended the EPA’s regulatory standards as reasonable and said most other car manufacturers appear to have found a way to comply.

“This is about a NOx emission standard that was put in place a few decades ago. The industry knew what was happening. We feel pretty confident the industry has been innovating to be able to meet this standard,” she said. “So we don’t think that this problem is with the standards at all.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ception-the-recall-that-never-fixed-any-cars/

 

[p m]

But hey, the NOx requirements are a-OK. From the EPA's leader:

McCarthy defended the EPA’s regulatory standards as reasonable and said most other car manufacturers appear to have found a way to comply.

“This is about a NOx emission standard that was put in place a few decades ago. The industry knew what was happening. We feel pretty confident the industry has been innovating to be able to meet this standard,” she said. “So we don’t think that this problem is with the standards at all.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ception-the-recall-that-never-fixed-any-cars/

But of course...

 

[D Chapman]

Nothing more manly than a VW Jetta. I can't believe some of you admit to driving one. Fags.

 

[discostew]

I can't believe they admitted to it. Could have blamed the states equipment or any # of other things. I would have spun a story about the ground path when hooked up to the test equipment. Anything but admit to it.

 

[Tugela]

Here's a news story from the Daily Telegraph about how the deception was uncovered. Sounds like VW did deny it, but once faced with the data they could no longer escape it.

A Seattle law firm is already launching a class action lawsuit. Wonder what the compensation will be at the individual car owner level once all the dust settles.

 

[paxton]

A Seattle law firm is already launching a class action lawsuit. Wonder what the compensation will be at the individual car owner level once all the dust settles.

A free car wash and $5 off your next service.

Class action lawsuits are a scam made to make lawyers rich.

 

[chris snell]

Besides the loss of smugness, what's the real cost of the fraud to a VW owner? Are these vehicles going to suddenly be failing smog checks and unable to be registered in some states?

 

[p m]

Besides the loss of smugness, what's the real cost of the fraud to a VW owner? Are these vehicles going to suddenly be failing smog checks and unable to be registered in some states?

It may be the case.

There are still unresolved questions for me - for instance, vehicles starting with 2000 MY are no longer going on the dyno in California (that began last year or early this year). All info they get straight from the ECU - and they don't even have to start a car (meaning the ECU firmware haven't had a chance to change anything).

At the same time, the smog check places may be able to verify the build version of the firmware - and fail you if a mandated fix was not in place. I am not sure if VW can fix this shit at all without retrofitting urea injection setup (or decreasing the compression ratio) - but if they can, it could result in noticeable power loss. I'd be somewhat upset - not a whole lot, really.

I don't think gas mileage would suffer perceptibly - I can't reliably determine if I'm getting 12 or 13 mpg with a 23-gallon tank because of the difference in shut-off valves; measuring the difference between 37 and 45 mpg at a fill-up of a 10-gallon tank sounds like c.h.splitting to me.

 

[az_max]

Here's a news story from the Daily Telegraph about how the deception was uncovered. Sounds like VW did deny it, but once faced with the data they could no longer escape it.

A Seattle law firm is already launching a class action lawsuit. Wonder what the compensation will be at the individual car owner level once all the dust settles.

I got two certificates from GM for my trucks have saddle tanks. The compensation? $5000 off the purchase of a new GM vehicle.

:rofl:

 

[Some Dude]

Nothing more manly than a VW Jetta. I can't believe some of you admit to driving one. Fags.

Wifemobile

Besides the loss of smugness, what's the real cost of the fraud to a VW owner? Are these vehicles going to suddenly be failing smog checks and unable to be registered in some states?

We wanted something that could hold some value. My wife's last vehicle was a Tacoma that she bought new in 99 and we sold for more than 50% of sticker 13 years later. We went with the TDI over the gasser in 2012 because resale on VW TDIs at the time indicated they held value better than their gas counterparts. The real cost of this fraud to VW owners is TBD but it'll certainly have an effect on resale. As of yesterday the dealerships are implementing a freeze on the sale of TDI units and subsequently they're not taking them on trade.

This must be what owning a Freelander feels like.

E: on second thought, no. The VW still runs, the Freelanders were lucky to get out of the driveway on any given day.