Posted on 10/15/2015 2:07:15 PM PDT by Red Badger
A Volkswagen Touareg diesel is tested in the Environmental Protection Agency's cold temperature test facility, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Volkswagen has disclosed to U.S. regulators that there's additional suspect software in its 2016 diesel models that would potentially help their exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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U.S. regulators say they have a lot more questions for Volkswagen, triggered by the company's recent disclosure of additional suspect software in 2016 diesel models that potentially would help exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests. That's more bad news for VW dealers looking for new cars to replace the ones they can no longer sell because of the worldwide cheating scandal already engulfing the world's largest automaker. And, depending on what the Environmental Protection Agency eventually finds, it raises the possibility of even more severe punishment.
Volkswagen confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the "auxiliary emissions control device" at issue operates differently from the "defeat" device software included in the company's 2009 to 2015 models disclosed last month.
The new software was first revealed to Environmental Protection Agency and California regulators on Sept. 29, prompting the company last week to withdraw applications for approval to sell the 2016 cars in the U.S.
"We have a long list of questions for VW about this," said Janet McCabe, acting assistant EPA administrator for air quality. "We're getting some answers from them, but we do not have all the answers yet."
The delay means that thousands of 2016 Beetles, Golfs and Jettas will remain quarantined in U.S. ports until a fix can be developed, approved and implemented. Diesel versions of the Passat sedan manufactured at the company's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also are on hold.
Volkswagen already faces a criminal investigation and billions of dollars in fines for violating the Clean Air Act for its earlier emissions cheat, as well as a raft of state investigations and class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of customers.
If EPA rules the new software is a second defeat device specifically aimed at gaming government emissions tests, it would call into question repeated assertions by top VW executives that responsibility for the cheating scheme lay with a handful of rogue software developers who wrote the illegal code installed in prior generations of its four-cylinder diesel engines.
That a separate device was included in the redesigned 2016 cars could suggest a multi-year effort by the company to influence U.S. emissions tests that continued even after regulators began pressing the company last year about irregularities with the emissions produced by the older cars.
The software at issue makes a pollution-control catalyst heat up faster, improving performance of the device that separates smog-causing nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases.
"This has the function of a warmup strategy which is subject to approval by the agencies," said Jeannine Ginivan, a VW spokeswoman. "The agencies are currently evaluating this and Volkswagen is submitting additional information."
Automakers routinely place auxiliary emissions control devices on passenger vehicles, though they are required by law to disclose them as part of the process to receive the emissions certifications that are required to sell the cars.
EPA's McCabe wouldn't say if VW's failure to disclose the software in its 2016 applications was illegal. "I don't want to speak to any potential subjects of an enforcement activity," she said.
If VW was cheating a second time, that would probably mean higher fines against the company, said Kelley Blue Book Senior Analyst Karl Brauer.
Regulators are "going to be even more angry than they already are," Brauer said. "The punitive actions from the EPA are only going to get more aggressive."
The German automaker already faces up to $18 billion in potential fines over the nearly half-million vehicles sold with the initial emissions-rigging software.
AP first reported Oct. 7 that the EPA and California Air Resources Board were investigating "the nature and purpose" of additional software on the new VW models, but at the time both the company and regulators declined to provide details about what the device does or how it works.
Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn said in congressional testimony last week that the German automaker had withdrawn applications seeking certification of its 2016 diesels because of on-board software that hadn't been disclosed to regulators. However, Horn's statement left unclear whether the issue with the 2016 models was the same as that in the earlier models, or whether it potentially constituted a new violation.
A congressional staffer briefed on the issue told AP that VW probably didn't need the additional software to meet government emissions standards, but that the device appears intended to ensure the 2016 cars would pass inspection by wider margins. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the ongoing investigation.
VW is now working with regulators to continue the certification process needed to sell its 2016 diesel cars.
Explore further: Q&A: A look at Volkswagen's emissions crisis
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
Diesel KnOcK!.................
I believe selected individuals at VW probably need to be fired for intentionally breaking the law.
But, according to articles I have read that obstensibly were written by people that know something on the subject, the US EPA regulation involved is BS to begin with.
Accordingly, the idea that a huge and venerable company employing tens of thousands of people worldwide needs to be put out of business because of a dubious USEPA reg is BS too. It would be far better to put the USEPA out of business and return whatever worthwhile activities they might be involved in each day to the respective states.
Don’t know who had the balls to come up with this Nox Active Deception Software. But by the time EPA is done with them, they won’t have any NADS left.
EPA should be the 1st alphabet soup agency to go! Next, both DOE’s, then the IRS. Hear that Mr. Perry?
I might buy TWO diesel VWs. I could care less about the EPA, but I love the idea of a car that will run on stored diesel fuel for 5 years after the last gasoline engine has choked to death on old varnished gas.
Epic chance to pick up solid diesel cars CHEAP.
No software on board...besides some nice woman sitting next to me.
Department of Energy and the Education Department..................
That would be ‘firmware’...............I would hope.............
Some “firm”...some “soft”. : )
DITTO that FRiend........
“I’ve a 1961 Volkswagen two door truck....
No software on board...besides some nice woman sitting next to me.”
I had a ‘67 Beetle with the same accessory, which is long gone. The car that is...managed to hang on to the accessory.
“Epic chance to pick up solid diesel cars CHEAP.”
Yeah, but you probably won’t be able to renew their license tags unless they can pass the emissions test which will more than likely include some sort of test for the cheater software. The EPA will force these autos to either be repaired , scrapped or sit in the driveway....
Could you transplant the engines into an older model that had more lenient emission regs?
Does anyone remember a few years back when the first diesel Touaregs were brought here, and after VW had sold a bunch of them it was discovered they didn’t actually meet emissions, and VW suspended sales but did nothing about the ones already sold?
Does anyone remember a few years back when the first diesel Touaregs were brought here, and after VW had sold a bunch of them it was discovered they didn’t actually meet emissions, and VW suspended sales but did nothing about the ones already sold?
And in the breaking news department:
From Diesel Progress (www.dieselprogress.com) there’s this news that VW will be adopting SCR technolgy”
“Posted on October 13, 2015
In the latest twist in the ongoing saga of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, the company announced that it would shift adopt selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology for its its diesel engines in Europe and North America and develop new hybrid and electric vehicles. The moves were announced as part of a plan to confront the company’s admission of using software within its vehicles that allowed them to evade U.S. emissions regulations.
Volkswagen division head Herbert Diess said in a statement that the company would adopt SCR in North America and Europe “as soon as possible.”
Now, shouldn’t someone at EPA have been a LITTLE suspicious that VW were meeting emissions WITHOUT SCR???
Not every state tests emissions; in fact,the majority do not.
Depends on where you live. For example, in CA, if the car was required to be checked (certain model year and later), you would have to meet the emissions standards of the year of the newer engine. If the car isn't required to be smogged, then no worries. If you had a 1980 model, and swapped a 2015 engine in it, then your 1980 model would have to meet 2015 standards.
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