Posted on 10/19/2015 3:37:56 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
Even as Volkswagen embarks on the task of fixing the emissions systems it disabled on almost 500,000 of its diesel vehicles in the United States, the automaker faces another hurdle: persuading owners to make the repair at all.
Thats because the software that allowed Volkswagen to fool federal emissions tests also lowered the cars performance and fuel economy while the device was turned on. So for owners, the prospect of having a cars emissions cleaned up, only to have the car perform worse whatever the pollution is not sitting well.
If we take a 10 percent hit in our gas mileage, I can live with that, but I wont be happy, said Patrick Downs, who lives in Port Angeles, Wash., and owns a 2013 Jetta TDI.
If it is 25 percent or more and the performance is degraded to the point where the car has a lot less torque and pickup, that is going to make me very unhappy, he added. That is going to make me consider not getting the fix.
(snip)
The E.P.A. cannot force owners to repair their vehicles, said Julia Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Automakers also cannot require owners to carry out the emissions recall, just as they cannot force owners to take vehicles in to complete a safety recall.
(snip)
That loophole means the air pollution consequences of Volkswagens action at least on a small scale are irreparable if enough owners refuse to have their vehicles fixed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Easy. Sell it in Kansas.
Yes, the concentration of NOx in the exhaust is less... but you're making more exhaust.
you are correct
lost in all the clap trap hoopla is the fact the design worked and worked well
Could states that require inspections for registration renewal force owners to take the software modifications?
I was just assuming that here in MA it would be part of the car inspection process.
My assumption is that they would just give them one year from the announced “fix” and them you fail the inspection.
I wonder what kind of settlement the states will come to. Who wants to bet that the car owners get a free “fix” and no compensation for lost gas mileage.
The cars are not "broken". They just emit a wee bit more (in absolute terms!) NOx. Not good, but not a big deal either, other than pi$$ing off the EPA that has egg all over its face.
I think your right. In Texas you must pass a fairly stringent car inspection. If u don’t pass, you cannot register your vehicle which is certain to get you a ticket for “no inspection” and “no current registration” and you better have proof of insurance to show the cop too.
My son has a Passat diesel and we are currently wondering what to do.
So, it seems to me that to operate a legal car in Texas, as the law stands now, you will have to get it fixed.
Find some shop off the beaten path and take a chance that there is no check for the “fix” to the system that switches on the emissions controls when the car is checked?
Burn more fuel make more CO2. Is that better than NOx? I don’t know and really don’t care for now.
It is my understanding that it is common practice for the major auto manufacturers to buy each other's products to disassemble and completely reverse engineer. If so, I have a hard time believing that some other manufacturer (and probably all of them) didn't know of Volkswagen's little secret. Why not blow the whistle? No one wants to start that because each of them probably has their own little fudging method to meet standards which the others would disclose if that little pissing match started.
Plants love the stuff!
It used to be that the small counties (population) did not have the sophisticated and costly equipment to check tailpipe emissions. But, Travis County does. I have a new Toyota and it passed last time. Once before though, several years back, I flunked an inspection and was looking at $800.00 to fix it.
Fortunately then I lived in a small county so I just took the vehicle to them and since they had no equipment to check it, and as a small county were not legally obligated to, I was able to get my sticker.
These days too Texas has done away with “windshield” stickers. Now they give you a computer generated letter that you put in your glove compartment.
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