Huge Scandal Breaking Over Fraud At Volkswagon

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34311819

If VW has been doing this, what are the chances that other manufacturers aren't doing the same ? This might go a long way to explaining why we never get the same mpg figures that the car makers say is possible !

[EDDIE51]

I just saw that. Can not believe it is only VW that have done it.

[mikey4444]

This could run and run......once the American lawyers get their teeth into this, there is going to be a huge feeding frenzy !

[Ellipsis]

This was news on Saturday morning. There's been talk over the weekend that the fine could be eighteen billion dollars. That's why the share price dropped today, coincidentally by 18%.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/18/us-usa-volkswagen-idUSKCN0RI1VK20150918

[atalanta]

The only thing that surprises me is that anyone ever believed these figures in the first place.

[bazwillrun]

Breaking !? its been out since at least saturday...

[Milvus]

I think this is about falsely reducing emmissions Mikey, not fiddling MPG figures. Not saying that should't be another investigation though.

[agchristie]

There is no suggestion that other manufacturers are doing it according to the report but who would have expected VW to have fallen foul?

[andy-hughes]

The entire European testing system is a nonsense from start to finish.

Manufacturers rock up with a car created specifically for the test - it is known as a Golden Car - they test it, it passes, and then they go back to manufacturing cars for sale with no reference to the test results whatever.

The U.S. however pick a number of production cars at random and test those - in other words, they test the cars that are going out on the road, not ones built specifically to pass the test, with artificially low emissions built in.

[Baldric]

A bit on info on MPG figures, might help some people to sound less naive if read

http://www.parkers.co.uk/company-cars/news-and-advice/advice/2013/june/fuel-economy-claimed-figures-vs-real-world-mpg/

[Old_Geezer]

I'm a little surprised the rules state how you may or may not achieve a successful test. I'd have thought the rule was it simply had to pass it. Not saying it isn't wrong to thwart the reason for the test, but I'm surprised there is a legal case. A marketing/publicity disaster for sure.

[Khandro]

All tests should be independent of the manufacturers. The best outcome would be if it was shown that all of them had been cheating, (which I'm sure is to varying extent the case) then a line could be drawn and everyone start again.
The scale of fines suggested will only have to be paid for, one way or another, by the motorist.

[Gavmacp]

I heard many years ago that a French car company deliberately developed faults into their cars. I dismissed it at the time but now not so sure.

[jourdain2]

I have every expectation that several other, if not the majority of, car manufacturers will be found guilty of the same thing. The unit will have been bought in from a common supplier (according to OH, who knows about these things after a lifetime associated with the motor industry).

[EDDIE51]

^^ It was not a 'unit' it was a piece of program written into the vehicle's engine management computer. I think VW would have kept it very quiet as it gave them a huge advantage over the opposition.

[EDDIE51]

Gavmacp, was that Renault? They sold brand new cars that were already so rusty they were dangerous. The Renault Dauphine in the 1960s!

[Khandro]

Eddie; //I think VW would have kept it very quiet as it gave them a huge advantage over the opposition//
There is very little unknown by car manufacturers about the opposition's products. A sample of every new model is bought in by them all, tested and dismantled completely. No one has any secrets.