Common Dreams reports:
In a slick protest and righteous reminder that Volkswagen has yet to leave behind its Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal, British activist and comedian Simon Brodkin sabotaged a VW presentation at the Geneva Motor Show Tuesday. As marketing chief Juergen Stackmann sang the praises of their new electrically powered Up! models, Brodkin ambled [1] onto the stage in VW-branded overalls, wielding a wrench and prop [labeled] "cheat box", and began climbing under the car to "fix it". "It's okay, I have the new cheat box", he calmly explained to the bewildered Stackmann. "No one's going to find out about this one."
[...] As Stackmann tried to haul him out from under the car--"It doesn't need a repair, it's a perfect car"--Brodkin referenced VW's [lying, disgraced] CEO with, "Mr. Müller says it's okay as long as no one finds out."
[1] Content is behind scripts. archive.is clears up that nuisance.
Previously: Rogue Engineers and Vehicle Emissions
More SoylentNews stories about VW.
Related Stories
Four More Companies Caught Cheating Emissions Standards
From The Guardian :
Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi have joined the growing list of manufacturers whose diesel cars are known to emit significantly more pollution on the road than in regulatory tests, according to data obtained by the Guardian.
In more realistic on-road tests, some Honda models emitted six times the regulatory limit of NOx pollution while some unnamed 4x4 models had 20 times the NOx limit coming out of their exhaust pipes.
"The issue is a systemic one" across the industry, said Nick Molden, whose company Emissions Analytics tested the cars. The Guardian revealed last week that diesel cars from Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat, Volvo and Jeep all pumped out significantly more NOx in more realistic driving conditions. NOx pollution is at illegal levels in many parts of the UK and is believed to have caused many thousands of premature deaths and billions of pounds in health costs.
The article goes on to state that the toxic emissions levels are anywhere from 1.5 to 6 times higher in road use than in the lab tests. Of the 200 cars tested only five had emissions levels that matched their test results. This is a rather distressing fact. It seems that we the public have been lied to (again) for many years now. The "clean diesel" might just be a myth.
Given that these manufacturers come from all over the world, how is it possible that this is an accident? Is there so much incest in the automobile industry that the code from one manufacturer has permeated the industry and the rest of the manufacturers are just waiting to get caught?
VW Says Rogue Engineers, Not Executives, Responsible for Emissions Scandal
Volkswagen's US CEO testified Thursday that the decision to use emissions cheating software was not made at the corporate level. Instead, it was "software engineers who put this in for whatever reason," Michael Horn told a congressional panel that is investigating the scandal.
What's more, Horn told US lawmakers that the German automaker was withdrawing its application to sell 2016 autos with 2.0-liter diesel engines because they don't comply with US emissions standards. Horn testified that the 2016 vehicles were equipped with the same type of software that allowed millions of VW diesel vehicles to cheat pollution tests. "As a result, we have withdrawn the application for certification of our model year 2016 vehicles. We are working with the agencies to continue the certification process," Horn told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The timing is perfect to throw the engineers under the bus.
The Detroit News reports
Federal documents unsealed Friday detail how VW engineers from the very beginning of the automaker's so-called "clean diesel" program intentionally developed and installed a "defeat device" on roughly 500,000 cars from 2009 through 2015 in the United States so that they could appear to pass U.S. emissions tests.
The details were made public as James Robert Liang, leader of diesel competence for VW from 2008 through June, appeared in U.S. District Court in Detroit. He entered a guilty plea to a grand jury indictment of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
It marks the first criminal charge in the year-long scandal at the German automaker and could indicate more charges against VW officials are coming in the Department of Justice investigation into the company.
[...] Liang was also indicted for violating the Clean Air Act, which includes a two-year prison term and $250,000 fine. But under a plea agreement with the Justice Department, he did not enter a plea to that charge.
[...] Liang is not a U.S. citizen, and his conviction on the charges could affect his eligibility to remain in the United States, U.S. District Judge Sean Cox said. Liang is scheduled to be sentenced at 2 p.m. Jan. 11 before Cox.
Previous: Activist-Comedian Interrupts VW Exec's Geneva Presentation to Install "Cheat Box"
The World Socialist Web Site reports
The management of Volkswagen in Germany, [Europe's largest automaker, with around 620,000 employees,] has taken a hard-line stance in a dispute with two suppliers and accepted a partial halt in [vehicle] production.
[...] Almost 30,000 workers face the threat of forced time off or reduced hours. [...] The company has applied for reduced working hours at the federal labour agency, which means employees will receive reduced-hours pay, meaning significant wage reductions.
[...] Suppliers ES Automobilguss and Car Trim allege VW has forced them to halt deliveries by ending a development cooperation programme worth half a billion euros without notice or cause. Both firms are demanding VW pay €58 million in compensation. They describe the crisis at VW as self-made. "VW was offloading its own problems onto the supply industry" and was clearly exploiting "its dominant market position against suppliers", they claimed. An employee meeting took place at ES on [August 22].
ES specialises in transmissions, while Car Trim focuses on internal fittings like car seats.
[...] The conflict between VW and Prevent [Group, which overarches the two suppliers and others,] is the outcome of the years-long process of cutting costs by shifting production from the major automakers to suppliers. Much of production has been outsourced to Eastern Europe, where wages are many times lower than those in Germany.
Previous:
Volkswagen Sets Aside 6.5 Billion Euros for Fines and Recalls
Activist-Comedian Interrupts VW Exec's Geneva Presentation to Install "Cheat Box"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Thursday March 03 2016, @09:17AM
Now, how do we nail Microsoft, SystemD, and other distributions about folding crapcode into their releases?
This last read of the day gave me something of much mirth to go to sleep on...
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Informative) by anubi on Thursday March 03 2016, @09:20AM
Oh, incidentally, if you just want to see the act... its already up on YouTube. [youtube.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2016, @07:28AM
If you like this kind of activism, you will probably like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yes_Men [wikipedia.org] and their https://archive.org/details/The.Yes.Men.Fix.The.World.P2P.Edition.2010.Xvid [archive.org] (CC BY-NC-ND)
If for no other reason, then just to spite US chamber of commerce.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday March 04 2016, @07:42AM
Thanks! I wasn't aware of these guys...
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2016, @10:13AM
For the former a pie in the face will do, for the latter - wait until systemdick is mature then draft a system to replace it that is a clusterfuck.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @01:46PM
...Brodkin referenced VW's [lying, disgraced] CEO with...
Some classy journalism right there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @08:19PM
Clearly, you've never worked in a design + manufacturing environment.
Changes of that magnitude don't get made without a suit requesting them and signing off on the final result.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @02:39PM
Have you noticed the difference between how they handle this in Germany vs how this would have been handled in the US?
In Germany: Presenter calmly tells the guy "Thank you, thank you, this car doesn't need fixing, it's a perfectly good car" *guy gets led away gently by security folks* Presenter continues: "Ok, let's continue with the show"
In the US: *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* Get DOWN TERRORIST, DO IT NOW! *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* The guy lays still on the floor, bleeding profusely, is picked up, and then bodyslammed against the floor once more. The conference is terminated right there, everyone is questioned and the news covers a 'Terrorist attempt' against the state!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Thursday March 03 2016, @03:05PM
Well, he was already on the floor...
But that cardboard box or whatever he was holding was definitely a bomb.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @04:05PM
Really? Here's a guy throwing his shoes at a US President: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3Z_Kskl_U [youtube.com] Not exactly non-violent activism either.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday March 03 2016, @08:29PM
Not exactly violent either. From what I recall throwing shoes was a culturally based insult, and not intended to cause harm, but humiliation instead.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by pgc on Friday March 04 2016, @08:31AM
That was what they made of it, afterwards.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2016, @10:07AM
Try to keep up please.
(Score: 1) by einar on Thursday March 03 2016, @07:27PM
But, yeah, we are rather peaceful.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @09:12PM
And in Paris terrorists would be gunning down the audience.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @03:52PM
What was the whole point of this, I found it awkward and even not funny (especially for a British comedian)? It seemed more like a scream for five minutes of fame than a funny protest (against what actually?).
(Score: 2) by tibman on Thursday March 03 2016, @03:59PM
You're reaching here. Even if you didn't find it amusing, you should know exactly what he was poking fun at.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by pgc on Friday March 04 2016, @08:33AM
Wooooosh.
The sound of the joke as it goes over your head.
(Score: 2, Informative) by logan on Thursday March 03 2016, @04:04PM
When trying to open the archive.is link from TFS, Chrome shows a "The site ahead contains malware" alert. As pointed out by anubi above, the video is on Youtube [youtube.com].
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2016, @04:15PM
Archive.is is used by some malware people to get around blocks or archive malware sites. Those alerts pop up from time to time on there, like they do with archive.org and url shorteners. The difference seems to be that Google blocks the whole domain when it reaches a certain number, rather than reporting individual urls to the service and blacklisting those, like they do for bigger services.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Techwolf on Thursday March 03 2016, @04:51PM
Did VW really cheat or did they took advantage of a flawed test and actully pollucted less due to increased mileage?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday March 03 2016, @07:00PM
They specifically designed hardware to behave abnormally when it was being tested in order to pass the legally mandated tests.
What would you call it?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 03 2016, @07:25PM
They specifically designed hardware to behave abnormally when it was being tested in order to pass the legally mandated tests.
Which is explicitly prohibited by relevant regulations...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 03 2016, @08:18PM
No, they polluted far, far more. You're making the mistaken assumption that pollution scales linearly with fuel burned, which is completely wrong. For CO2, it's correct: that indeed is directly proportional to how much fuel you burn, so 15% better fuel economy means that much less CO2 pollution. The problem with diesel engines isn't CO2, it's nitrous oxides, which are really bad because they create smog (CO2 is mainly benign though too much of it accelerates global warming; smog is a far more localized and acute problem for human health). So these VW engines were producing far, far more NOx pollution than they were supposed to, and the slightly increased fuel economy was nowhere near enough to offset that.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2016, @07:39AM
The problem with diesel engines isn't CO2, it's nitrous oxides
That and particles, which are really dangerous for your health. Apparently you can get either one down but getting both down is a challenge...
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday March 04 2016, @10:58AM
Yeh... run rich, you emit lots of unburned fuel... hydrocarbons... CO. - but hardly no NOx, You don't have enough oxygen around to make any.
Run lean, you emit lots of NOx - but hardly any unburned hydrocarbons, you have so much oxygen around that any hydrocarbon around gets hitched.
But run in the "sweet spot", you emit BOTH!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]