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from the that's-a-lot-of-rogue-engineers dept.
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 "As a result, we have withdrawn the application for certification of our model year 2016 vehicles.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.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 12 2015, @10:37AM
My thought as well. My brother is an engineer at Ford and tells me they use CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) standards, which are supposed to drive companies to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, to punk the system and produce more gas guzzlers. So what they do is, they produce a couple of hybrid models and maybe a full EV model. They say to the EPA, "See how green we are, Mr. Govt. Official? We are make 3 kind of green green carz!" Then they proceed to make exactly 100 of each and sell them at one dealership in, say, Oklahoma, where the dealer parks them in the back corner under the weeping willow where all the birds nest and drop crap on the cars below them, because people in Oklahoma want to buy F150s and the dealer wants to sell them those F150s with their hefty price tag.
Cheating and breaking laws is what companies do, and the government rewards them for it. Us, not so much.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday October 12 2015, @12:23PM
I test-drove a hybrid Taurus the last time I was looking, and I can tell you exactly why I didn't buy it:
1. It was about 4 times the price of a used Prius I was also considering.
2. It got 35 mpg versus the Prius' 48 mpg. 35 mpg is not much better than a regular sedan.
3. I was not entirely convinced it was actually a hybrid, because it sure didn't act like one. The gas engine kicked on when going 3-5 mph around the dealer's lot.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 12 2015, @01:42PM
Yes, that sounds about right. I test drove the C-Max hybrid and had a similar experience. Of course, I had my brother the Ford engineer sitting next to me pointing out all the flaws and filling in the back-story for each one. I said, "Dude, it is abundantly obvious you're not in sales."
Washington DC delenda est.