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Volkswagen has issued a statement regarding the emissions cheating incident:
Discrepancies relate to vehicles with Type EA 189 engines, involving some eleven million vehicles worldwide. A noticeable deviation between bench test results and actual road use was established solely for this type of engine. Volkswagen is working intensely to eliminate these deviations through technical measures. The company is therefore in contact with the relevant authorities and the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA – Kraftfahrtbundesamt).
To cover the necessary service measures and other efforts to win back the trust of our customers, Volkswagen plans to set aside a provision of some 6.5 billion EUR recognized in the profit and loss statement in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Due to the ongoing investigations the amounts estimated may be subject to revaluation. Earnings targets for the Group for 2015 will be adjusted accordingly.
Volkswagen does not tolerate any kind of violation of laws whatsoever. It is and remains the top priority of the Board of Management to win back lost trust and to avert damage to our customers. The Group will inform the public on the further progress of the investigations constantly and transparently.
From The Register:
To put that in perspective, Volkswagen's profits for the last financial year were €10.85bn (US$12.1bn), so the firm is banking on having to pay out at least half of its profits, and possibly a lot more. The EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) has already said that the company could be liable for up to $18bn in fine and fix costs, and that was when only half a million cars were thought to be dodgy. As a result, the wheels have fallen off the company's stock price. Shares have nearly halved in value since the firm admitted using the emission-control software, and they are likely to fall further as the scandal unfolds.
Volkswagen's CEO Martin Winterkorn has already issued a public apology for his firm's conduct, and his position is looking increasingly untenable. Rumors of his forced retirement are already circulating, although these are being denied at present.
The case could also have an interesting knock-on effect in the software field. Technically, Volkswagen's software was covered under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, meaning tinkerers couldn't have examined and altered the code. The EPA has been lobbying with car companies to make sure the DMCA continues to make engine management software off limits to tinkerers. But based on its experience with Volkswagen, the agency may be changing that stance.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been quick to pounce on the DMCA connection.
The BBC reports that this affects 11 million vehicles worldwide, although many of those have passed local emission controls satisfactorily. Neverthless, the same or similar software is believed to be fitted in all those vehicles. The EPA found the "defeat device", the device that allowed VW cars to emit less during tests than they would while driving normally, in diesel cars including the Audi A3 and the VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat models.
Update: Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigns.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by jcm on Wednesday September 23 2015, @08:42PM
The real problem is not really the performance loss.
It's the fact that Europe let the car companies do as they wished.
Germany arrogantly posed itself as the european industry model.
And we now see that they were able to alter the laws to the point that they had to cheat in the US.
And Europe makes fun of the US for their pollution, while allowing car makers to do as they want.
I guess a lot of restrictive laws will pass, and the biggest loser in this is Germany, since it will be difficult to protect their image of probity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 23 2015, @08:53PM
> And Europe makes fun of the US for their pollution
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
This past spring practically the entire country of England was under a smog alert [theguardian.com] because of diesel pollution.
That sort of massive smog layer hasn't happened in the US for decades.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Wednesday September 23 2015, @09:40PM
And we now see that they were able to alter the laws to the point that they had to cheat in the US.
What the hell are you talking about?
How do you know the defeat doesn't also violate German laws?
The EU standards for NOX emissions [wikipedia.org] currently in place:
Euro 6 September 2014 0.080 (Grams NOX/KM) Diesel Engines
The US Standard for NOX emissions [dieselnet.com] (LEV 2-currently in force) (all engines)
LEV- 0.05 (Grams NOX/M)
ULEV 0.05 (Grams NOX/M)
You can see the US standards are more stringent (.05 vs .08) and the US standard is in Grams per Miles not KM (meaning US standards are tighter yet).
However, you can also see that during normal driving situations, the VW emission controls are turned off, allowing the cars to spew as much as 40 times as much pollution as allowed, and this would ALSO VIOLATE EU STANDARDS by a wide margin.
So far we've only heard about US potential penalties. That doesn't mean there won't be other countries jumping on the bandwagon.
And Europe makes fun of the US for their pollution, while allowing car makers to do as they want.
This too makes no sense, because across the board, US standards are WAY MORE STRINGENT than EU standards (or world wide standards), in EVERY category of air pollution regulations. So you just don't hear Europeans making fun of the US.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday September 23 2015, @10:02PM
South Korea to probe VW, Audi diesel car emissions [reuters.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_violations#Government_actions [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 23 2015, @11:12PM
FYI the Euro 6 standard is grams per kilometer, the US standard is grams per mile.
Convert the Euro standard to miles and you get 0.13 grams/mile
Doesn't really change your point, but the euro 6 standard just started implementation this month, the prior standard (euro 5) was closer to 0.28g/mi.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday September 24 2015, @12:04AM
FYI the Euro 6 standard is grams per kilometer, the US standard is grams per mile.
Convert the Euro standard to miles and you get 0.13 grams/mile
Yes, I think I alluded to that fact, thanks for doing the math for me.
By the way, the US standard gets even tighter from here on out.
The LEV III emission standards—adopted in January 2012 and amended in December 2012 [2946]—are phased-in over the 2015-2025 model years. Manufacturers can certify vehicles to the LEV III standards before model year 2015. Beginning with model year 2020, all vehicles must be certified to LEV III standards.
The LEV III standards modify the LEV II standards in several ways: (1) combine NMOG and NOx standards into one NMOG+NOx standard, (2) introduce a more stringent combined NMOG+NOx fleet average requirement for 2015-2025 model years, (3) add several emission standard bins, and (4) increase the durability requirements for emission control systems.
Chart: https://www.dieselnet.com/standards/us/img/lev_iii_fleet_avg.png [dieselnet.com]
Realistically, most automakers realize the quickest way to meet these standards is is by producing a significant amount of electric vehicles so that the fleet average falls under the guidelines.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2015, @06:34PM
Tests showed that some diesel models "from every major motor manufacturer" exceed the new EU standard.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/14/nine-out-of-10-new-diesel-cars-in-breach-of-eu-pollution-rules-report-finds [theguardian.com]
original report:
http://www.transportenvironment.org/press/just-one-10-new-diesel-cars-clean-legal-limit-report-finds [transportenvironment.org]