[srishiva]

Isnt E189 both 2.0 and 1.6 litre engines? Surprised that VW in India is not forthcoming with more details

How many here would really want to be part of this recall?

[volkman10]

VW gets approval for diesel fixes in Europe.

German authorities signed off on Volkswagen Group's proposed fixes for about 8.5 million diesel engines in Europe that contain software designed to cheat emissions tests, with repairs set to start early next year.

After the measures have been implemented, the vehicles will fulfill the duly applicable emissions standards, with the aim of achieving this without any impairment of engine output, fuel consumption or performance

The fixes apply to 1.2-liter, 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter engines and the approval by Germany's KBA motor transport authority extends across the European Union's 28 national markets.

The 1.2- and 2.0-liter engines will get a software upgrade that requires about 30 minutes of labor time. The 1.6-liter engine will require the installation of a piece of mesh to regulate air flow in addition to a software upgrade. The labor time for implementing these measures will be less than an hour

http://www.autonews.com/article/2015...ixes-in-europe

[sukarsan]

Let me get this straiggt. The the fix costs next to nothing. There will be no impact on performance or fuel economy. Emission will be as per law.

If all of this is true then why were you cheating in the first place!!!!

Had I been a mod on this thread, I would have gone full hilter and banned posting of all news coming from Germany.

Americans identified the issue and problem is not solved until the Americans say so. Period!

[volkman10]

VW Phaeton falls victim to the 'dieselgate' - Production To Be Suspended In 2016.

VW to discontinue production of the premium Phaeton saloon, which is built at the glass-walled plant in the eastern state of Saxony. The model - a pet project of former chairman Ferdinand Piech which cost more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to develop - has never met sales targets since coming to market in 2002.

Production of the Phaeton, assembled by 300 of the Dresden plant's 500 workers, will end in late March. The site, the smallest of VW's 10 German factories, will then be reconfigured for about a year to prepare for producing an all-electric Phaeton by about 2019.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-vo...0TZ1X220151216

[msdivy]

VW drops the iconic slogan, 'Das Auto' !

Scarred by a public relations thrashing over its "Dieselgate" scandal, Volkswagen is planning an image offensive, and its " Das Auto" global advertising slogan is an early casualty.

Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/das-au...105123544.html

[sumeethaldankar]

Offtopic as far as the Volkswagen scandal is concerned, below are the list of 10 infamous automotive scandals

1. General Motors buries the Chrysler Airflow
Introduced in 1934, The Chrysler Airflow was one of the most aerodynamic and advanced cars ever built, and it posed a major threat to the automotive status quo. Its radical streamlined design made it stand out from anything else on the road — and General Motors was furious that the smaller Chrysler had built a more advanced car than it could.

It retaliated by buying advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post claiming that the radical Chrysler was plagiarized from a top-secret GM design (which never surfaced) and presented a danger on the roads.

Chrysler responded by releasing an amazing newsreel showing the Airflow’s advanced suspension (by shooting out a tire at high speed), its use of safety glass (by having a pitcher throw a fastball at it without shattering), rolling it over (and driving away), and finally, driving it off a 110-foot cliff, then driving it away with out so much as a shattered window.

2. The Tucker fraud charges
Unveiled in 1948, The Tucker captured the public’s imagination thanks to its bold, streamlined styling, advanced safety features, and successful fundraising campaign by the company’s charismatic founder, Preston Tucker. Designer of a successful gun turret for the U.S. Navy during the war, Tucker mounted a national advertising campaign and traveled across the country in his futuristic car, selling stock, dealership franchises, and taking down payments on cars to raise money for production. But the company was nearly broke from the start, and the money he raised was used to keep the lights on at his Chicago factory.

3. The Chevrolet engine mount recall
In 1969, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration received a report of defective Chevrolet engine mounts that could set off a potentially deadly chain reaction. When it took the issue to General Motors, the corporation replied that it had already received “172 reports of failed motor mounts, with 63 accidents and 18 injuries.” Astonishingly, Instead of taking action, both GM and the NHTSA kept quiet for nearly three years before publicly acknowledging the issue.

The engine mount used on 1965 to 1969 full-size Chevys could potentially collapse at speed, torquing the engine out of position and placing stress on the throttle body linkage, causing unintended acceleration. The movement could also twist automatic transmissions out of place, making it impossible to shift the cars into park. During its investigation, GM revealed to the NHTSA that it had been using the same engine mounts for its cars since 1958.

4. The Ford Pinto recall
Introduced for 1971, the Pinto was designed to take on the rising tide of imports that had come to dominate the entry-level market. For a time, the car was a major success, selling 328,275 cars in its first year on sale. But the Pinto had a fatal flaw, and Ford knew about it all along.

In a rear-end collision, the fuel filler neck could separate and puncture the fuel tank, spraying fuel into the passenger compartment and igniting. In an exposé in Mother Jones in 1977, it was revealed that Ford had known about the defect before the car even went to production, but decided it would be too expensive to fix — the cost to safely upgrade the fuel system would’ve added $11 to the cost of each car. A shield to protect the tank from rupturing would have only cost $1.

5. The Ford transmission defect
On the ropes after paying out millions to victims of the Pinto debacle, Ford faced another disastrous recall in 1980 after the NHTSA announced after a three-year investigation it found that Ford automatic transmissions built between 1966 and 1980 contained a defect where they could slip from park into reverse, causing them to roll unexpectedly.

After reports by Mother Jones and the Detroit Free Press, it came out that the company had known about the defect since at least 1972, and rejected a design improvement that would have cost $0.03 per car to fix the issue. Instead, the company chose to quietly pay $20 million to victims and their families.

6. Audi’s unintended acceleration debacle
Audi may be a luxury juggernaut today, but in the late ’80s, it was reeling from a scandal that nearly knocked it out of the American market for good. Introduced in 1982, the Audi 5000 was a good-looking sporty sedan that was key in helping establish Audi as a premium luxury brand.

Unfortunately, the company’s image was sucker-punched on November 23, 1986, when CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a shocking exposé on the 5000, interviewing owners who claimed that their cars would suddenly accelerate. To prove its point, 60 Minutes ran footage of an unoccupied 5000 jolting forward under its own power. What viewers didn’t see is that the car was modified by the TV crew, and moved by an air compressor forcing it into gear.

7. The Ford Explorer-Firestone tires disaster
In 1990, when Ford released its all-new Explorer, SUVs accounted for 7% of the U.S. auto market. By 1999, they accounted for nearly 20%, and were continuing to grow in popularity. The Ford-Firestone rollover scandal of 2000 didn’t stop the popularity of the SUV, but it set off a nationwide panic and drove home just how prone to rollovers the high-riding trucks really were.

The Explorer was introduced to replace the dangerously rollover-prone Bronco II in 1990, and it went on to became one of the one of the best-selling vehicles of the decade. For tires, Ford partnered with Firestone, which had been its preferred tire supplier for nearly 100 years. But when the NHTSA asked both Ford and Firestone to investigate a high rate of blowouts that led to rollovers, Ford blamed Firestone, and Firestone blamed Ford.

8. Toyota’s unintended acceleration
In 2012, after years of denying unintended acceleration in several Toyota and Lexus models despite mounting evidence, Toyota agreed to pay the U.S. Government $1.2 billion to avoid prosecution, the largest criminal penalty ever imposed on a car company. Like any other major recall, Toyota first tried to blame driver error. Then it suggested that floor mats were somehow impeding the return of the gas pedal, even while the company was hiding documents that showed a flaw in the gas pedal assembly was the culprit.

Toyota, maker of America’s best-selling car (the Camry), first came under fire in 2009, when authorities released an audio recording of a 911 call from California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor’s Lexus after the car began to accelerate on its own. The car reached speeds of 125 miles per hour before Saylor crashed, killing all four occupants. Three years later, Toyota admitted that it misled the public, and recalled 9.3 million vehicles worldwide.

9. Takata airbags
There have been plenty of recalls and scandals that have affected millions of vehicles, but nothing quite measures up against the scope of the Takata airbag recall, which involved 10 of the world’s biggest automakers and at least 17 million cars sold around the world. Between 2000 and 2008, Japanese automotive supplier Takata built airbags that could be affected by moisture and deploy with excess force. If the airbag ruptures the metal housing, it can shower the interior with metal shrapnel and chemicals, causing potentially fatal injuries.

In an exposé in the New York Times, it alleged that both Takata and Honda knew about the potentially fatal flaw as early as 2004 but failed to report their findings to the NHTSA. The U.S. government responded by fining Honda $70 million, and Takata $14,000 for each day of not cooperating with the federal investigation.

10. The GM ignition coverup
The Chevy Cobalt should have been an easily forgotten compact car. Instead, it will go down in history alongside the Ford Pinto as one of the most recklessly built and dangerous cars ever sold. In 2007, Chevy recalled 98,000 of the cars because they failed to meet federal safety standards. Then, in 2010, a faulty power steering system led to the recall of an additional 1.3 million cars. But what will make the Cobalt live in infamy is a faulty ignition switch that caused the cars to shut off at speed, deactivating safety systems like airbags and anti-lock brakes, and lead to potentially fatal accidents.

Like most of these scandals, GM knew about the defective part as early as 2004 but found that it would be too costly to fix. When it did decide to address the issue, in 2006, GM went so far as to replace the defective part with an updated one with the same serial number, effectively covering the problem up. After nine years and 13 deaths, GM finally decided to issue 2.6 million recalls for the Cobalt and the nearly identical Pontiac G5.

source

[deetjohn]

VW faces billions in penalties as U.S. sues for environment violations

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday filed a civil lawsuit against Volkswagen AG for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by installing illegal devices to impair emission control systems in nearly 600,000 vehicles.

The allegations against Volkswagen, along with its Audi and Porsche units, carry penalties that could cost the automaker billions of dollars, a senior Justice Department official said. VW could face fines in theory exceeding $90 billion – or as much as $37,500 per vehicle per violation of the law, based on the complaint. In September, government regulators initially said VW could face fines in excess of $18 billion.

[sgiitk]

Yes, they have been caught out. As far as India is concerned they are most likely able to meet our BS-IV and naturally BS-III norms easily. Only the data submitted to ARAI is dodgy.

[sukarsan]

Volkswagen CEO to hold high-level talks in Washington

Clearly something is going wrong with the solution.

VW has declared that all is well and good in Europe. But still they don't have a solution in US. As per CARB the solution was still under discussion till December 16th.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/2015_1..._vw_recall.pdf

[Thad E Ginathom]

It looks as if VAG might have to buy back thousands of vehicles, after all.

Volkswagen will likely buy 115,000 cars back from US owners, German paper says. (Ars Technica)

.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by sukarsan

Let me get this straiggt. The the fix costs next to nothing. There will be no impact on performance or fuel economy. Emission will be as per law.
If all of this is true then why were you cheating in the first place!!!!
Had I been a mod on this thread, I would have gone full hilter and banned posting of all news coming from Germany.
Americans identified the issue and problem is not solved until the Americans say so. Period!

Hello Sukarsan,
I spoke to my neighbor's son the other day (a software developer in the US and an American citizen) and his take was quite grounded and matter-of-fact - that this emission swindle has been known for sometime (since the cheat software was known to be around & available) and that VW alone is being crucified for reasons best known to those in the know.

[Jeroen]

Latest on this fiasco: Volkswagen recall plans rejected by US regulators
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35297961

[sukarsan]

It looks like California is now taking the lead the drilling VW.

Earlier it was EPA, but the California pollutions norms are the most stringent .

As I recall the 2.0 L fix did not involve modifications to the engines. It was only a change to the engine software to solve the issue.

Below pic shows the crux of the conflict between VW and California. Based on my emission knowledge I am completely in agreement with California.

[sukarsan]

In the FAQ at CARB website the reason for rejecting is stated clearly.

The complete information is in the PDFs in the below link.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/vw_info/vw_diesel_info.htm
I suppose VW has failed to go into the specifics on how they intend to solve the issue, AGAIN!

[sukarsan]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Yes, they have been caught out. As far as India is concerned they are most likely able to meet our BS-IV and naturally BS-III norms easily. Only the data submitted to ARAI is dodgy.

Sir,

Data submitted to everynow now seems to be dodgy!!!