[deetjohn]

Part of Volkswagen’s $14.7 billion Dieselgate settlement requires VW to offer buybacks to nearly half a million owners whose cars cheated emissions tests. But that settlement does not stipulate that those bought-back cars have to be in good shape. So, some disgruntled owners are stripping their vehicles down.

EPA says the cars being returned should be operable - meaning the vehicle can be driven under its own 2.0-liter TDI engine power. So owners are removing mirrors, jacks, headlights, floor mats, visors, radios, seats, and all sorts of other easily-pulled parts.

Here is how a Golf was returned.



And guess what, the owner was paid in full. He removed the front and gifted it to a friend of his. Maybe for a petrol Golf. The rear was messed up in an accident apparently. Yes, this was one of the extreme cases. Most people seem happy with the buyback offer, and at most, they remove a few aftermarket parts they installed and a floor mat or two.

The power in the hands of a customer in the US is truly astonishing!! Over here, we are still put up with the same old cars and a de-tuned engine.

Source

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

So, some disgruntled owners are stripping their vehicles down.

A car salesman from Cincinnati looking for stardom on the internet removed almost everything from his Golf before returning it.






Its frankly disgusting, the way that Golf owner behaved! In comparison, we make so nice a market here when we pat the manufacturer on the back when they honor the warranty, goodwill or otherwise, while replacing a blown DSG, fuel injector or the ABS sensor! Or put in our request professionally to honor the warranty to address manufacturing defects without class action lawsuits. And what do we get in return?? Its not fair at all!


Coming back to the story, VW USA played it smart and asked the Golf owner to wait. They neither accepted nor rejected the buyback but informed the owner that they needed time to take a decision. And then the judge sitting on the diesel gate case warned the VW owners from stripping the cars in the meanwhile. No coincidence I am sure.

I guess its good luck to that Golf owner to put his car back into shape now!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Its frankly disgusting, the way that Golf owner behaved! In comparison, we make so nice a market here when we pat the manufacturer on the back when they honor the warranty, goodwill or otherwise, while replacing a blown DSG, fuel injector or the ABS sensor! Or put in our request professionally to honor the warranty to address manufacturing defects without class action lawsuits. And what do we get in return?? Its not fair at all!

Notice how he's also fixed a number-plate onto the back with wire which reads "DSLGATE" aka the famous-now-unspoken-of Diesel Gate scam of VW because of which all these problems began in the first place.

According to me its simple, either the customer dominates a company or the company dominates the customer. North America is one of the few countries that can make VW sweat, if not for this nation the Diesel Gate issue would've been of no consequence to VW and people would've stopped speaking about it in a matter of a month. I still am unsure, by the way if a simple "software" tweak and a couple of minor part changes can bring the vehicles back to standard regulation in terms of emissions. Only in America have they decided to accept the faulty vehicles en masse and pay a good sum for them. The customers try to get a little more cheeky by stripping parts, that is not ideal behavior but it gets VW's attention at the end of the day.. they won't be repeating this charade anytime soon over there.

Remember this ad that was made just before the Diesel Gate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNS2nvkjARk

*facepalm*

[volkman10]

S. Korean Volkswagen exec gets jail term in emissions scandal fallout.

A South Korean court sentenced an executive of Volkswagen Group's local unit to one year and six months in prison for fabricating documents on emissions and noise-level tests to achieve certification for vehicles for import.

This is the latest fallout from VW's emissions-test cheating scandal that last year resulted in a sales suspension in South Korea, a once fast-growing market for the German automaker

Link

[Jeroen]

In the Dutch news this week. Volkswagen most sold brand in the Netherlands for 2016. So this whole scandal is costing them some real money, but not necessarily in terms of market place.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by volkman10

S. Korean Volkswagen exec gets jail term in emissions scandal fallout.

Likewise in the USA - ET Auto Article . Jail is the best way to teach these frauds a lesson.

By the way, Thomas Kuehl is the boss of VW in South Korea. Yep, he is the same executive who was in charge of Skoda India when this scandal happened - link.

Looks like Thomas has a knack of ending up in troublesome situations.

[msprabhakar]

Volkswagen AG Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $4.3 Billion in Criminal and Civil Penalties; Six Volkswagen Executives and Employees are Indicted in Connection with Conspiracy to Cheat U.S. Emissions Tests

The United States Justice Department Press Release

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volks...-penalties-six

According to the indictment, the individuals occupied the following positions within the company:

Heinz-Jakob Neusser: from July 2013 until September 2015, Neusser worked for VW as head of Development for VW Brand and was also on the management board for VW Brand. From October 2011 until July 2013, Neusser served as the head of Engine Development for VW.

Jens Hadler: from May 2007 until March 2011, Hadler worked for VW as head of Engine Development for VW.

Richard Dorenkamp: from 2003 until December 2013, Dorenkamp worked for VW as the head of VW’s Engine Development After-Treatment Department in Wolfsburg, Germany. From 2006 until 2013, Dorenkamp led a team of engineers that developed the first diesel engine that was designed to meet the new, tougher emissions standards in the United States.

Bernd Gottweis: from 2007 until October 2014, Gottweis worked for VW as a supervisor with responsibility for Quality Management and Product Safety.

Oliver Schmidt: from 2012 through February 2015, Schmidt was the General Manager in charge of the Environment and Engineering Office, located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. From February 2015 through September 2015, Schmidt returned to VW headquarters to work directly for Neusser, including on emissions issues.

Jürgen Peter: Peter worked in the VW Quality Management and Product Safety Group from 1990 until the present. From March 2015 until July 2015, Peter was one of the VW liaisons between the regulatory agencies and VW.

[volkman10]

After VW's Diesel saga now it is FCAgate!

FCA in trouble!!

once again, a major automaker made the business decision to skirt the rules and got caught. CARB and U.S. EPA made a commitment to enhanced testing as the Volkswagen case developed, and this is a result of that collaboration.

In USA, EPA is accusing Fiat Chrysler that it violated the Clean Air Act.Fiat Chrysler is also investigated over diesel emission cheat software.

Vehicles affected cover approximately 104,000 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in the United States. All said vehicles are equipped with the 3.0-liter EcoDiesel engine, a V6 turbo diesel that helps the Ram 1500 HFE return up to 29 mpg highway. In the Jeep Grand Cherokee’s case, make that 30 mpg.

Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. branch failed to disclose the existence of “certain auxiliary control devices” in its EPA applications for certificates of conformity. Bear in mind that such disclosures are mandatory.

Moving on to more pressing matters, the EPA tested both culprits and found out that the models in question produce increased nitrogen oxide emissions. Worse still, increased NOx is emitted in conditions the EPA regards as “normal operation and use.” These being said, the agency found eight undisclosed pieces of software designed for this purpose. And these problems are:

- Full EGR Shut-Off at Highway Speed
- Reduced EGR with Increasing Vehicle Speed
- EGR Shut-off for Exhaust Valve Cleaning
- DEF Dosing Disablement during SCR Adaptation
- EGR Reduction due to Modeled Engine Temperature
- SCR Catalyst Warm-Up Disablement
- Alternative SCR Dosing Modes
- Use of Load Governor to Delay Ammonia Refill of SCR Catalyst

As with Volkswagen Dieselgate, it will take time for the EPA and CARB to say for sure if FCA did wrong. If FCA did do wrong, a penalty will ensued.

FCAGATE

[deetjohn]

Volkswagen TDIs waiting for their future in dumping yards in the US after hundreds of thousands of affected cars were bought back from customers. There are Jettas, Audi A3s, Passats, Golfs, Beetles etc in there.









At the moment these 400,000+ cars are in limbo, as VW waits to see if they can get the EPA and California Air Resources Board to approve fixes for the cheating cars, or if the company will be forced to send the vehicles to the salvage yard.

Most these cars are in exceptional condition, with very few if any showing any dents, dings or damage.

Source

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Volkswagen TDIs waiting for their future in dumping yards in the US after hundreds of thousands of affected cars were bought back from customers. There are Jettas, Audi A3s, Passats, Golfs, Beetles etc in there.

A sad sight indeed. :(

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Most these cars are in exceptional condition, with very few if any showing any dents, dings or damage.

This is not really surprising, as cars are usually in good condition in developed countries as they have to put up with lesser madness on the roads, and they actually do run on roads, not patches of tar.

[volkman10]

FCA's emission woes continue - faces possible prosecution in France over diesel emissions.

Results from a testing programme carried out by French regulators last July showed that the Jeep Cherokee emitted eight times the NOx limit during lab tests, while the Fiat 500X emitted almost 17 times the limit in road testing, according to the report

Link

[dark.knight]

The only thing to take away from here, and it has been already proven over a decade ago - is that there is nothing called "clean" diesels, diesels will have always another 'd' word ahead of them - dirty. This is because diesel fuel will emit particulate matter which are small enough to even enter through the pores of our skin and affect our breathing, organs and eyesight.

Diesel engines may have evolved - they are quieter, use turbo and are more efficient but that doesn't change the fact that diesel itself has not changed, and whenever diesel is burned in the engine, the result will be NOx and particulate carbon emissions.

This diesel pollution is not just unpleasant; it is also dangerous. The nitrogen oxides produced by diesel engines, which are far more popular in Europe than in the United States, are a potent irritant for asthma sufferers. Health officials in Italy also noted increased reports of cardiovascular disease this week.

We know better now. As anybody who has seen the black smoke spewing out of the pipes of a big rig as it changes gears can testify, diesel has a fatal flaw. It tends to burn dirty, particularly at low speeds and temperatures. In cities, where so much driving is stop and start, incomplete diesel combustion produces pollution that is devastating for human health.

Let's stop falling for "clean-lean diesels" propaganda once and for all and take it for what it is - dirty. This is far from calling diesel buyers dirty, but it does conclude that petrol as a fuel, even though polluting, is not nearly as dangerous to the health and atmosphere.

For me, its petrol for life. Hybrid or pure electric also do not make sense since this country produces majority of power by thermal plants. In any case we must pledge to buy smaller engines of either fuel type (as much as possible anyway) and drive responsibly, I'm an environmentalist above all else.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/o...esel.html?_r=0

[dark.knight]

It's official, almost. Ferdinand Piech of the Porsche family, longtime VWAG leader and former Chairman of the Board until 2015 when his much publicised spat with then CEO of VW Martin Winterkorn lead to his quitting, has declared openly today that he brought the "emissions tweaking" scandal to the attention of the VWAG supervisory board members in February 2015, much before the actual global expose that was to follow.

He's also claimed that the board members, of which his own cousin Wolfgang Porsche was one, "unequivocally, and emphatically rejected" the then allegations which eventually turned out to be facts.

Volkswagen is none too happy about the accusations, and is considering striking back. VW says in a statement, "The Board of Management will carefully weigh the possibility of measures and claims against Mr. Piëch."

And so, it begins. I can't claim to know the actual sequence of events, but if the timeline of Mr.Piech's discovery and his subsequent efforts to bring it to light are true, then perhaps he is one of the few people genuinely bothered with ethics in engineering and that wouldn't surprise me.

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/02/08/v...rdinand-piech/

[volkman10]

South Korea Sends Banned VW And Audi Models Back To Germany!

The government of South Korea is sending back roughly 2,500 Volkswagen and Audi models to the German carmakers on the back of a sales ban in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal.

The vehicles had been held at a port 70 km south of Seoul in Pyeongtaek since 2016 and that an initial batch of 1,300 vehicles were sent back to German last month. By the end of April, an additional 1,200 units will be shipped back

Link

[volkman10]

VW emission woes continues !

VW emissions scandal - New report suggests fix is causing breakdowns and drop in performance.

Volkswagen's software fix to its 2.0-litre EA 189 engine has caused breakdowns, engine failures and a drop in performance and fuel economy, according to a new report calling for the recall to be halted.

The Volkswagen Diesel Customer Forum has submitted written evidence to the Transport Select Committee that highlights owners experiencing breakdowns, engine failures and a drop in performance and fuel economy "shortly after implementation of VAG's measures."

Before the 1.2-million vehicle recall in the UK was approved, Volkswagen said there would be no change to engine performance. However, evidence gathered by the Customer Forum suggests the fix isn't working as intended with owners becoming frustrated by underperforming and failing cars.

Volkswagen insists the fix results in no change to engine performance against mounting evidence from consumer groups!

Link