VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL
The "Dieselgate Scandal" was breaking news on the morning of 22 September 2015. Apparently The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board (EPA and CARB) revealed their findings that while testing some Volkswagen Group diesel vehicles, they detected deliberate manipulations that vehemently violates American environmental standards. Allegations of corruption within the VW ranks sparked global outrage when the EPA discovered that software installed on Volkswagen AG vehicles fitted with a Volkswagen EA 189 TDI Diesel Engine, could detect when it was undergoing EPA emissions testing. The vehicle electronics would then activate its full emissions control circuitry to ensure that the vehicle passes the test with flying colours. However under normal operating conditions this software is deactivated resulting in increased exhaust emission with Nitrous Oxide (N2O) as high as 40 times more than that permitted by law. VW is facing criminal prosecution for deliberately contravening the The Clean Air Act and is subject to pay a fine of $37,500 per non-compliant vehicle. This could seriously stack up to as much as 18 billion USD even though Volkswagen AG only made a net profit of 12 billion USD in 2014. This is the greater public relations nightmare that the VW group ever faced in their entire 78 years of growth, with repercussions that already wiped our one third of their market capital, and doing untold damage to their share price which drop down to an all time low.
The shocking thing about this story, is that a VW spokesperson admitted that a ‘defeat device’ specifically designed to cheat EPA emission testing was installed in more than over 11 million Volkswagen AG vehicles fitted with the EA 189 engine worldwide. VW engineers further said the EA 189 engine that was developed in 2005, would never have met emission caps within the allotted budgets without the software deception. Volkswagen immediate conducted Internal investigations and established that the suspect engine management software was also installed in other vehicles in the Volkswagen lineup that use different diesel engines, saying that the software doesn't have any effect on the majority of these engines. According to the EPA the Volkswagen "Diesel Gate Scandal" is not not unique nor the first because several truck manufacturers including Caterpillar and Volvo were caught doing the very same thing back in 1998.
A parody of Adolf Hilter pissed with the EPA
As luck would have it, it turns out that the cheat device was a management decision and not Volkswagen Policy. Management objectives revolved around pushing production, meeting turnover targets and beating the competition by getting their vehicles to market soonest. As a consequence Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen AG Wolfsburg resigned his position on Monday the 28th September 2015. Volkswagen then suspended all their research and development R&D chiefs, heading-up its core VW brands, as well as the chiefs heading-up their luxury division Audi and its sports-car maker Porsche, with a pending dismissal of the top brand executives as it a measure to recover from the scandal. There were not axed as sacrificial lambs of scapegoats but at commitment to do right by the public. VW has subsequently issued a stop sale order on all new and pre-owned Volkswagen’s equipped with the EA 189 engine.
Volkswagen made a commitment to fixing this issue as soon as possible and released a brief saying that the topic under investigation is not safety related, but specific to the emissions output of the vehicle. Further assuring customers and owners of the affected model vehicles that they are safe to drive, and that they are speedily working towards developing a remedy that meets emissions standards and satisfies their loyal and valued customers. Saying that the owners of these vehicles need not take any action at this time but that VW will directly contact them once a solution is in place. But that a specific time-frame is not available at the current point in time but will present the technical solutions and measures to relevant responsible authorities in October 2015. The official word directly from VW is that there is no active recall on any of the 2.0L turbo-diesel 4 cylinder engine vehicles, including the:
VW Jetta (Model Years 2009 – 2015)
VW Jetta Sportwagen (Model Years 2009-2014)
VW Golf (Model Years 2010-2015)
VW Golf Sportwagen (Model Year 2015)
VW Beetle and VW Beetle Convertible (Model Years 2012 – 2015)
VW Passat (Model Years 2012-2015)
Vehicles in the UK affected per brand are as follows:
VW Passenger Cars – 508,276
VW Commercial Vehicles – 79,838
AUDI – 393,450
ŠKODA – 131,569
SEAT – 76,773
The Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, owned by the Volkswagen group, fitted 700,000 vehicles with pollution cheating software to dupe emissions tests. As part of its global response to the damaging pollution-cheating scandal, Volkswagen plans to recall as many as 120,000 diesel cars sold in South Korea,
Meanwhile Volkswagen AG and has setup websites for all Volkswagen Group brands so that VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT vehicle owners may self-verify if their vehicles are affected. To check if your VW,Audi, Skoda and SEAT is affected, visit one of these address below:-
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VOLKSWAGEN
www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/dieselinfoYou will be greeted with:
Please note: we can give only information about Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. For other Volkswagen Group brands, please visit the relevant brand website. After typing in your VIN number, you will see the following reply if you vehicle is not affected.
Dear Volkswagen customer,
We wish to confirm that your vehicle with the Vehicle Identification Number AAVZZZ9NZ7U052888 you submitted, is not affected by software that causes discrepancies in the values for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) during dynometer runs.
Yours faithfully,
Volkswagen.
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AUDI
The Audi website has the following message which I think is incorrectly translated by Google and is a far cry from what it aught to say. especially "Please rest assured that your vehicle safety and mobility is impaired at any time" I'm certain nobody wants to hear that, even if it is a translation error. The website greeted by the following message.
Dear Sir or Madam, unfortunately, there are some of our vehicles complaints on emission behavior. Please rest assured that your vehicle safety and mobility is impaired at any time. For more answers to your questions can be found here. Should you have any further questions, you can always contact your Audi partner gladly.
Scroll down and click on VIN check
http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/layer/serviceaktion.html#
Here you can check with entering the VIN number to see if your Audi is concerned. If the code 23Q4 - service measure diesel exhaust EA189 are shown, you will be contacted by the AUDI AG or your Audi partner as soon as the technical solution is available. If you have further questions you are welcome to use the contact form or directly contact your Audi partner in connection.
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ŠKODA
http://master.skoda-auto.com/mini-apps/recall-actions
Dear customer,
No relevant recall campaigns have been launched by ŠKODA for the entered
VIN TMBNB46Y6Y3069466.
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SEAT
Check if your car is involved. In order to make things easy to you on whether or not your SEAT car is affected, we put together a tool that will help us get information through the VIN number of your vehicle, such as the model, engine type and much more to confirm it its involved or not.http://www.seat.com/owners/diesel-engines/vin-number.html
Your car is not involved.
