VW in trouble over alleged US emission test manipulations
Discussion
for those thinking that VW were clean until now, it does not take long to dig up their murky past.
Guardian said:
Ferdinand Piëch, chairman of Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, denied yesterday any knowledge of a corruption and bribery scandal involving backhanders and prostitutes that occurred at the firm when he was its chief executive.
In a trial that has gripped the business world, Piëch told a German court that he was unaware of VW managers throwing lavish parties for union leaders and providing prostitutes from 1995 to 2005.
"I did not concern myself with this," said Piëch, one of Europe's most powerful business patriarchs and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the luxury carmaker. Answering questions on the affair publicly for the first time since it broke in 2005, he said: "I was at no point during my time on the executive board aware of the abuse of expenses by the works council."
VW boss says he did not know of perks and prostitutesIn a trial that has gripped the business world, Piëch told a German court that he was unaware of VW managers throwing lavish parties for union leaders and providing prostitutes from 1995 to 2005.
"I did not concern myself with this," said Piëch, one of Europe's most powerful business patriarchs and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the luxury carmaker. Answering questions on the affair publicly for the first time since it broke in 2005, he said: "I was at no point during my time on the executive board aware of the abuse of expenses by the works council."
h0b0 said:
Spending your spare cash on coke and hookers is frequently recommended on PH 
Mr2Mike said:
h0b0 said:
Spending your spare cash on coke and hookers is frequently recommended on PH You should use other people's cash.
EricE said:
(image from http://www.audi-sport.net)
Key paragraph:Due to high load the sintered cam which drives the high pressure fuel injection pump and the vacuum pump in the affected vehicles, the camshaft lobe has the potential to unexpectedly shear off from the camshaft. If this happens, vacuum pump power will be lost so that the pump will not deliver further vacuum supply to the brake booster, and reduced engine power (limp home mode) will cause the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) to come on.
Unexpected, increased need for braking effort after the vacuum reserve has been depleted can lead to a crash without warning.
DonkeyApple said:
For me, I'd like to see Porsche ditch these low end models and refocus on selling performance only versions of their product range.
Before the scandals, things were looking good for this. Why cannibalize Audi's market share with overlapping products? Being part of VAG meant financial security, something they did not have when they started selling tractors again out of necessity. But now I'm afraid they will need to milk the Porsche brand for everything it has. Perhaps we are lucky that Müller is at the helm now as he will have some sympathy. Not the nicest job to have though...sato said:
This whole thing has become really baffling as to why it has been handled so badly.
As soon as they found out the EPA were investigating them, the first thing they should have done is ring up whoever makes all their ECUs and get them to tell them exactly which ECUs have been supplied with coding in question. I cant workout why they are still finding out about more cheat software now. The second thing they should have done is appoint someone external to oversee the investigation. Quite why they think all these internal promotions are appropriate I don't know.
Agree, they aren't handling this well at all so far. A lot of claimed full transparency, but in practice only smoke and mirrors. The default reaction to blame politics applies here as well IMVHO As soon as they found out the EPA were investigating them, the first thing they should have done is ring up whoever makes all their ECUs and get them to tell them exactly which ECUs have been supplied with coding in question. I cant workout why they are still finding out about more cheat software now. The second thing they should have done is appoint someone external to oversee the investigation. Quite why they think all these internal promotions are appropriate I don't know.
. They are partially owned by the state, politicians are close to them and they are such a heavy weight they used to be untouchable. From a German perspective, this is almost our 'banking crisis' unfolding.It won't be as easy as phoning up the ECU vendor though. The relevant software will have come from them. But they should (and I suspect they do) know exactly what they have put out when and where. My guess is they are just trying to play szalámitaktika as this has been very successful in the past. I hope Müller realizes that long term this will hurt them really bad. Especially if the EPA claims regarding the 3.0 engines and the problems with CO2 on some 'Bluemotion' boxes are true.
swimd said:
EricE said:
(image from http://www.audi-sport.net)
Key paragraph:Due to high load the sintered cam which drives the high pressure fuel injection pump and the vacuum pump in the affected vehicles, the camshaft lobe has the potential to unexpectedly shear off from the camshaft. If this happens, vacuum pump power will be lost so that the pump will not deliver further vacuum supply to the brake booster, and reduced engine power (limp home mode) will cause the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) to come on.
Unexpected, increased need for braking effort after the vacuum reserve has been depleted can lead to a crash without warning.
DonkeyApple said:
India concerned about emissions from VWs in Mumbai.... just brilliant.
EricE said:
Another day, another VW issue. This time not directly emission related but hey.
VW recalls 91.867 cars for camshaft problem
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-recalls-91-...
(image from http://www.audi-sport.net)
I'm wondering why anyone is surprised by this. VW have had issues for years. Just look at the diesel injector recall of a few years ago.VW recalls 91.867 cars for camshaft problem
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-recalls-91-...
(image from http://www.audi-sport.net)
Edited by EricE on Wednesday 4th November 13:12
As has been said many time on this forum, they are trading on a reputation made years and years ago. I personally don't think they build anything decent. It's all the touchy feely crap that gets the investment, sod the actual working oily bits.
Let's not forget the high oil consumption of their vehicles recently. I know people who bought new VW's years ago and took the car back to the dealers because of the oil usage. Apparently, everything was normal. This isn't one person, but a few who I know of.
Finally, we know a couple who bought a brand new Polo four years ago. It was their first brand new car. It spent most of the first two years of ownership back at the garage due to faults and s
t build quality. I can't understand why they didn't reject it. But that was up to them.Cobnapint said:
DonkeyApple said:
India concerned about emissions from VWs in Mumbai.... just brilliant.SMMT registrations for October 2015 against October 2014.
VW: 13970 -9.0%
Skoda: 4924 -3.0%
Seat: 2338 -32.0%
Audi: +2.20%
Before I even saw these figures it seemed to me that VAG are doing a very good job of trying to ring fence Audi as much as possible so that basically st doesn't stick to their most profitable volume brand. Looks like its working for now but it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out.
VW: 13970 -9.0%
Skoda: 4924 -3.0%
Seat: 2338 -32.0%
Audi: +2.20%
Before I even saw these figures it seemed to me that VAG are doing a very good job of trying to ring fence Audi as much as possible so that basically s
t doesn't stick to their most profitable volume brand. Looks like its working for now but it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out.The Golf model still at number 3 in the charts, selling only a handful less than the Corsa. Mind you as pointed out, the sales figures in this respect still include the delay from pre-ordered cars, some of the higher spec cars having long lead times.
Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
$1000 - $1250 in the USA for TDI owners, well, not really:
$500 spend anywhere and the rest up to $750 at VW.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/11/vw-tdi-...
Don't think it'll keep the American's happy especially if the offer comes with conditions relating to not suing VW.
$500 spend anywhere and the rest up to $750 at VW.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/11/vw-tdi-...
Don't think it'll keep the American's happy especially if the offer comes with conditions relating to not suing VW.
New german article at Handelsblatt has some insight on the methods the technicians used to manipulate the CO2 emissions.
According to this article they mixed diesel to the engine oil to lower the viscosity of the oil (temporarily reducing friction and thus decreasing fuel consumption) and inflated tires to 3,5 bar for the tests. Their superiors knew none of this.
According to this article they mixed diesel to the engine oil to lower the viscosity of the oil (temporarily reducing friction and thus decreasing fuel consumption) and inflated tires to 3,5 bar for the tests. Their superiors knew none of this.
icepop said:
The Golf model still at number 3 in the charts, selling only a handful less than the Corsa. Mind you as pointed out, the sales figures in this respect still include the delay from pre-ordered cars, some of the higher spec cars having long lead times.
Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
The sales numbers during 2016 will be more telling. Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
Well done VW. Well done.
So eps are no gong to test randomly in actual driving. Cars will not pass this at the levels set. So stricter levels or are they going to relax them?
"
According to the New York Times, the EPA is going to test all new cars—and 2015/16 diesel models—on actual roads. Previously, testing was done in a fixed location by putting the car onto rollers and entering test mode, which made it easy for the car’s software to detect the test, and put on its good-boy no-emissions hat."
http://gizmodo.com/epa-decides-to-start-properly-t...
So eps are no gong to test randomly in actual driving. Cars will not pass this at the levels set. So stricter levels or are they going to relax them?
"
According to the New York Times, the EPA is going to test all new cars—and 2015/16 diesel models—on actual roads. Previously, testing was done in a fixed location by putting the car onto rollers and entering test mode, which made it easy for the car’s software to detect the test, and put on its good-boy no-emissions hat."
http://gizmodo.com/epa-decides-to-start-properly-t...
boxedin said:
icepop said:
The Golf model still at number 3 in the charts, selling only a handful less than the Corsa. Mind you as pointed out, the sales figures in this respect still include the delay from pre-ordered cars, some of the higher spec cars having long lead times.
Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
The sales numbers during 2016 will be more telling. Maybe more importantly for the AUDI brand, BMW sales are up by 35'ish %.
Glad to see some good coming of all this. The tide is turning against diesel now and it can't come soon enough.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34731463
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34731463
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