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Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

nytimes.com

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Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#61

Post by efm »

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #20

I don't understand how California detected this. The one time I had to take my 2010 Jetta turbo diesel for a smog check, the inspection was ENTIRELY visual. The inspector did not insert a probe into the tailpipe. He did plug the test rig into the OBD-II port under the steering column and turn the key to the accessory position (presumably to electronically capture the VIN), but that's it. I even asked him at the end i…

Colorado does drive-by testing, on freeway on ramps, and other locations with high traffic. If your car fails, or hasn't been monitored by that system recently, you get a notice for the more complete inspection.

The drive-by inspection doesn't require the co-operation of the driver or car, so is harder to game by detecting you are being tested.

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#62

Post by BorgHunter »

ju-st wrote: post #41

The technical debt of petrol engines is becoming apparent.

The technical debt of petrol engines is not relevant to this article:

> The allegations cover roughly 482,000 diesel passenger cars sold in the United States since 2009.

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#63

Post by S_A_P »

krapp wrote: post #4

How would this benefit Volkswagen? The article says the device activates emissions control systems when it detects the car is being tested... so it's not as if they're saving money by emulating a system they're not manufacturing.

The VW/Audi 2.0t EA888 engine is capable of producing 100 more hp with a software update. These turbo/diesel/supercharged engines have a million parameters that they can modify to change driveability. I cant believe that they would do something like that to pass emissions testing though, that seems incredibly foolish. I would imagine that with diesel engines, economy and certain emissions are at odds with each other.

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#67

Post by joshrotenberg »

bpodgursky wrote: post #60

What actually incentivizes a customer to take their car to a shop to get this fixed though? It's not causing harm to individual car owners, and it's not like they can get collections agencies to sieze them. Seems like they're going to have trouble getting compliance here...

I've got a 2013 Golf TDI and was thinking about this as well. If it isn't a safety related recall, I'm not sure how you get people to comply aside from some other action related to, say, their next years registration (i.e. if your VIN doesn't have this fix applied, you can't reregister your car). Not sure if that's a thing, though.

I'd personally plan to take my car in "real soon now" to get the fix.

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#68

Post by to3m »

doughj3 wrote: post #12

> The software was designed to conceal the cars’ emissions of the pollutant nitrogen oxide, which contributes to the creation of ozone and smog. Is this an error in the article or is creating ozone a bad thing?

Nitrogen oxide is the new smoking: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/10862975/Emission-t...

(Article is from last year - it's just something I found on google just now - but representative.)

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#69

Post by baakss »

barkingcat wrote: post #14
gregwtmtno wrote: post #3

I can't believe such a large company would cheat like that. I think there must be more to this. Maybe a rogue employee?

More like a Rogue CEO and Board. Decisions of this magnitude going over so many years likely were made by the people at the top. Recall that VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech resigned earlier this year http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/04/25/uk-volkswagen-ceo-c... The board was quoted: "The members of the steering committee came to a consensus that, in the light of the past weeks, the mutual trust necessary for successful…

Corporations aren't flawless, but it definitely isn't a given that the people at the top have any clue what is going on with their software either. I can think of two instances that I've personally seen very similar to the referenced story where someone in middle to middle-upper management made the call, and only 1-2 devs/analysts had any idea what was done.

If anything that should go to show the lack of sophistication a lot of these projects have. There often is no project manager, no code reviews, and a messy codebase where snippets of very unethical logic can hide for years.

Re: Volkswagen Is Ordered to Recall Nearly 500k Vehicles Over Emissions Software

#70

Post by notwhereyouare »

toyg wrote: post #45
flippyhead wrote: post #37

I don't quite understand how the car can known it's getting an emissions test. I thought you just pulled up and revved the engine. Or do they plug the computer in nowadays?

Tests have fixed usage patterns. You detect those while total mileage is low, and you assume it's a test. After X thousand miles, you stop detecting. Job done.

eh, not really. In atlanta, it was once a year, around your birthday. Where I am, outside savannah, it's never. So my car would have no idea if it's being tested or not
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