VW’s ‘diesel dupe’
The dust is still in a swirling frenzy regarding the VW emissions scandal which broke less than a month ago. In what has been dubbed the “diesel dupe”, what happened is very simple indeed.
Advertisement
VW has had a major push to sell diesel cars in the US, backed by a huge marketing campaign trumpeting their vehicles’ low emissions.
According to the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), some cars being sold in the US had a so-called "defeat device" installed in their diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve the test results.
Full details of how it worked are sketchy, although the EPA has said that the engines had computer software that could sense test scenarios by monitoring speed, engine operation, air pressure and even the position of the steering wheel.
When the cars were operating under controlled laboratory conditions - which typically involved putting them on a stationary test rig - the device appears to have put the vehicle into a sort of safety mode in which the engine ran below normal power and performance. But once on the road, the engines switched from this test mode.
The normal outdoors result? The engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above what is allowed in the US.
The discovery was not made by the EPA itself, but by some university researchers from West Virginia following up on real-life tests of diesel emission levels.
The knock-on effect of these events on the sale of diesel-powered cars will be far greater though in the UK and Europe than it will be in the US and China (these are the four biggest auto markets globally).
In North America, diesel cars make up less than four per cent of passenger car sales in the US and 22 per cent in Canada. In China, it’s just about two per cent due to severe environmental concerns on air quality in their big cities.
In Europe and the UK however, the effect could be much more pronounced – sales of diesel cars rose from 1.6million in 1994 to 11million (33per cent of all passenger cars) in 2014.
Why is this such a big deal?
First of all, the scandal threatens the financial viability of the entire VW Group, with the exposure to hundreds of lawsuits and the liability for fixing the millions of vehicles involved.
Then there is the deception, and the confusion around VW’s “Clean Diesel” mantra, used to promote passenger car sales as it sought to climb the ladder to world Number One.
There is also significant reputational risk for the increased adoption of diesel as an alternative and more efficient fuel, which may see lower levels of acceptance and willingness to drive diesel cars.
There are also environmental concerns of how much damage these 11 million cars have inflicted on the atmosphere since this scheme began in 2009.
If you happen to drive any of the cars in question, you do not have to worry about your safety, as that has not been called into question at all at this stage.
You may keep driving until we have more clarity on the next steps in the coming weeks. Readers may email me directly should they have specific questions.
The whole saga has also called into question the honesty of large corporations across the globe.
In a month in which we all saw justice on sale in Ghana through Anas’ video, it is shocking to realise the lengths to which individuals and organisations would break the law when (they think) no-one is looking.
The VW scandal also says a lot about the thoroughness of US regulators and the ever-probing nature of their law enforcement agencies.
The lesson here is that they have a culture of following up on compliance issues, even if it takes years to do so.
Advertisement
To contribute, visit Facebook.com/Lokomotion Corner or write to me: [email protected]