Dealers, owners feel frustrated and betrayed by VW scandal

“I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation”.

Deborah Scott went shopping for a new vehicle in 2010 and came back home with a diesel station wagon made by Volkswagen AG.

But research suggesting a link between pollution from diesel cars and respiratory problems has raised questions over how clean they are and concerns have grown in particular over diesel’s higher sulphur emissions.

Meanwhile, German carmaker Daimler said it did not manipulate emissions data for diesel engines.

Lancaster says she valued the integrity of Volkswagen, and often preached to her friends about how economical and environmentally friendly the car’s supposedly clean diesel technology was.

Mock and German are not whistleblowers, nor are the WVU researchers who wielded the instruments.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency first disclosed Friday that stealth software makes VW’s 2009-2015 model cars powered by 2.0-liter diesel engines run cleaner during emissions tests than in actual driving. “With the EPA and the California Air Resources Board, and with all of you”, Michael said.

Owners should expect to see a letter in the mail when the fix is available at their local VW dealer. The EPA is quite right to take it very seriously, indeed.

Hohenberg is familiar with defeat devices because they are not new. Exactly who in the company’s front office authorized the plan remains to be discovered.

The company’s extraordinary mea culpa is unlikely to pacify the EPA, however.

Young noted how Toyota Motor Corp. had recalled millions of vehicles from 2009 due to some customers’ complaints that their cars were unintentionally accelerating. In 1974, Chrysler had to recall more than 8,00,000 cars because similar devices were found in the radiators of its cars. Volkswagen, setting aside $7 billion for the crisis, will have to pay for repairs. The scandal has wiped out billions in the company’s market value and could bring billions more in fines and criminal investigations.

Rand’s anger at the world’s top-selling vehicle company was echoed Wednesday by private dealers, auto wholesalers and owners across the U.S.as fallout from the smog test trickery mounted.

“Our company was dishonest, with the EPA and the California Air Resources board and with all of you, and in my German words, we have totally screwed up”, Horn said.

“Millions of people across the world trust our brands, our cars and our technologies”, company chief executive officer Martin Winterkorn said in a video message yesterday, according to the Associated Press. The stealthy software was created on his watch. GM received a fine of $900 million.

Mock holds a doctor’s degree in engineering from the University of Stuttgart. Older models will get the same fixes, he said. “Most drivers care more about fuel consumption than emissions”.

Dealers can’t give customers good answers because Volkswagen hasn’t said a whole lot, said AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson, the leader of the largest auto dealership chain in the U.S. How did the chip in the vehicle know it was being tested?

On the inside, cabin upgrades are highlighted by an updated center stack that includes MIB II-the second generation of Volkswagen’s “modular infotainment” platform (a swipeable, pinch-zoom touchscreen that’s now included as standard equipment)-along with a new instrument panel, redesigned steering wheel and column stalk, two-tone decor panels and chrome and piano black trim. So the domestic consequences of pursuing VW hard are minimal.

The heroes of this saga aren’t done. “As this story matures, we expect it to have more of an impact on sales”, said one dealer, choosing to remain anonymous. German told The Guardian newspaper.

Any CEO of any automaker who doesn’t take these fairly humble comments seriously, triple-check his company’s emissions-testing software, recode it if warranted and tell the EPA and Justice before they come calling – is living on Pluto.