US EPA says to take tougher stance on auto emissions tests

Last week, the EPA accused the German automaker of using a “defeat device”, an algorithm that detects when the vehicle is being tested by the EPA and changes its performance to meet emissions standards.

Investigations are continuing in California, as well as by the U.S. EPA and by regulators in Europe.

Regulators here are planning “major enforcement action” against Volkswagen AG for skirting emissions standards, the head of the state’s air agency said yesterday.

The recall letter instructed owners of certain 2010-2014 Volkswagen vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines to contact dealers for a software update in order to fix an issue with the malfunction indicator light illuminating.

As NABU’s national director Leif Miller said, “Volkswagen’s objective of becoming the leading automaker in environmental terms by 2018 was damaged”.

VW started the scheme with the 2009 model year, and may not have been caught without testing performed at West Virginia University on behalf of the worldwide Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit group that advises governments on regulations.

Naturally, manufacturers optimise their engines to get the best possible results in these tests, including using only the very best fuels and calibrating the engines accordingly. That’s changed in recent years, largely thanks to the efforts of VW and other automakers promoting a new era of “clean diesel”.

The multistate investigation will examine misrepresentations and deceptions regarding the 11 million diesel vehicles, which were allegedly equipped with software that could be used to cheat on emissions tests, stated the release.

James Thornton, chief executive of environmental organisation ClientEarth, said: ” The public must know the full scale of the problem and urgent action must be taken to fix it”. In the real world, they were belching out oxides of nitrogen at much higher levels than allowed.

The European authorities are investigating over Volkswagen’s issue.

“It wasn’t that we tested three vehicles and brought down a corporation”.

“We were never seeing those low emissions during most part of our drives on the interstate”. In December, Volkswagen voluntarily recalled about 500,000 cars, saying this would take care of the problem.

Officials said tests performed at the air board’s laboratory in El Monte confirmed the existence of the rogue software earlier this summer. Puzzled and perplexed, the technicians went back to the lab and the road, double checking and re-running everything.

Although diesel engines have always been the workhorse of the trucking and rail industries, the automotive industry has had an on-again, off-again relationship with the technology. “They only need to know that we will be keeping their cars a little bit longer and we’re going to be driving them more“. Mystified as to how the results could be so different, they began digging into the data stored on the cars computers. At the time the software was installed he was actually heading up Volkswagen’s Audi division. Its testing procedures have been criticized for being predictable and outdated, making it relatively easy for VW to cheat.

The British Lung Foundation urged the Government to commit to “routine, independent real-world testing on all cars”.