Post by VWCA_Adman on Dec 13, 2015 13:48:41 GMT -6
Dec 10 Wolfsburg: VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch explained the origins of the firm’s emissions crises. Investigations reveal that 10 years ago a small group of unnamed engine development engineers working on the 2.0-liter TDI (EA189) mill for the U.S. market could not comply with American emissions requirements and also meet cost and timing targets.
Engineers, therefore, developed software that contained emissions strategies that produced low NOx in lab tests, but produced significantly higher NOx levels for real-world driving. This was not one mistake but a series of evasive moves that breached the rules and tainted the “lean NOx trap” used on Jettas and Golfs plus the later AdBlue SCR system on the 2012 U.S.-built Passat. Those mistakes also affect VW’s new 2.0-liter EA288 four-cylinder diesel engines introduced during 2015. Although these engines have up-to-date exhaust aftertreatment systems, they were not fully utilized in an apparent move to reduce consumption of AdBlue or urea fluid.
European authorities have largely accepted VW’s relatively low-cost fixes for EA189 diesels. VW CEO Matthias Mueller says that software and hardware updates comply with European NOx goals without changing engine performance. He adds: you can trust his words. For the USA, VW is still working with authorities to solve NOx emissions violations. Mueller will visit the U.S. starting with the Detroit auto show in January.
VW reports progress on two other fronts: CO2 discrepancies and Audi’s 3.0-liter TDI software used on the Touareg and Audi vehicles.
After VW told us that 800,000 European vehicles did not appear to meet carbon-dioxide emissions goals, further testing showed that the figure is substantially smaller: 36,000--affecting nine models.
There’s an understanding with U.S. regulators that Audi-developed 3.0-liter V-6 diesel that the EPA tagged for emission cheating does not have the same illegal software that affects the 2.0-liter TDI. It does have unapproved software that VW/Audi will either document for approval or update to comply with U.S. regulations.
Engineers, therefore, developed software that contained emissions strategies that produced low NOx in lab tests, but produced significantly higher NOx levels for real-world driving. This was not one mistake but a series of evasive moves that breached the rules and tainted the “lean NOx trap” used on Jettas and Golfs plus the later AdBlue SCR system on the 2012 U.S.-built Passat. Those mistakes also affect VW’s new 2.0-liter EA288 four-cylinder diesel engines introduced during 2015. Although these engines have up-to-date exhaust aftertreatment systems, they were not fully utilized in an apparent move to reduce consumption of AdBlue or urea fluid.
European authorities have largely accepted VW’s relatively low-cost fixes for EA189 diesels. VW CEO Matthias Mueller says that software and hardware updates comply with European NOx goals without changing engine performance. He adds: you can trust his words. For the USA, VW is still working with authorities to solve NOx emissions violations. Mueller will visit the U.S. starting with the Detroit auto show in January.
VW reports progress on two other fronts: CO2 discrepancies and Audi’s 3.0-liter TDI software used on the Touareg and Audi vehicles.
After VW told us that 800,000 European vehicles did not appear to meet carbon-dioxide emissions goals, further testing showed that the figure is substantially smaller: 36,000--affecting nine models.
There’s an understanding with U.S. regulators that Audi-developed 3.0-liter V-6 diesel that the EPA tagged for emission cheating does not have the same illegal software that affects the 2.0-liter TDI. It does have unapproved software that VW/Audi will either document for approval or update to comply with U.S. regulations.