Volkswagen scandal

[Nick2342]

Hey there. It's not often I see another D2 S80 on the roads. Is yours White or Gray? Seems like those are the only colours available. You must be driving it really hard to get only 13-14km/l. Trick is to keep below 2000rpm (through acceleration can be slower than a double-decker bus) by hinting to the gearbox to shift by letting go of the accelerator for a second before reapplying the throttle. Basically drive it like a manual and shift before 2000rpm.

 

Never had a battery warning for the start-stop system. The ambient temperature isn't a warning, but the infotainment system just says Start-Stop unavailable most of the time. Figured it was <30-31 degrees.

 

Regarding turbo lag, it's quite pronounced below 1500rpm, especially in third gear. Unless you get the gearbox to kick down, nothing happens until 1900rpm or so, then there's a sudden unexpected surge of torque. That's quite fun actually. Anything above 2000rpm the car's very responsive as the turbo is spooled up.

Hey. Mine's white.(: Not the one driving it though,hence family car. 13-14 is the lower end of the spectrum Usually get 15 from dad's feedback.

 

Strange. I had the ambient warning too but i had the battery warning as well. But the batt seems to be good atm, Wearnes checked it out and rated it at 12.5v. Either way, i leave it disabled because i dont want to wear the batt and starter motor out. Not really useful in our start stop traffic condition anyway.

 

It is quite punchy for me from ,thats for stationery,though. Perhaps im still getting used from the previous car which was a NA V6. Really need to rev it up to get torque, compared to the diesel.Guess the diesel accleration masks the lag quite well then the turbo takes over.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Nick2342

[Nfshp253]

White's even rarer. I like how it looks like a Traffic Police car from afar. 15km/l is good if it's mainly town driving. Best I've achieved was 25.6km/l driving from Tampines to NTU!

 

Don't worry about wearing out the battery or starter motor. Cars with start-stop have versions rated for thousands of start cycles.

 

The good amount of torque makes it more responsive when moving off from standstill. Compared to my father's C30 T5, it feels quicker off the line, but the D2 quickly runs out of puff about 3000rpm. The power band's quite narrow. Haven't tried a 0-100 run but it should be quicker than the quoted 12.8s. If I'm not wrong a Polestar upgrade for the D2 engine may be coming in the later part of the year. I'm guessing that will take the engine up to 136 BHP or so like other ECU tunes.

[ki_chiu]

I am driving a Renault 1.5 turbo diesel, started abt 3 mths ago. No problem with start stop but fuel consumption is only ard 5 litre per 100km, with start-stop.

20km/l??? wow... tempting...

[Carbon82]

US Trade Panel Starts VW Patent  Probe over Hybrids

 

Volkswagen is betting on eco-friendly technology to clean up its image after the Dieselgate scandal but those attempts could be in vain as the U.S. International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into the company's hybrid electric vehicles.

 

According to Reuters, the investigation centers around whether or not Volkswagen and its subsidiaries infringed on hybrid electric vehicle patents owned by US-based Paice LLC.

[Carbon82]

GM / Opel is next...

 

Opel Zafira diesel shuts off emissions system, the company now needs to prove what it's doing is legal under the regulations.

 

Opel now confesses to German regulators that the Zafira’s diesel engine management software shuts off a portion of the emissions system under some circumstances, Automotive News Europe reports. The automaker defends itself by claiming this behavior is legal, but the government might not agree with that interpretation of the regulations.

 

If a driver takes the Zafira above 145 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour), the engine management software deactivates the exhaust treatment system. According to Opel, this happens to prevent damage to the powertrain, which German law allows. The company now has 14 days to prove its argument to regulators.

 

Expect the investigators to look very closely at the information Opel submits. "Shut-off devices are fundamentally illegal unless it is truly necessary to safeguard the engine," German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said to Automotive News Europe. "The investigating committee has doubts about whether this practice is completely justified by the protection of the engine."

[ins1dious]

Audi - VW group brand - now maybe in hot soup in the US over emissions cheating.

 

 

New Discovery Broadens VW Emissions-Cheating Crisis

 

California regulators find Audi engines were rigged to produce lower CO2 emissions in tests than on road

 

By William Boston Updated Nov. 6, 2016 8:31 p.m. ET

 

BERLIN—Regulators in California recently discovered software installed on some of Volkswagen AG’s Audi models that appears to have allowed the cars to cheat carbon-dioxide emissions testing standards, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The Audi software was designed to mask emissions implicated in global warming, instead of smog as in the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal that erupted last year, the people said.

 

The newly discovered software was detected four months ago during laboratory tests by the California Air Resources Board, one of the people said. Neither Volkswagen nor U.S. regulators have publicly disclosed the discovery.

 

Officials at CARB, which has been heavily involved in a continuing U.S. probe of Volkswagen engines, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

 

It isn’t clear how seriously officials in California and federal officials in Washington view the latest discovery, or whether Volkswagen, under intense regulatory scrutiny around the world, had identified it privately to regulators.

 

Whatever the case, the discovery threatens fresh anger from officials, investors and car owners just as Volkswagen is wrapping up billions of dollars in settlements with states and owners of diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. and a recall of nearly nine million tainted diesel vehicles in Europe.

 

Volkswagen’s previously disclosed “defeat device” software was used on Volkswagen and Audi diesel engines to make it appear that they complied with emission standards for nitrogen oxides during lab tests.

 

The newly discovered software, installed on Audis with both diesel and gasoline engines, did the same with CO2 emissions standards in the U.S. and Europe, according to the people familiar with the matter.

 

The CARB caught the emissions-cheating software through lessons learned from the earlier probe of Volkswagen diesel engines, according to Germany’s weekly Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which earlier reported the software’s discovery.

 

CARB technicians conducting lab tests on Audi’s vehicles made them react as if on a road by turning the steering wheel, the people said.

 

When the cars deviated from lab conditions, their CO2 emissions rose dramatically.

 

The latest discovery comes at a sensitive moment for Volkswagen. The company said Sunday that a German criminal investigation related to the diesel emissions scandal has widened to include its chairman.

 

The auto maker said prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig, near Volkswagen headquarters, had widened their investigation of former Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn and Herbert Diess, head of the Volkswagen brand passenger cars division, to include Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch.

 

The investigators allege that the company’s management willfully kept the company’s shareholders in the dark about the U.S. diesel investigation and the potential financial risks.

 

The company said it has found no indication that management failed to inform investors in a timely manner.

 

Before becoming chairman in September 2015, Mr. Pötsch was Volkswagen’s finance chief, responsible for communications with financial markets.

 

He became chairman in a management shake-up in the wake of the emissions scandal.

 

U.S. environmental authorities disclosed on Sept. 18, 2015, that the company installed software on about 500,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. that American authorities consider illegal.

 

Volkswagen later admitted to installing the software on nearly 11 million vehicles world-wide.

 

Volkswagen agreed in June to a $14.7 billion settlement with state authorities and owners of 475,000 two-liter diesel vehicles affected in the U.S. The company is still in talks on a settlement for owners of 85,000 vehicles with three-liter diesel engines that were built by Audi.

 

Volkswagen and Audi management discussed the CO2 defeat-device software in detail during a “Summer Drive” event in South Africa in the second half of February 2013, according to one person familiar with the situation and excerpts from the minutes of the meeting, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

 

A worker stands at the assembly line of the Audi TT at the plant in Gyor, west of Budapest, in November 2014. Photo: Reuters

According to the minutes, Axel Eiser, the head of Audi’s powertrain division, said, “the shifting program needs to be configured so that it runs at 100% on the treadmill but only 0.01% with the customer.”

 

Audi declined to make Mr. Eiser available for comment.

 

It isn’t clear which Audi models might contain the newly discovered software, which could raise fresh questions in Europe, where regulators have been stricter on emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 than on nitrogen oxides.

 

Volkswagen insists that its software didn’t violate European law. In Germany, Volkswagen hasn’t been charged with violating the law.

 

Criminal probes and civil lawsuits are instead focusing on whether Volkswagen’s management violated securities law or committed fraud and should be held liable for damages suffered by investors and consumers.

 

News of the U.S. investigation last year sparked a massive selloff in Volkswagen shares, causing the company to lose 35% of its market value by Sept. 22, when Volkswagen first warned investors of financial risks stemming from the probe. Mr. Winterkorn, then CEO, resigned under pressure the next day.

 

Mr. Diess has acknowledged the investigation but has declined to comment.

 

Mr. Winterkorn has declined to comment through his attorney.

 

Volkswagen faces nearly $9 billion in damages claims from hundreds of investors, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System of the U.S., Norway’s huge oil fund, and several German states that hold Volkswagen shares. The plaintiffs allege that Volkswagen’s top executives intentionally withheld information from shareholders, who later suffered huge losses when Volkswagen’s shares plunged.

 

Volkswagen said no evidence has emerged to suggest that the company’s management failed to disclose the diesel issue to markets as early as possible, reaffirming its belief that its management board “duly fulfilled its disclosure obligation under German capital markets law.”

 

Write to William Boston at [email protected]

 

[Vinceng]

Very Worrying

 

http://www.todayonline.com/business/german-prosecutors-confirm-investigation-vw-chairman

[Watwheels]

IMO this is selective prosecution. If you look at US the number of restored and modified cars. Do you think these cars meet exhaust emission standards? Sure, new cars need to meet the regulations. Do they have yearly or bi-yearly inspection on restored and modified cars?

 

I also came across some car from Toyota specifically the previous generation Fortuner it has an electric air pump installed in the exhaust system to dilute the exhaust gas to obviously meet regulations. Erm...isn't this emissions cheating as well?

 

I believe most car makers have some emissions cheating software or device at some point. They are not as suay as VW to be discovered. So I read such reports now with a pinch of salt.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Watwheels

[merc280v6]

Diesel engine technology is fighting a losing battle with the environmentalists and with the EU on clean fuels.

On NOx alone, there is no viable technology today that will permit diesels from avoiding stiff penalties - be it environmental taxation or otherwise. Not to mention just-as-critical specs like PM and PAH!

Cheating to "prove" their obviously-lagging diesel technologies makes Volkswagen AG look grossly unscrupulous

[fungyee77]

Diesel engine technology is fighting a losing battle with the environmentalists and with the EU on clean fuels.

On NOx alone, there is no viable technology today that will permit diesels from avoiding stiff penalties - be it environmental taxation or otherwise. Not to mention just-as-critical specs like PM and PAH!

Cheating to "prove" their obviously-lagging diesel technologies makes Volkswagen AG look grossly unscrupulous ðð¼

To be fair, the article above refers to VW cheating on petrol engines to achieve lower carbon emissions. This is the latest headache for VW.

 

Also, to be precise, VW has a fix for the diesel cars in the US, but results in lower performance and higher fuel usage. Hence technology is there but VW has not figured out an optimized way to adopt into their existing engines.

[merc280v6]

To be fair, the article above refers to VW cheating on petrol engines to achieve lower carbon emissions. This is the latest headache for VW.

 

Also, to be precise, VW has a fix for the diesel cars in the US, but results in lower performance and higher fuel usage. Hence technology is there but VW has not figured out an optimized way to adopt into their existing engines.

That's even more damning isn't it?

First having cheated on diesel emissions ... they even went further to cheat on gasoline emissions!!

Edited November 13, 2016 by merc280v6

[Fuelsaver]

They oredi shun or downplay dsg issues before some affected big nation demanded recall iirc.. Have nvr set foot into vw since few yrs ago..

[Sdf4786k]

Just in case..

 

If it does not work in Australia, it may work in SG ...

 

 

 

[Wyfitms]

Hey there. It's not often I see another D2 S80 on the roads. Is yours White or Gray? Seems like those are the only colours available. You must be driving it really hard to get only 13-14km/l. Trick is to keep below 2000rpm (through acceleration can be slower than a double-decker bus) by hinting to the gearbox to shift by letting go of the accelerator for a second before reapplying the throttle. Basically drive it like a manual and shift before 2000rpm.

 

Never had a battery warning for the start-stop system. The ambient temperature isn't a warning, but the infotainment system just says Start-Stop unavailable most of the time. Figured it was <30-31 degrees.

 

Regarding turbo lag, it's quite pronounced below 1500rpm, especially in third gear. Unless you get the gearbox to kick down, nothing happens until 1900rpm or so, then there's a sudden unexpected surge of torque. That's quite fun actually. Anything above 2000rpm the car's very responsive as the turbo is spooled up.

Wonder how the pickup is for D4

Pity the s60 boot is too small for family needs (stroller, bags etc)

[Carbon82]

Brace for the next wave of diesel emission scandal... from Daimler this time.

 

Daimler says diesel probes could result in penalties, recalls

 

Daimler (DAIGn.DE) said recent steps by United States authorities to investigate diesel emissions pollution and so-called auxiliary emission control devices, could lead to significant penalties and vehicle recalls.

 

"In light of the ongoing governmental information requests, inquiries and investigations, and our own internal investigation, it cannot be ruled out that the authorities might reach the conclusion that Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles have similar functionalities," Daimler said in its quarterly report.

 

The inquiries and investigations are still ongoing, Daimler said, adding that the outcome of these probes could not be predicted.

 

"If these or other inquiries, investigations, legal actions and/or proceedings result in unfavorable findings, an unfavorable outcome or otherwise develop unfavorably, Daimler could be subject to significant monetary penalties, remediation requirements, vehicle recalls, process improvements and mitigation measures," Daimler said.

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Carbon82

[Wyfitms]

Doesn't matter

Did the price of vw dropped after the scandal?

[Wt_know]

Doesn't matter

Did the price of vw dropped after the scandal?

no and Tiguan has to wait 6 months

scandal is good for VW ... it shows their car sibei powderful (under declare performance) ... lol

[Wyfitms]

no and Tiguan has to wait 6 months

scandal is good for VW ... it shows their car sibei powderful (under declare performance) ... lol

Yeah lah all these people saying vw hosay liao

Lawsuits gao gao

Nobody will buy their car

Make me happy for nothing, still so expensive