Article of the Day: Volkswagen Knowingly Cheated EPA Testing

Quite the bombshell of a news story here, leading Volkswagen to recall close to a half-million diesel cars on grounds of tampering with the testing equipment. The recall would affect 4-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from model years 2009-15. The exact aspect of the deceit involves a piece of hidden software in the cars that would detect when the periodic EPA emissions testing were occurring, and then for the duration of the test the cars' full emissions control systems are turned on, which are normally turned off. During normal times, the cars push out as much as 40x as much pollution (nitrogen oxide) is allowed under the Clean Air Act. Excess nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere has been linked to smog, which can lead to asthma attacks, other respiratory issues, and in extreme cases premature death. Experts in the automotive field say that turning the control systems off yielded better performance, torque, acceleration. Over the next year the owners of the affected vehicles should be notified about the recall, with ways of getting the free repairs. President Obama issued the order to recall those cars, and under the terms of the Clean Air Act, the Justice Dept. could potentially issue fines of up to $37.5k per vehicle, which would amount to $18billion. There is more background info and such on the New York Times Article, which I highly recommend as further reading.

 

Click here for the Full Article on New York Times