Citat:
Once the sting of the lie fades, the US customers who bought 482,000 of those cars will feel the real pain. Because Volkswagen will be forced to recall those vehicles and somehow make them to meet federal standards. There are two apparent ways to do that, and owners who value performance, fuel economy, and trunk space won’t like either.
One is to “reflash” the engine control module, recalibrating the software so the car always runs the way it does during EPA testing, and always meets emission standards.
The downside here is that to achieve the drastic drop in NOx emissions, the cars in test mode sacrificed some fuel economy, or performance. Just how much is hard to say, but any drop in torque—one great thing about diesels is how they accelerate off the line—will not make drivers happy.
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The standard way of making a diesel run cleanly is to use selective catalytic reduction, a chemical process that breaks NOx down into nitrogen and water. Part of that process includes adding urea to the mix. The super effective system can eliminate 70 to 90 percent of NOx emissions, and is used by other diesel manufacturers like Mercedes and BMW. The downside is that it adds complication to the system, and cost—$5,000 to $8,000 per car. And you need to periodically add the urea-based solution to your car to keep it working.
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VW’s unlikely to embrace that option, because adding hardware to half a million cars would be far more expensive than a computer update. It wouldn’t be any fun for the TDI owner, either. Not only do you have to spend an afternoon with your local dealer, you have to make room for the tank. That could mean sacrificing cargo space or giving up the spare tire.
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So if the government is making VW recall your car and your fuel economy and performance will take a hit because of it, why not just ignore the recall notice in your mailbox?...The man can’t compel you to get it fixed.
Except here, maybe he can. These Volkswagens are a public health threat and exuberantly break federal law. It’s not crazy to think state agencies or NHTSA would flag them, and refuse to issue a new registration, or let them pass a smog test, unless proof of a fix is offered. “It should be fairly easy to police,” says Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor of news at Kelley Blue Book.