Since 2009, Volkswagen diesels have had software that detects when the car is on one of those treadmills states use for your annual emissions test. Whereupon the software causes the car to emit very few pollutants. But when the car goes back to normal driving, the software shuts down and the pollutants pour forth.
That acclaimed German engineering used for such a flagrant deception! Now dealers are stuck with lotsful of inventory they aren’t allowed to sell, owners can’t pass their emissions tests, their resale value has plummeted, the head of the company has resigned, and a respected brand is utterly discredited.
Do any of you have a Volkswagen diesel affected by this scandal? What is the company telling you?
From Sell, sue or stay put: considerations for Volkswagen owners | News & Observer:
If you’re driving a diesel-powered four-cylinder Volkswagen, you’re stuck with a fun-to-drive machine that’s belching unhealthy pollutants from its tailpipe.
Until the company figures out how to fix its bogus emissions controls, there isn’t much you can do about your dirty diesel.
Following disclosures that Volkswagen developed software for its 2-liter diesel engine that could better control pollutants during testing than in real-world driving, there there’s a lot up in the air for owners of Jettas, Golfs, Passats and Beetles and Audi’s A3.
Here are some things to consider if you’re thinking of suing, selling or are unsure of what to do next.
THE PROBLEM:
VW’s software turned on pollution controls for government tests, which are done on a treadmill device called a dynamometer. When the software deduced that the cars were back on the street, the controls went off and the cars polluted too much. About 500,000 of the cars were sold in the U.S.
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