VW Clean diesels.... how did they get them so clean?

[turnkey4099]

Pocket change, these companies have BILLIONS to spend, and profits of untold unimaginable amounts. The Porsche family and Wolfs-in sheeps-clothing families, and German towns of all auto workers. It's an entire culture of auto/gearheads. They've been at this since the Nazis started VW.



Morals; you aren't eligible to work in the automotive field, sir. Sorry.

And they didn't even "save" it anyhow. The cost would have been included in the MSRP for the customer to pay. Could have hurt them in the market place I suppose.

Harry K

 

[QRTRHRS]

I was thinking after reading this article that VW has outdone GM when it comes to putting diesel powered cars and perhaps light duty pickups on the "back burner".

 

[jlawso21]

One thing about this, the whole story will eventually come out.

I managed a company in Germany almost 20 years ago that our American company purchased. One day I got a visit from a Vice President of Ford Motor Company suggesting that someone in our company had bribed one of their purchasing agents and wanted me to investigate it. I did the investigation; actually we brought in an accounting team from the US and they did a thorough audit.

I can't say exactly how it turned out, but what I can say is that I was amazed that all the records were there, everything, every detail.

When they do the investigations at VW they will find every detail of what went on will be written down. They found the same thing with the Nazis and the death camps. The Germans have a compulsion to keep very detailed records. They can't help themselves.

 

[Travelover]

One thing about this, the whole story will eventually come out.

I managed a company in Germany almost 20 years ago that our American company purchased. One day I got a visit from a Vice President of Ford Motor Company suggesting that someone in our company had bribed one of their purchasing agents and wanted me to investigate it. I did the investigation; actually we brought in an accounting team from the US and they did a thorough audit.

I can't say exactly how it turned out, but what I can say is that I was amazed that all the records were there, everything, every detail.

When they do the investigations at VW they will find every detail of what went on will be written down. They found the same thing with the Nazis and the death camps. The Germans have a compulsion to keep very detailed records. They can't help themselves.

VW was notified over a year and a half ago that there was a problem by the researchers doing the testing. I'm quite sure they have been scrambling ever since, either to find the guilty or to bury the evidence. As you point out, certifications are very carefully documented with multiple levels of signoff. Right now, VW knows what happened and who was involved, they are just managing the unfolding of the crisis.

 

[QRTRHRS]

VW was notified over a year and a half ago that there was a problem by the researchers doing the testing. I'm quite sure they have been scrambling ever since, either to find the guilty or to bury the evidence. As you point out, certifications are very carefully documented with multiple levels of signoff. Right now, VW knows what happened and who was involved, they are just managing the unfolding of the crisis.

There are some interesting perspectives on this. Where as in this country, people/businesses can throw in the towel and fess up. Plea bargaining as it is known. Where as in Germany, mum to the end is more the norm.

 

[IslandTractor]

There are some interesting perspectives on this. Where as in this country, people/businesses can throw in the towel and fess up. Plea bargaining as it is known. Where as in Germany, mum to the end is more the norm.

I know nothink!

 

[Helitech]

At my employer, we deal with the French and the Germans. I'll take the Germans any and every day of the week!

 

[Coyote machine]

I worked as a sub-contractor at Lufhansa. at JFK, late 70's-early 80's. They were the cleanest, most detail oriented, airline operations office I ever saw; and we serviced the display data for many of the major airlines at JFK's International Arrivals Building, (IAB).
Every airline had the ability to use locked codes on their entry doors to their ops office. Lufhansa was the only one that always used a code and changed it several times a week.
Back then I could go anywhere with my sub-contractor photo ID, including onto the runways, throughout the IAB, in the air traffic control tower, with the possible exception of the air traffic control room, ( I don't remember if it was restricted to my clearance- I had no need to access it even if it was)... etc.

Can't fault folks for being sticklers for routine and detail orientation. It will sometimes come back to bite them on the arse though...

 

[Coyote machine]

I worked as a sub-contractor at Lufhansa, at JFK, late 70's-early 80's. They were the cleanest, most detail oriented, airline operations office I ever saw; and we serviced the display data for many of the major airlines at JFK's International Arrivals Building, (IAB).
Every airline had the ability to use locked codes on their entry doors to their ops office. Lufhansa was the only one that always used a code and changed it several times a week.
Back then I could go anywhere with my sub-contractor photo ID, including onto the runways, throughout the IAB, in the air traffic control tower, with the possible exception of the air traffic control room, ( I don't remember if it was restricted to my clearance- I had no need to access it even if it was)... etc.

Can't fault folks for being sticklers for routine and detail orientation. It will sometimes come back to bite them on the arse though...

 

[quicksandfarmer]

The NY Times has a good description of the technical aspects:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...tional/vw-volkswagen-emissions-explainer.html

According to the story, the Jetta produces 38 times the legal limit in rural driving.

What I didn't realize is that the limit is in grams of nitrogen oxides per kilometer. My recollection is that in the old days it was set as a percent of exhaust, cars that produced more exhaust were allowed to produce more pollutants. Not any more.

Someone asked up-thread how burning more fuel can mean less pollution. Air is basically 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. Fuel is mostly carbon and hydrogen. Mix them together and you end up with a brew of compounds of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. The exact mixture depends upon the temperature, pressure and speed of the reaction, and the mix of ingredients. Some of those compounds are considered harmful, others less so. If you're producing more exhaust, but overall less of the harmful compounds, that is considered good.