Thanks again to Manscaped for sponsoring today’s video! Get 20% Off + Free International Shipping + 2 Free Gifts with promo code “ALBON” at manscaped.com/ALBON What do you think about VW's punishment? Did they get off easy? Or was the EPA too hard on them?
Superb presentation, and well researched as usual. VW absolutely deserved all the shame/penalties they received. There's a more sinister side to the dieselgate scandal. VW unethically used monkeys and humans during diesel engine emissions testing. Disgusting.
they tried to blame it on some rogue engineers here in europe at the beginning of all of that - the EU and german gov didn't let them get away with it.
You left out the bit where Mercedes made a deal to avoid any and all prosecution for their emissions cheating. The entire software trick can be traced back to Bosch. Almost everyone that used Bosch DME was able to use the software cheating. Most brands did, but they just didn't get targeted by the US government.
Sure - but *Peugot/Citroen* (one of the largest manufacturers of diesel enginges worldwide) chose *not* to exploit the loophole left in the EU Emmissions Testing regimen, whereas VW decided to 'cheat' in this way, by exploiting this loophole. VW should not have remained undetected for so long. See my comment above.
@@timelwell7002 Actually the Volkswagengroup just took the biggest L in America I feel like. Here in Europe FiatChrysler and PeugeotCitroen to this day, still get coverage from the the Italian and or French goverment, heck even Opel (ex. GM brand) and Mercedes as well as BMW cheated just not as much as VW did in the U.S. Other manufacturers are Chevrolet (smaller european models like the Cruze or the Captiva), Suzuki, Land Rover, Jaguar, MINI, Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, (Lancia I'm not so sure about since as far as I know they just used Fiats small 1.3 JTDm Diesel which passed the emission testing). I think only Honda and Toyota as well as Daihatsu didn't cheat on the emissions.
@@chriskonte1909 Could you please provide any evidence that Peugot/Citroen cheated in this way? If they did, my guess is that because they hardly ever export their cars to North America, the Yanks have not teste them.
Good coverage. Some small and big details you forgot to mention. 1. VW's TDI engines met Euro 4 (2005-2008) specs but failed w/ Euro 5 (2009-2013). 2. Meeting Euro 5 requires DEF (urea) injection into the exhaust -- a total (expensive) rework of the exhaust system. 3. VW CEO Winterkorn had ambitions to beat Toyota to become the world's largest automaker. 4. Top management was pressuring the entire organization to keep up sales/profit margin targets. 5. Mid-level VW engineers came up with the software cheat, but approval had to go up the command chain. 6. It's a subject of debate how far up the VW Management (not Engineering) org the scandal went.
It's rare for corporate fraud to end up with hefty penalties and real jail sentences, this time even their high profile lawyers didn't have a leg to stand on. I really wish to see the same on securities fraud and white collar crime.
it happened because in America, Big Gasoline, outspends Big Diesel. With the exception of NOx and particulates, diesel is lower in all forms of emissions. it burns 25-35% more efficiently, and both are derived from crude oil. If you're consuming a smaller volume of petrol, it stands to reason there is a lower volume of pollution. Diesel engines also last about twice as long as gas engines, so car makers sell fewer cars over the years. That's the REAL reason they went after them. Market protectionism.
...and Big Pot, Big Booze, those people that lie about infomercials and pseudo-educational programming not being Satanic indoctrination on Saturday mornings...
The problem with big pharma and food processing companies is that government officials are in bed with them. To do this, it would basically put half the NIAID FDA, and CDC in prison. Not to mention Elected officials. So a slim chance it will ever happen. Big Pharma and food processing companies are heavily regulated and pay off officials to look the other way. This scandal is way bigger than VW ever was.
Im really glad WW got such a severe punishment but i only wish it was same for all companies. WW might have killed people with their scandal but you know which company killed people, hundreds of people with very similar cost saving scandal?? BOEING and they could get away with only 2.5 billion dollars only because they are an American company, if Airbus did exactly same thing that figure was at least 25 billion dollars...
It happens in the pharmaceutical industry. You need certification to bring out a medicine. Some systems, in some countries, are corrupted, like in the USA, where the gains justifies the needs. But it was a political choice of those countries to make their top renowned institution, a living joke. Other countries have strict standard and will continue to apply them. Then, in term of punishments. Yes. There are problems with much too long procedures and trials happening decades after the scandals. But lets be honest with each other ? Would the lawsuit and punishments have been this swift with GM or Ford ? We all know what punishment GM received when they killed peoples with their faulty cars.
I was an (off highway) diesel engine engineer when this scandal broke out. My coworkers and I laughed and laughed and this case became our go to engineering ethics case study for a few years until the Boeing 737 Max / MCAS disaster...
@@44_xiie_debrajbordoloi27 Software bug causing crashes. Airbus suffers from the problem of software-induced crashes too, but Boeings are sold on their ability to still fly when the computers fail, thanks to their physically connected flight controls. If fly-by-wire is used in Boeings, there is no reason to buy them over Airbus, which has better fuel efficiency, and it was revealed that 737MAX used a computer assist to make it fly like normal 737s, and upon failure... Boom.
@@44_xiie_debrajbordoloi27 Big bosses at Boeing rushed the plane to compete with new Airbus A320 NEO. So the newly added MCAS system caused fatal crashes due to some sensor malfunctions and shit. Just look it up it's such a clown show.
Back in 2015 some independent engineers performed independents in Europe using a similarly specced Passat and the numbers they got 2.5x above the legal limit, not 40 times like reported in the US, then they performed the same test on an Opel Zafira and the results for that were above the reading range. Strangely, I didn't hear anything about this back home in the US.
I was using used fry oil thrown away by restaurant's. I would then put it throught a personal filtering system so that it was back to it's original vegetable oil, and used it in modified diesel car engines. Works great.
I wonder when the ban on new ICE vehicles goes into effect, will used ones be selling for enormous sums. But eventually, I expect a ban on used ICE vehicles anyway!
@@markg7030 I did watch the video again. Your first statement 'VW diesel cars are not on the road in the USA" is incorrect. There are many pre-scandal VW diesels still on the road in the USA. Your second statement "All diesel cheating cars were bought back from US customers" is also incorrect. Volkswagen was required to buy those cars back from willing sellers. Then they offered a nominal amount to compensate US owners that wouldn't sell, for the diminished resale value of their cars. A number of US diesel enthusiasts chose not to sell their cars back to VW, and are still driving them.
The one thing that isn't mentioned is that all of those recalled cars in the US were likely replaced by gasoline engine cars which are less efficient and more "polluting" than the diesels. The problem is that the EPA standards are NOT based on true science but on government mandates that are made to establish controls on car owners who will pay fees annually for emissions inspections.
This isn't even half the story. Bosch along with a bunch of other commercial and consumer vehicle manufacturers were the main culprits, VW was a scapegoat, and a bunch of people involved walked away very rich from insider trading on the stock market at the time.
The Mercedes diesels here in Australia during this time were tested using actual on road tests, & they passed. In fact, their V6 diesels sold here in Australia are very quiet, almost impossible to tell the difference between the diesel & petrol ones, unless you look at the fuel cap.
Anyone whos been remapping these for a long time will know VAG has been at this for decades. On the old vp pump engines (1997-) there's a spike in the timing map so extra timing is given at around 55-60mph. Timing increases economy but creates nox emissions. This is easily verifiable and was well discussed on ecu tuning forums back in the day.
The problem wasn't really this but the fact that VW was trying to cheap out on the emissions system by not adding an AdBlue system. Imo since EURO5 and the equivalent California NOx limits you cannot get to it with a massive passive exhaust filtering or adding AdBlue / urea...
@@rkan2 Yeah but EGR, DPF and Adblue systems cause damage to the engine, seems like they wanted to build a reliable car, emission limits are bs anyway made by people who get driven around in massive limos and flown around in private jets.
same elite scum that claim to want to "save the planet by killing 90% of the 99% that own 1%" are the SAME SCUM ELITE that OCCULTED tech away that would of made gas-o-line obsolite remember next time they say your a "Bad person" becuase dont drive an electric car, remind them how THEY made you too poor to afford one, and even if CAN afford one how the batteries are MORE DESTRUCTIVE on the envirement than a moder gas-o-line car or hell even and older one.
The interesting thing is how deathly silent VWs competitors were during this scandal. Nobody tried to capitalize on this. My suspicion is others are doing similar crap, VW just was the one that got caught.
I’m a Car guy and My friends and I knew about this from the testing results of the college investigation. We all wondered why it wasn’t a bigger story at the time. Well that eventually changed.
Love this kind of stories where a huge company do something bad and they got caught not by some official people, but some random dude. Just like the "spygate" story
Truth. It's not really "cheating" when the govt emissions regulations are impossible to reconcile with the real-world. If the only choices are to cheat or go out of business, most any company will cheat.
Yesterday, I drove my '03 VW Jetta TDI Wagon 550 miles. I'll drive it another 200 today. When I stopped at my motel last night, my fuel gauge was still showing about half full (if lies a little right at that spot, it probably burned about 10 gallons out of the 16 1/2 gallons that the tank holds). During my trip, my odometer rolled over 562,000 miles. I have two 1,000 mile/tank of fuel on this car. I have a spreadsheet with every drop of fuel put into my car since I bought it new. My overall fuel economy for that 562,000 miles is 52.9 MPG. I love this little car. Surely, I'll have to do major work on this car soon or replace it. I'll replace it if I can find an '03 VW sitting in some persons garage with 100,000 miles on it. I bought this car new. At the time, the Europeans had a sulfur restriction on diesel fuel, American-refined diesel was too high in sulfur to be sold in Europe so it could not be exported. Diesel was typically 10% cheaper than gas at the time. EPA instituted a restriction about 2007 that dropped sulfur in American-produced fuel to match the European. Once the US oil companies switched over to producing low-sulfur diesel fuel, it could be sold in Europe so they exported as much as they could, so diesel prices went up a little. Today (June, 2023) diesel is within 5% of the price of gas where I live. When I bought my VW, I paid $1000 for the diesel option. EPA said that I'd get 41 MPG around town and 48 on the highway --- my best tank of fuel achieved 61.8 MPG and that was a real trip going somewhere from Canada to North Carolina, across the Appalachian Mountain chain. At 390,000, I figured up. I calculated my exact fuel cost for that 390,000 miles (that's on my spreadsheet, too). I took the EPA results for a 2.0 '03 gas TDI Wagon, and factored that by my increase in actual over EPA mileage (which is *way* favorable to the gas car because only a diesel could beat the "Your Mileage May Vary" figures, but I gave that). I took my fuel cost, added the $1000 cost premium and compared it to what I'd have spent of gasoline if I'd bought a gas car. At 360,000 miles, I has spent $21,000 less in fuel driving my diesel. I paid $21,000 when I bought it. So, I figure that about 8 years ago, VW gave me a new free car and I've been driving that car -- no payments, no interest, no high property taxes -- for only the price of fuel. (I do all my own maintenance except timing belts, no spark plugs, no tune-ups, my maintenance costs have been much less for 20 years, too.) "Progress" says that I can't buy a new car like the one I own and love. So, I'll keep it and love driving it. And I don't have to go to prison for doing it.
I'm a retired USA expat living in the Philippines now. I get tremendous fuel economy from the used 2001 Ford Ranger diesel I purchased last year. For a 20 something year old pickup truck it passed the mandatory tailpipe emissions test with flying colors it doesn't produce black smoke and has plenty of power for a 4 cyl diesel. I owned 2 US versions of the Ford Rangers prior to this one while still living in the states and only wish the diesel engine option was available then.
those USDM VW that was not sold in the US was shipped to the Philippines since we don’t really have a good emission standard. but due to our situation now diesels prices is equal with gas now
I really do enjoy contents like this, Guff!! I've been watching your vids since "Here's why you can't afford" episodes!!! Anyways, I always looking forward for your future contents like this!!! And also, please do some documentaries of 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race if it's okay with you!! Surely that everybody would love that, and also touge racing. That's all and thanks once again!!! Keep on doing this man!!
A great example of how important it is to have _independent_ regulatory bodies. Imagine how much more of these scandals would emerge if there isn't any lobbying or conflict of interest. That is where the real focus should be.
These dieselgate cars are still on the road here in Czechia and I think most americans would be surprised just HOW MANY of them there are. And I understand why, they are reliable, fuel efficent and not so expensive to buy.
Now i know why we received in the recent years here in Morocco a huge batch of VW Golfs and Jettas with orange turning indicators. Everyone knew that those cars were from the US and they were well equipped and suspiciously cheap. Also compared to the fuel consumption we used to get from 2.0l tdi's with the same horsepower, those cars were consumming much more fuel. Ironically, morocco hosts annually a climat international event but at the same time diesel cars represents pretty much 90 percent of cars on road.
I own two Deisel vehicles and I love them both. I have 22 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 3.0l Duramax and I get around 31 MPG highway! I have an 08 Hummer that I had retrofitted with a 6.6l diesel and it went from 10.5 MPG with the 6.2l gas to 23 MPG, more than doubling its fuel capacity, plus it almost tripled the engine performance. Overall I'll never buy another gas engine again in my life.
i used to be a VW tech here in Spain, even in my time working there (2019-2021), wich was way after the Dieselgate, the effects were clearly visible, tons of ¨software updates¨ on any TDI model from 2009 to 2015 and thats here in Europe, were they really didn't give the people that came up with this more than a slap on the wrist and telling to think what they did in the corner, the overall quality of the cars has gone down significantly too, the interior for example in the new MK8 Golfs feel and look like shit compared to the previous gens, which can only mean cost-cutting to manage the massive efects of the scandal. It is sad though, VW used to be a ver cool car company, that made interesting, funky, good quality cars at a decent price, but they have become a ghost of the former shelves. And to think they should've just taken what Mercedes had, I mean, is not like they have been doing diesel for like 80 years at that point and have demostrated the had it mastered or anything, you know
@@andredeketeleastutecomplex The upgrades made the cars worse because politicians don't know anything about building good cars. The "upgrades" were to conform to standards written by politicians and they were stupid and unrealistic. The only thing politicians are experts at is lying to the public and creating crisis where it doesn't exist. That's why most of the laws they come up with are stupid and meaningless.
I live near on of the giant fields of recalled VW’s. They have been sitting there in the field and nothing has been done with them for years. There is one person that sits in a booth at the only entrance to the field of cars and if you drive up and talk to them kindly asking what’s inside they say “I’m not allowed to talk about it and you have to leave or we have to call the police”. I’ve stopped by 3 times over the years and got basically the same quote all 3 times. You look it up on maps and the cars just sit there wasting away. They don’t even crush them or recycle them. They just sit.
I have zero sympathy for Volkswagen. in 2017 I got a 2008 Touareg from an auction missing only the key FOB. the dealership refused to do anything besides sell me a $300 dollar laser cut key/FOB after proof of ownership and would not program the key to the car at any cost. After being unable to do a thing with this car I sold it to a junk yard for 500 dollars because I did not have thousands of dollars to purchase diagnostic and key programming computers/equipment nor any straight forward information on how to do it myself... Good riddance VW and your terrible customer service (Manhattan Beach VW) LOVED THIS VIDEO!!!
If you lived through the 1970s and 1980s here in the States, you'd understand WHY diesel-powered cars have had a bad reputation. Aside from the extra cost of the car and fuel, and the lack of performance, the early GM diesels suffered catastrophic breakdowns. (Engine heads blowing off, crankshafts literally breaking in half, and other fun stuff guaranteed to leave you stranded at the roadside.)
They stay dangerous over time, too - even 40+ years later sometimes they just _go._ It's an impressive sight, especially with how much metal it flings everywhere.
During the scandal, I was amused to hear that the upper management didn't know what had been going on. It was all because of some renegade engineers. Yeah.
It should be noted that the problem was not in the harmfulness of the new engines, because they were not worse than the older versions, which have worse emissions and can be operated without problems (which is quite funny). But in that they did not meet the new standards for new cars. From the point of view of producers, the new restrictions often seem unnecessarily strict and often practically unattainable....
This is eye opening. I've been shopping around for a new vehicle lately and of course I strongly consider mileage, emissions, and cost. Now knowing that diesel has everything I want yet isn't available due to the fact that I live in the wrong place is heartbreaking. I only wish that the true could be known.
Diesels are fucking awesome. Sadly, because of all these heavy, heavy laws on emissions, we can't use them to their full potential. Look at pickup trucks: the late 90's 12 Valve Cummins is capable of 22 mpg highway, and that's in a big ol' pickup truck. Nowadays, with all this DEF bullshit, you're never going to get nearly the same fuel economy out of a pickup, unless you do deletes and some illegal fuckery.
@@joebloggs9941 what you mean hopeless. I drive my mercedes e220 cdi in silent comfort everyday. I can drive long distances with a fully loaded car and still have less than 0,9 ltr per 10 km
Great video. Additional fact about diesels that viewers might not know. They're used underground in coal mining operations and their exhaust is made perfectly clean by certain technology.
It happens more than most people realize, in more industries than just automotive. In law enforcement, groups of officers (or entire agencies, as is the case here in Louisiana) get caught doing something wrong but instead of cleaning up their act, they just take measures (like using radio encryption, lying on the radio if encryption isn't an option, using encrypted smartphone apps, deleting dashcam and bodycam footage, uninstalling the dashcams and GPS trackers from their police cars, pushing legislators to enact "safe zone" and anti-recording laws, etc.) to keep future misconduct under wraps.
some clowns turn the diesel injector pump pressure up to try to make their cars quicker, the end result is a lot of smoke and nothing else. My current 5 cylinder diesel engine has nearly 250 k miles on it and produces no smoke at all.
The perfect example of a bad CEO nearly ruining a company. You know there had to be clear thinking voices saying, "Don't do this! It will end badly!" They probably got fired!
No mention of the amount of pollution pumped out by the American manufacturers. They were all underreporting their levels as well. The prosecution was an action taken at the orders of the big American manufacturers, who were worried at the inroads Volkswagen were making into the market in the USAsylum. The action was taken, not to stop pollution, but to interfere with sales.
To be honest - I had a 2012 Passat TDI and loved it! I loved it so much I kept it until VW would give me a 2015 TDI. Which I still have! I love the mileage and the range. No electric pos can beat it!!
@@tryhardgames1907 yo you have a v10 Phaeton? respect.... I've been trying to snag a v10 Touareg for a fat minute but those Phaetons are something else.
@@jdogwin ye even here in germany they are rare af. And seeing one being tuned like mine is very rare. But the feeling is something different hope you find a v10tdi sooner or later it's a joy to drive
@@jdogwin yeah I am planning to buy one but I couldn't find any good v12 tdis but it's on the list of my need to have cars. I did drive one once when it came into the shop (I'm a car mechanic) the power of that beast is out of this world
I have a 2014 TDI Beetle Bug convertible 2.0....well I kept the car in 2020 agreed ...VW gave me $8000.00 and Bosch gave me another $880.00 + I received a 100,000 mile warranty on the Motor.....1st car I ever got paid to drive....75,000 still driving
Except it WASN'T a secret... I had a Volkswagon salesman in Huntsville, AL explain the software to defeat the test as a feature and a reason to buy the car years before the whole "scandal" broke. I called him crazy and told him if what he was telling me were true it would be illegal. So, imagine my shock when his sales pitch turned out to be true.
My biggest question is HOW does the car know the difference between being on a dyno and being on the road? I can understand the computer "flipping" between tunes when the computer is plugged in, but is that how it was doing it or was there something else? IE: front wheels turning, rear wheels not? And where did all these cars go once they were taken off the road?
You nailed it, if I remember right they knew the car was on a Dyno because there was no signal from the rear anti-brake lock system. From the other comments, it appears VW sold some of the recalled cars to other parts of the world not having the same regulations.
I think volkswagen unfairly took all the spotlight for this. Bmw and MB did the same thing. I also think the emission standards for those kinds of cars is unfair, You can have a giant diesel truck to daily drive to your job at burger king polluting a ton more than those other diesel cars. Nox emissions aside they cause a lot less atmosphere pollution.
Its historical legacy isnt that great either. Bias doesn't make a car good. I guarantee you know nothing about cars outside of what your parents own 😂.
Easy, build cars, steal from tatra, make car for nazis, make cars, bancrupt, vw will save you with audi with porsche badges and you screwup option for yours engine, than make vw cars with your badges and some your cars.
"when the world fround out...", no, wasn't it a community college that found out when they tried to do an emissions test but the kids didn't do everything in the right order or something?
It's worth noting that if they properly used these emission control override systems to only engage to boost scalability of the engine beyond what could be done with emission controls engaged, and properly disclosed their existence to regulators as a way to further boost efficiency while still reducing emissions during standard driving, it wouldn't have been an issue. However, they simply hid it, lied about it and tuned it for maximizing performance without care for emissions. Basically if they would sell it to regulators as a way to make the car dynamically self-balance the emission/scalability problem it would have sold to regulators as a plus, not as a cheat or a scandle. They certainly would have had to make the system be less aggressive in scaling back emission control systems, but it would likely still prove an effective way to squeeze more power out of a smaller engine. The biggest problem seemed to be how aggressive the system was engaging. It was disengaging many of the emission control functions in nearly every turn and quite a few other driving behaviors.
After hearing all this I ask myself, what was the problem? Does anyone here in the US driving a RAM or other giant pickup diesel worry about the environment?
Since I have worked in many industries in my engineering career spanning three decades, I can absolutely verify that the car industry is the branch that lies and cheat the most! And if you are trying to hold them sustanable, you get fired, thats why I always keep backup of all my proffesional work, I only thrust myself, easy as that!
Albon awesome video representing exactly what happened in this fiasco. I have never truly heard it all put together so coherently, and was always puzzled as to exactly what happened step by step and how they got away with it for so long! Keep them coming, because no one covers the topics you present to TH-cam’s audience!😊
@@resistanceisfutile Germany at least took care of the Germans, contrast that with Dodge VS Ford, a law suit against Ford Motor Co. for raising wages. I'm pretty sure the USA and the USSR were the bad guys now that the dust has been settled for almost a century.
Great content, thank you. It’s sad that VW can get away with acts like this here in my home country South Africa. We have a massive VW on the east coast of our country, but I’m not aware of one TDi being recalled in South Africa. Please can you confirm this?
Third edit: love the videos as a new car guy I love the educational aspect of your videos while still being entertaining and fun to watch. Keep up the good work!
You should definitely make a video about Ford's Powershift automatic transmissions. A friend of mine had one of those Fiestas. Was tough to get rid of it.
Saving the development costs not only cost them billions in fines, it cost them billions in future sales. Another case of seeing the dollar to be spent in front of them and ignoring the $100 to be made down the road.
Not hard to understand when you know that the industry literally murdered the inventor of the Diesel engine 100 years earlier and got away with it. He wanted to run diesel engines on vegetable oil.
I believe that vw got what they deserve but i can bet that if this was an American based car company that got caught doing this it wouldn't have come nearly this far.
Other companies have done the same. I was once told "You did not see that" when a manager ripped up a printout showing a failed test result. He then typed something into the test terminal and the unit under test passed. The Bottom line should not always be the driving force.
When I was in sanitation I had my job threatened at least twice by reporting companies for out of temp floor coolers, backroom coolers, etc. Funny thing is, they didn't control my job, contractors baby!
Only VW/Audi cheated that way. (by disabling the NOx filtering system in real world conditions) As said in the video, the BMW X5 passed the emissions test. One can argue that all manufacturers try to make their results look better, but it's not comparable to what VW did.
@@jean-philippethomas1607 Uhh, no. GM Cheated in the same way, Ford Cheated in the same way and Stellantis cheated in the same way (at least with the Trucks), that's just scratching the surface.
@@Dexter037S4 Can you provide me a link that explains the cheating method they used ? I'm from France and I'm not familiar with the tricks they used on the US market. In Europe, only VW/Audi went as far a disabling the filtering system. Other brands played with the operating temps of the NOx filter. It's not comparable.
I remember buying into all the positive claims and thinking my next car would be a Volkswagen diesel when I found out they were lying to us. So scandalous and sad.
Postmodernism and deconstructionism have led to a severe erosion of reverence for truth across Western culture. This scandal is a relatively minor example. The censored and flawed science centered on a certain disease and its "cures" is a recent example. The censored and flawed science about the "weather" goes back for decades. These cases have led to serious infringements on people's quality of life and perhaps millions of unnecessary deaths. And the net of lies broadens when one considers the performance of the mainstream media, social media moderators, and politicians whose policies of censorship, propaganda, restrictions on movement, corruption, and show trials. And then there are NGOs and universities spewing so-called "critical" theory. There's a lot of politics involved in the current establishment culture of untruth. The sad part is that many educated people are onboard with the culture of lies. Lots of intellectual over-confidence out there.
I worked for a dealer in early 80's and got the honor of driving a trade-in Chevette diesel over a mountain. I found it a character building exercise to remind me I was going nowhere fast. Soon after I was given a Chevy luv diesel to deliver parts in. I loved that little truck. That Isuzu engine and 5-speed was decent in town because there was always another gear up or down. The car made it over the mountain in 2nd on the shoulder.
Every time there's a lightning bolt, oxides of nitrogen are generated. There's no evidence that nitrogen oxides ever killed anyone. In fact, it's accepted as scientific fact that the creation of nitrogen oxides is what originally made life begin. Oxides of nitrogen eventually make amino acids and amino acids make proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of life.
In 1981, my diesel Rabbit was getting over 40mpg on the highway while my Chevy was lucky to get 20mpg. I'd say burning half as much fuel per trip kind of makes up for the emissions difference.
Having studied auto tech at uni I can tell you this was common knowledge and all manufacturers do it. "A bunch of collage kids" didn't figure anything out
Growing up in 1995, my best friends, mom had a diesel Passat with a manual transmission. It changed everything I thought about diesels, it revved higher than I thought, and had lots of power seemed very reliable, and the smell… Something about the smell of that German leather interior mixed with diesel fumes was intoxicating in a good way. I thought this was the antithesis of what it meant to be European, which was of course, much better as the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, we hills European standards on a pedestal
After 45 years of driving petrol cars . I Bought my first diesel pick up and I'm an convert. I love the power of that diesel engine whether its pulling a load or up a mountain it keeps on going smooth.
How about that time the epa let 3 million gallons of contaminated water out of the gold king mine. It was a few weeks before dieselgate, crazy timing right?
It's much more complicated than that. Yes, the ECU tuning changed after the emission trials. But - the main issue for VW's that had DEF units was that the DEF would be exhausted between oil changes. So VW shut off the introduction of DEF asap. We got DEF that lasted until the next oil change, in exchange for much higher and illegal NOx emissions.
@@davidbrookman96 wow I did not know that either. I don’t drive a diesel car but I’m not against them of course. How long should the DEF fluid last on average if the car was normal??
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What do you think about VW's punishment? Did they get off easy? Or was the EPA too hard on them?
Hello
Superb presentation, and well researched as usual. VW absolutely deserved all the shame/penalties they received. There's a more sinister side to the dieselgate scandal. VW unethically used monkeys and humans during diesel engine emissions testing. Disgusting.
Just ordered one!
Vw messed up! Big time, and with the research on the probability of people dying earlier than expected, punishment was well deserved
Bro please upload weekly
Im really surprised they managed to criminally charge the CEO and top execs as usually it never gets blamed on a personal level.
Germany has been making a mission of prosecuting evil - anything from WWII Nazi era to current day corporate fraud.
That is the way the law in the EU is.
they tried to blame it on some rogue engineers here in europe at the beginning of all of that - the EU and german gov didn't let them get away with it.
The EU is actually competent in stuff like this unlike the US justice system
I guarantee you it's because they weren't one of the big 3 american brands.
You left out the bit where Mercedes made a deal to avoid any and all prosecution for their emissions cheating. The entire software trick can be traced back to Bosch. Almost everyone that used Bosch DME was able to use the software cheating. Most brands did, but they just didn't get targeted by the US government.
Yeah vw was the 1st to get caught so they took the brunt of it but many brands in europe was found to be doing the same thing
In uk there is a class action against Mercedes diesels and most manufacturers
Sure - but *Peugot/Citroen* (one of the largest manufacturers of diesel enginges worldwide) chose *not* to exploit the loophole left in the EU Emmissions Testing regimen, whereas VW decided to 'cheat' in this way, by exploiting this loophole. VW should not have remained undetected for so long. See my comment above.
@@timelwell7002 Actually the Volkswagengroup just took the biggest L in America I feel like. Here in Europe FiatChrysler and PeugeotCitroen to this day, still get coverage from the the Italian and or French goverment, heck even Opel (ex. GM brand) and Mercedes as well as BMW cheated just not as much as VW did in the U.S.
Other manufacturers are Chevrolet (smaller european models like the Cruze or the Captiva), Suzuki, Land Rover, Jaguar, MINI, Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, (Lancia I'm not so sure about since as far as I know they just used Fiats small 1.3 JTDm Diesel which passed the emission testing).
I think only Honda and Toyota as well as Daihatsu didn't cheat on the emissions.
@@chriskonte1909 Could you please provide any evidence that Peugot/Citroen cheated in this way? If they did, my guess is that because they hardly ever export their cars to North America, the Yanks have not teste them.
Good coverage. Some small and big details you forgot to mention.
1. VW's TDI engines met Euro 4 (2005-2008) specs but failed w/ Euro 5 (2009-2013).
2. Meeting Euro 5 requires DEF (urea) injection into the exhaust -- a total (expensive) rework of the exhaust system.
3. VW CEO Winterkorn had ambitions to beat Toyota to become the world's largest automaker.
4. Top management was pressuring the entire organization to keep up sales/profit margin targets.
5. Mid-level VW engineers came up with the software cheat, but approval had to go up the command chain.
6. It's a subject of debate how far up the VW Management (not Engineering) org the scandal went.
It's rare for corporate fraud to end up with hefty penalties and real jail sentences, this time even their high profile lawyers didn't have a leg to stand on. I really wish to see the same on securities fraud and white collar crime.
Agreed, however I can't help but wonder, if EPA would hit as hard if the culprit was GM or any other American auto maker...
it happened because in America, Big Gasoline, outspends Big Diesel. With the exception of NOx and particulates, diesel is lower in all forms of emissions. it burns 25-35% more efficiently, and both are derived from crude oil. If you're consuming a smaller volume of petrol, it stands to reason there is a lower volume of pollution. Diesel engines also last about twice as long as gas engines, so car makers sell fewer cars over the years. That's the REAL reason they went after them. Market protectionism.
@@philosothinkexactly
This needs to happen in other industries. Like big Pharma and food processing companies.
...and Big Pot, Big Booze, those people that lie about infomercials and pseudo-educational programming not being Satanic indoctrination on Saturday mornings...
The problem with big pharma and food processing companies is that government officials are in bed with them. To do this, it would basically put half the NIAID FDA, and CDC in prison. Not to mention Elected officials. So a slim chance it will ever happen. Big Pharma and food processing companies are heavily regulated and pay off officials to look the other way. This scandal is way bigger than VW ever was.
Im really glad WW got such a severe punishment but i only wish it was same for all companies. WW might have killed people with their scandal but you know which company killed people, hundreds of people with very similar cost saving scandal?? BOEING and they could get away with only 2.5 billion dollars only because they are an American company, if Airbus did exactly same thing that figure was at least 25 billion dollars...
It happens in the pharmaceutical industry.
You need certification to bring out a medicine. Some systems, in some countries, are corrupted, like in the USA, where the gains justifies the needs. But it was a political choice of those countries to make their top renowned institution, a living joke.
Other countries have strict standard and will continue to apply them.
Then, in term of punishments. Yes. There are problems with much too long procedures and trials happening decades after the scandals.
But lets be honest with each other ? Would the lawsuit and punishments have been this swift with GM or Ford ? We all know what punishment GM received when they killed peoples with their faulty cars.
And politicians
I was an (off highway) diesel engine engineer when this scandal broke out. My coworkers and I laughed and laughed and this case became our go to engineering ethics case study for a few years until the Boeing 737 Max / MCAS disaster...
What happened in the Boeing accident?
‘373’
@@Sukkulents_ sleepy....737...
@@44_xiie_debrajbordoloi27 Software bug causing crashes. Airbus suffers from the problem of software-induced crashes too, but Boeings are sold on their ability to still fly when the computers fail, thanks to their physically connected flight controls. If fly-by-wire is used in Boeings, there is no reason to buy them over Airbus, which has better fuel efficiency, and it was revealed that 737MAX used a computer assist to make it fly like normal 737s, and upon failure... Boom.
@@44_xiie_debrajbordoloi27 Big bosses at Boeing rushed the plane to compete with new Airbus A320 NEO. So the newly added MCAS system caused fatal crashes due to some sensor malfunctions and shit. Just look it up it's such a clown show.
Back in 2015 some independent engineers performed independents in Europe using a similarly specced Passat and the numbers they got 2.5x above the legal limit, not 40 times like reported in the US, then they performed the same test on an Opel Zafira and the results for that were above the reading range. Strangely, I didn't hear anything about this back home in the US.
I was using used fry oil thrown away by restaurant's. I would then put it throught a personal filtering system so that it was back to it's original vegetable oil, and used it in modified diesel car engines. Works great.
Those TDI engines are amazing.
The sad part is, they were fantastic cars, got great mileage, and were loved by everyone. Cars already on the road are now selling for ENORMOUS sums.
I wonder when the ban on new ICE vehicles goes into effect, will used ones be selling for enormous sums. But eventually, I expect a ban on used ICE vehicles anyway!
VW diesel cars are not on the road in the USA.
@@markg7030 Really? Says who?
@@sunbeam8866 Watch the video again. All diesel cheating cars were bought back from US customers.
@@markg7030 I did watch the video again. Your first statement 'VW diesel cars are not on the road in the USA" is incorrect. There are many pre-scandal VW diesels still on the road in the USA.
Your second statement "All diesel cheating cars were bought back from US customers" is also incorrect. Volkswagen was required to buy those cars back from willing sellers. Then they offered a nominal amount to compensate US owners that wouldn't sell, for the diminished resale value of their cars. A number of US diesel enthusiasts chose not to sell their cars back to VW, and are still driving them.
This is the best explanation of Dieselgate I've ever watched, props to Albon for making it so interesting
The one thing that isn't mentioned is that all of those recalled cars in the US were likely replaced by gasoline engine cars which are less efficient and more "polluting" than the diesels. The problem is that the EPA standards are NOT based on true science but on government mandates that are made to establish controls on car owners who will pay fees annually for emissions inspections.
This isn't even half the story. Bosch along with a bunch of other commercial and consumer vehicle manufacturers were the main culprits, VW was a scapegoat, and a bunch of people involved walked away very rich from insider trading on the stock market at the time.
The Mercedes diesels here in Australia during this time were tested using actual on road tests, & they passed. In fact, their V6 diesels sold here in Australia are very quiet, almost impossible to tell the difference between the diesel & petrol ones, unless you look at the fuel cap.
Also Mercedes has diesel hybrids
@@MaticTheProto exactly. I've seen a couple of them.
VW has enough money to quickly recover from it. They thought they were sneaky enough, and three college guys outsmarted them. Such is life!!
Sadly is life
Yet they still own to this day Pocshe Audi and Lambrogini. VW did loose anything and this was all according to plan.
Meanwhile other companies stopped their diesels in NA because they didn’t want to get caught for doing the same thing.
@@filthyfrankblack4067 you can add Bugatti to the list as well.
They do have a ton of debt.
Like billions of dollars.
Anyone whos been remapping these for a long time will know VAG has been at this for decades. On the old vp pump engines (1997-) there's a spike in the timing map so extra timing is given at around 55-60mph. Timing increases economy but creates nox emissions. This is easily verifiable and was well discussed on ecu tuning forums back in the day.
the ol VE engines
The problem wasn't really this but the fact that VW was trying to cheap out on the emissions system by not adding an AdBlue system. Imo since EURO5 and the equivalent California NOx limits you cannot get to it with a massive passive exhaust filtering or adding AdBlue / urea...
@@rkan2 Yeah but EGR, DPF and Adblue systems cause damage to the engine, seems like they wanted to build a reliable car, emission limits are bs anyway made by people who get driven around in massive limos and flown around in private jets.
Even my 92 cheated to some degree.
same elite scum that claim to want to "save the planet by killing 90% of the 99% that own 1%" are the SAME SCUM ELITE that OCCULTED tech away that would of made gas-o-line obsolite remember next time they say your a "Bad person" becuase dont drive an electric car, remind them how THEY made you too poor to afford one, and even if CAN afford one how the batteries are MORE DESTRUCTIVE on the envirement than a moder gas-o-line car or hell even and older one.
The interesting thing is how deathly silent VWs competitors were during this scandal. Nobody tried to capitalize on this. My suspicion is others are doing similar crap, VW just was the one that got caught.
I’m a Car guy and My friends and I knew about this from the testing results of the college investigation. We all wondered why it wasn’t a bigger story at the time. Well that eventually changed.
He has enough money to get away, and outlive the rest of his life in comfort. I don't think he is too bothered.
Hopefully he has it in cash then 😂
They must have known someone would figure it out eventually
Cope
He probably has enough money to give all the subscribers $1k
@@warnabrotha95YT i think you mean 100k
Love this kind of stories where a huge company do something bad and they got caught not by some official people, but some random dude. Just like the "spygate" story
I'm old enough to remember when car makers could make cars that consumers wanted. That's all VW did here.
Truth. It's not really "cheating" when the govt emissions regulations are impossible to reconcile with the real-world. If the only choices are to cheat or go out of business, most any company will cheat.
Yesterday, I drove my '03 VW Jetta TDI Wagon 550 miles. I'll drive it another 200 today. When I stopped at my motel last night, my fuel gauge was still showing about half full (if lies a little right at that spot, it probably burned about 10 gallons out of the 16 1/2 gallons that the tank holds). During my trip, my odometer rolled over 562,000 miles. I have two 1,000 mile/tank of fuel on this car. I have a spreadsheet with every drop of fuel put into my car since I bought it new. My overall fuel economy for that 562,000 miles is 52.9 MPG. I love this little car.
Surely, I'll have to do major work on this car soon or replace it. I'll replace it if I can find an '03 VW sitting in some persons garage with 100,000 miles on it.
I bought this car new. At the time, the Europeans had a sulfur restriction on diesel fuel, American-refined diesel was too high in sulfur to be sold in Europe so it could not be exported. Diesel was typically 10% cheaper than gas at the time. EPA instituted a restriction about 2007 that dropped sulfur in American-produced fuel to match the European. Once the US oil companies switched over to producing low-sulfur diesel fuel, it could be sold in Europe so they exported as much as they could, so diesel prices went up a little. Today (June, 2023) diesel is within 5% of the price of gas where I live.
When I bought my VW, I paid $1000 for the diesel option. EPA said that I'd get 41 MPG around town and 48 on the highway --- my best tank of fuel achieved 61.8 MPG and that was a real trip going somewhere from Canada to North Carolina, across the Appalachian Mountain chain. At 390,000, I figured up. I calculated my exact fuel cost for that 390,000 miles (that's on my spreadsheet, too). I took the EPA results for a 2.0 '03 gas TDI Wagon, and factored that by my increase in actual over EPA mileage (which is *way* favorable to the gas car because only a diesel could beat the "Your Mileage May Vary" figures, but I gave that). I took my fuel cost, added the $1000 cost premium and compared it to what I'd have spent of gasoline if I'd bought a gas car. At 360,000 miles, I has spent $21,000 less in fuel driving my diesel. I paid $21,000 when I bought it. So, I figure that about 8 years ago, VW gave me a new free car and I've been driving that car -- no payments, no interest, no high property taxes -- for only the price of fuel. (I do all my own maintenance except timing belts, no spark plugs, no tune-ups, my maintenance costs have been much less for 20 years, too.)
"Progress" says that I can't buy a new car like the one I own and love. So, I'll keep it and love driving it. And I don't have to go to prison for doing it.
I'm a retired USA expat living in the Philippines now. I get tremendous fuel economy from the used 2001 Ford Ranger diesel I purchased last year. For a 20 something year old pickup truck it passed the mandatory tailpipe emissions test with flying colors it doesn't produce black smoke and has plenty of power for a 4 cyl diesel. I owned 2 US versions of the Ford Rangers prior to this one while still living in the states and only wish the diesel engine option was available then.
those USDM VW that was not sold in the US was shipped to the Philippines since we don’t really have a good emission standard. but due to our situation now diesels prices is equal with gas now
I really do enjoy contents like this, Guff!! I've been watching your vids since "Here's why you can't afford" episodes!!! Anyways, I always looking forward for your future contents like this!!! And also, please do some documentaries of 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race if it's okay with you!! Surely that everybody would love that, and also touge racing. That's all and thanks once again!!! Keep on doing this man!!
A great example of how important it is to have _independent_ regulatory bodies. Imagine how much more of these scandals would emerge if there isn't any lobbying or conflict of interest. That is where the real focus should be.
These dieselgate cars are still on the road here in Czechia and I think most americans would be surprised just HOW MANY of them there are. And I understand why, they are reliable, fuel efficent and not so expensive to buy.
"Exploited and burned to ash by yet another case of corporate greed" what a punchline!
Now i know why we received in the recent years here in Morocco a huge batch of VW Golfs and Jettas with orange turning indicators. Everyone knew that those cars were from the US and they were well equipped and suspiciously cheap. Also compared to the fuel consumption we used to get from 2.0l tdi's with the same horsepower, those cars were consumming much more fuel.
Ironically, morocco hosts annually a climat international event but at the same time diesel cars represents pretty much 90 percent of cars on road.
My friend still owns one of the recall TDI and he just installed a bigger turbo and an AWD system still runs and drives reliable
I own two Deisel vehicles and I love them both. I have 22 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 3.0l Duramax and I get around 31 MPG highway! I have an 08 Hummer that I had retrofitted with a 6.6l diesel and it went from 10.5 MPG with the 6.2l gas to 23 MPG, more than doubling its fuel capacity, plus it almost tripled the engine performance. Overall I'll never buy another gas engine again in my life.
Honestly these episodes SHOULD BE LONGER! Albon is THAT good. Love the channel.
i used to be a VW tech here in Spain, even in my time working there (2019-2021), wich was way after the Dieselgate, the effects were clearly visible, tons of ¨software updates¨ on any TDI model from 2009 to 2015 and thats here in Europe, were they really didn't give the people that came up with this more than a slap on the wrist and telling to think what they did in the corner, the overall quality of the cars has gone down significantly too, the interior for example in the new MK8 Golfs feel and look like shit compared to the previous gens, which can only mean cost-cutting to manage the massive efects of the scandal. It is sad though, VW used to be a ver cool car company, that made interesting, funky, good quality cars at a decent price, but they have become a ghost of the former shelves. And to think they should've just taken what Mercedes had, I mean, is not like they have been doing diesel for like 80 years at that point and have demostrated the had it mastered or anything, you know
The 'upgrades' made those cars even worse. When my mom starts her car now, a thick plume of smoke escapes every time. VW is 💩.
And those TDI cars drove best with the original software (personal experience)
@@andredeketeleastutecomplex The upgrades made the cars worse because politicians don't know anything about building good cars. The "upgrades" were to conform to standards written by politicians and they were stupid and unrealistic. The only thing politicians are experts at is lying to the public and creating crisis where it doesn't exist. That's why most of the laws they come up with are stupid and meaningless.
I live near on of the giant fields of recalled VW’s. They have been sitting there in the field and nothing has been done with them for years. There is one person that sits in a booth at the only entrance to the field of cars and if you drive up and talk to them kindly asking what’s inside they say “I’m not allowed to talk about it and you have to leave or we have to call the police”. I’ve stopped by 3 times over the years and got basically the same quote all 3 times. You look it up on maps and the cars just sit there wasting away. They don’t even crush them or recycle them. They just sit.
I have zero sympathy for Volkswagen. in 2017 I got a 2008 Touareg from an auction missing only the key FOB. the dealership refused to do anything besides sell me a $300 dollar laser cut key/FOB after proof of ownership and would not program the key to the car at any cost. After being unable to do a thing with this car I sold it to a junk yard for 500 dollars because I did not have thousands of dollars to purchase diagnostic and key programming computers/equipment nor any straight forward information on how to do it myself... Good riddance VW and your terrible customer service (Manhattan Beach VW) LOVED THIS VIDEO!!!
If you lived through the 1970s and 1980s here in the States, you'd understand WHY diesel-powered cars have had a bad reputation.
Aside from the extra cost of the car and fuel, and the lack of performance, the early GM diesels suffered catastrophic breakdowns. (Engine heads blowing off, crankshafts literally breaking in half, and other fun stuff guaranteed to leave you stranded at the roadside.)
They stay dangerous over time, too - even 40+ years later sometimes they just _go._ It's an impressive sight, especially with how much metal it flings everywhere.
During the scandal, I was amused to hear that the upper management didn't know what had been going on. It was all because of some renegade engineers. Yeah.
It should be noted that the problem was not in the harmfulness of the new engines, because they were not worse than the older versions, which have worse emissions and can be operated without problems (which is quite funny). But in that they did not meet the new standards for new cars. From the point of view of producers, the new restrictions often seem unnecessarily strict and often practically unattainable....
WOW! I had forgotten about this Diesel-Gate event. Thanks for a great video!
This is eye opening. I've been shopping around for a new vehicle lately and of course I strongly consider mileage, emissions, and cost. Now knowing that diesel has everything I want yet isn't available due to the fact that I live in the wrong place is heartbreaking. I only wish that the true could be known.
Diesels are fucking awesome. Sadly, because of all these heavy, heavy laws on emissions, we can't use them to their full potential. Look at pickup trucks: the late 90's 12 Valve Cummins is capable of 22 mpg highway, and that's in a big ol' pickup truck. Nowadays, with all this DEF bullshit, you're never going to get nearly the same fuel economy out of a pickup, unless you do deletes and some illegal fuckery.
Diesel is absolutely hopeless as a fuel for a passenger car. Diesel for trucks, gasoline for people
@@joebloggs9941 sadly, many states ruined it for the people
@@joebloggs9941 looking at the other comments you've posted, you sound like a lunatic. have a great rest of your day
@@joebloggs9941 what you mean hopeless. I drive my mercedes e220 cdi in silent comfort everyday. I can drive long distances with a fully loaded car and still have less than 0,9 ltr per 10 km
While we're talking about mpg, my previous Dacia Sandero 1.5 dci, was extremely efficient. Upto 800 miles on a 9 gallon tank. Happy days of motoring
Such an eye opener well done telling the public what scams car manufacturers will try to get away with
Great video. Additional fact about diesels that viewers might not know. They're used underground in coal mining operations and their exhaust is made perfectly clean by certain technology.
The fact that they had the audacity to keep going after the initial discovery by the college students blows my mind.
why wouldnt they? there was no actual harm from that, you brainwashed freak.
It happens more than most people realize, in more industries than just automotive. In law enforcement, groups of officers (or entire agencies, as is the case here in Louisiana) get caught doing something wrong but instead of cleaning up their act, they just take measures (like using radio encryption, lying on the radio if encryption isn't an option, using encrypted smartphone apps, deleting dashcam and bodycam footage, uninstalling the dashcams and GPS trackers from their police cars, pushing legislators to enact "safe zone" and anti-recording laws, etc.) to keep future misconduct under wraps.
As scooby doo enemies always say, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
I have driven diesel cars, Peugeot and Ford, for years and have never had a car emitting such a cloud of smoke as the cars in the video.
some clowns turn the diesel injector pump pressure up to try to make their cars quicker, the end result is a lot of smoke and nothing else. My current 5 cylinder diesel engine has nearly 250 k miles on it and produces no smoke at all.
Volkswagon is the hero of this story.
They produced the most efficient cars ever made, un-modified 2010 era Volkswagons are the best car you can own.
Thumbnail gives me the sense he *_played college ball ya know_*
The perfect example of a bad CEO nearly ruining a company. You know there had to be clear thinking voices saying, "Don't do this! It will end badly!" They probably got fired!
No mention of the amount of pollution pumped out by the American manufacturers. They were all underreporting their levels as well. The prosecution was an action taken at the orders of the big American manufacturers, who were worried at the inroads Volkswagen were making into the market in the USAsylum. The action was taken, not to stop pollution, but to interfere with sales.
To be honest - I had a 2012 Passat TDI and loved it! I loved it so much I kept it until VW would give me a 2015 TDI. Which I still have! I love the mileage and the range. No electric pos can beat it!!
I have 4 cars (together with my gf) 2 Diesels 2 petrols. My gf has a golf 5 1.9tdi and i still own my V10tdi phaeton i love it and i always will
@@tryhardgames1907 yo you have a v10 Phaeton? respect.... I've been trying to snag a v10 Touareg for a fat minute but those Phaetons are something else.
@@jdogwin ye even here in germany they are rare af. And seeing one being tuned like mine is very rare. But the feeling is something different hope you find a v10tdi sooner or later it's a joy to drive
@tryhardgames1907 oh man you are in Germany? So you guys have the sick q7 v12 tdi and the ultra fuel efficient a2 tdi
@@jdogwin yeah I am planning to buy one but I couldn't find any good v12 tdis but it's on the list of my need to have cars. I did drive one once when it came into the shop (I'm a car mechanic) the power of that beast is out of this world
Thanks for always creating some of the best automotive videos out there!! I love how much information is packed into these videos!!!!!!
I have a 2014 TDI Beetle Bug convertible 2.0....well I kept the car in 2020 agreed ...VW gave me $8000.00 and Bosch gave me another $880.00 + I received a 100,000 mile warranty on the Motor.....1st car I ever got paid to drive....75,000 still driving
That scandal saved me thousands on my Golf purchase. Bought a 2016 mk7 golf 1.8t 3 door for $16,500 new in November 2015
Except it WASN'T a secret...
I had a Volkswagon salesman in Huntsville, AL explain the software to defeat the test as a feature and a reason to buy the car years before the whole "scandal" broke. I called him crazy and told him if what he was telling me were true it would be illegal. So, imagine my shock when his sales pitch turned out to be true.
How can people deliberately sell lies lucky our politicians are still hon-
Oh wait
My biggest question is HOW does the car know the difference between being on a dyno and being on the road? I can understand the computer "flipping" between tunes when the computer is plugged in, but is that how it was doing it or was there something else? IE: front wheels turning, rear wheels not? And where did all these cars go once they were taken off the road?
You nailed it, if I remember right they knew the car was on a Dyno because there was no signal from the rear anti-brake lock system.
From the other comments, it appears VW sold some of the recalled cars to other parts of the world not having the same regulations.
Bullet train dialogue:
- You are Diesel!
- You are Volkswagen!!
I think volkswagen unfairly took all the spotlight for this. Bmw and MB did the same thing. I also think the emission standards for those kinds of cars is unfair, You can have a giant diesel truck to daily drive to your job at burger king polluting a ton more than those other diesel cars. Nox emissions aside they cause a lot less atmosphere pollution.
My dad really loves VWs. He still does. It's a shame that its modern legacy is being tarnished 😿
Its historical legacy isnt that great either. Bias doesn't make a car good. I guarantee you know nothing about cars outside of what your parents own 😂.
@@Unknown_Ooh VW is a great company with great cars
Just stick with petrol
You guys should do some Porsche based content, and how they became how they are today. Love the videos
Easy, build cars, steal from tatra, make car for nazis, make cars, bancrupt, vw will save you with audi with porsche badges and you screwup option for yours engine, than make vw cars with your badges and some your cars.
VW should have gotten Nobel Prize, not fines or prison!
"when the world fround out...", no, wasn't it a community college that found out when they tried to do an emissions test but the kids didn't do everything in the right order or something?
Stumbled across your channel and I gotta say, I love the content. I learned things I wasn’t even aware! Especially about this since I own a VW.
I love this channel, I've learned more about cars/car culture here than anywhere else. Keep if up Guf!
It's worth noting that if they properly used these emission control override systems to only engage to boost scalability of the engine beyond what could be done with emission controls engaged, and properly disclosed their existence to regulators as a way to further boost efficiency while still reducing emissions during standard driving, it wouldn't have been an issue. However, they simply hid it, lied about it and tuned it for maximizing performance without care for emissions.
Basically if they would sell it to regulators as a way to make the car dynamically self-balance the emission/scalability problem it would have sold to regulators as a plus, not as a cheat or a scandle. They certainly would have had to make the system be less aggressive in scaling back emission control systems, but it would likely still prove an effective way to squeeze more power out of a smaller engine.
The biggest problem seemed to be how aggressive the system was engaging. It was disengaging many of the emission control functions in nearly every turn and quite a few other driving behaviors.
After hearing all this I ask myself, what was the problem? Does anyone here in the US driving a RAM or other giant pickup diesel worry about the environment?
Since I have worked in many industries in my engineering career spanning three decades, I can absolutely verify that the car industry is the branch that lies and cheat the most! And if you are trying to hold them sustanable, you get fired, thats why I always keep backup of all my proffesional work, I only thrust myself, easy as that!
Will you do a follow-up story on the other German diesel manufactures that were caught in the same scam?
Like who?
@@SuperSaqer It wasn't the Germans, but the Americans who cheated, with the diesel pickups
Your clips comments and subjects are great to watch, with true facts about 👍 Thank you so much
"We are sorry... we got caught" - Volkswagen.
the tdi is still highly wanted in the Vw community. The mileage is insanely good and very tuneable. EPA is just Butthurt
Albon awesome video representing exactly what happened in this fiasco. I have never truly heard it all put together so coherently, and was always puzzled as to exactly what happened step by step and how they got away with it for so long! Keep them coming, because no one covers the topics you present to TH-cam’s audience!😊
My grandfather always drove a beetle, best gas powered VW ever. We got them after the body rusted out, then tuned them into dune buggies.
One question that is always overlooked is why aren't the diesels in Europe and the UK allowed in the US?
I’m honestly surprised that VW had done this. All they had to do was just to pay Mercedes for their filter and yet they didn’t.
Even in retrospect, why would they have? In the business world, paying out your competitor is just another form of saying "you win".
@@1earedwolf Sure would have been cheaper than this wound up being.
Who would have thought a car company that started off so ethical and well (wink, wink) would have turned out to be the baddies, Hans!
Unlike the American companies right? RIGHT?
@@MaticTheProto You may want to read a bit more history. @Jeff-cn9up
is referring to Hitler, which is where VW got it's start.
@@resistanceisfutile Ford was hitler's biggest fan.
@@resistanceisfutile no shit sherlock, I am German.
And ford got a medal from Hitler
@@resistanceisfutile Germany at least took care of the Germans, contrast that with Dodge VS Ford, a law suit against Ford Motor Co. for raising wages. I'm pretty sure the USA and the USSR were the bad guys now that the dust has been settled for almost a century.
Love ur content, just came across ur channel, it's hard finding anything to keep my attention, finally something I can watch and stay interested in
well done on that segway to the sponsor. Linus Tech Tip level.
Great content, thank you. It’s sad that VW can get away with acts like this here in my home country South Africa. We have a massive VW on the east coast of our country, but I’m not aware of one TDi being recalled in South Africa. Please can you confirm this?
Third edit: love the videos as a new car guy I love the educational aspect of your videos while still being entertaining and fun to watch. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for watching!
@@albonfilms Your reply made my day thank you 😊
You should definitely make a video about Ford's Powershift automatic transmissions. A friend of mine had one of those Fiestas. Was tough to get rid of it.
Saving the development costs not only cost them billions in fines, it cost them billions in future sales. Another case of seeing the dollar to be spent in front of them and ignoring the $100 to be made down the road.
It's insane that they thought they could get away with this. So short sighted
Not hard to understand when you know that the industry literally murdered the inventor of the Diesel engine 100 years earlier and got away with it. He wanted to run diesel engines on vegetable oil.
So short sighted yet it took 7 long years to anyone notice it lol.
I believe that vw got what they deserve but i can bet that if this was an American based car company that got caught doing this it wouldn't have come nearly this far.
Americans can't build (real) cars.. 🤣
Thanks for summing that up. But how did the device work?
Other companies have done the same. I was once told "You did not see that" when a manager ripped up a printout showing a failed test result. He then typed something into the test terminal and the unit under test passed. The Bottom line should not always be the driving force.
When I was in sanitation I had my job threatened at least twice by reporting companies for out of temp floor coolers, backroom coolers, etc. Funny thing is, they didn't control my job, contractors baby!
Very good story telling as usual. I'm curious why you didn't touch on how this resulted in the discovery of other manufacturers doing the same thing?
Only VW/Audi cheated that way. (by disabling the NOx filtering system in real world conditions) As said in the video, the BMW X5 passed the emissions test. One can argue that all manufacturers try to make their results look better, but it's not comparable to what VW did.
@@jean-philippethomas1607 Uhh, no.
GM Cheated in the same way, Ford Cheated in the same way and Stellantis cheated in the same way (at least with the Trucks), that's just scratching the surface.
@@Dexter037S4 Can you provide me a link that explains the cheating method they used ? I'm from France and I'm not familiar with the tricks they used on the US market.
In Europe, only VW/Audi went as far a disabling the filtering system. Other brands played with the operating temps of the NOx filter. It's not comparable.
@@Dexter037S4 yeah, but they're american cars on american market, they cannot possibly do that to your own people, can you? ;)
This is a great example of why we can't have nice things. The EPA is just the worst. Imagine how much more efficient cars could be
They thought they are smart and sneaky but there college students outsmarted them.
I remember buying into all the positive claims and thinking my next car would be a Volkswagen diesel when I found out they were lying to us. So scandalous and sad.
its okay that they were lying, at least their cars were good. However, the eco-activists bring nothing but chaos and destruction into societies.
Postmodernism and deconstructionism have led to a severe erosion of reverence for truth across Western culture. This scandal is a relatively minor example. The censored and flawed science centered on a certain disease and its "cures" is a recent example. The censored and flawed science about the "weather" goes back for decades. These cases have led to serious infringements on people's quality of life and perhaps millions of unnecessary deaths. And the net of lies broadens when one considers the performance of the mainstream media, social media moderators, and politicians whose policies of censorship, propaganda, restrictions on movement, corruption, and show trials. And then there are NGOs and universities spewing so-called "critical" theory. There's a lot of politics involved in the current establishment culture of untruth. The sad part is that many educated people are onboard with the culture of lies. Lots of intellectual over-confidence out there.
I worked for a dealer in early 80's and got the honor of driving a trade-in Chevette diesel over a mountain. I found it a character building exercise to remind me I was going nowhere fast.
Soon after I was given a Chevy luv diesel to deliver parts in. I loved that little truck. That Isuzu engine and 5-speed was decent in town because there was always another gear up or down.
The car made it over the mountain in 2nd on the shoulder.
I remember everyone hyped up diesel's at my work saying soon all petrol cars were getting banned because of emissions.
that sponsor segway made me think i was on linus tech tips for a sec
Great video as always, keep up the great work
That's nuts! The greed and almighty dollar over human life is just sickening. Another very informative watch, well done!
Yeah, and I don't like what VW did either.
Who cares. Fuk the environment
Every time there's a lightning bolt, oxides of nitrogen are generated. There's no evidence that nitrogen oxides ever killed anyone. In fact, it's accepted as scientific fact that the creation of nitrogen oxides is what originally made life begin. Oxides of nitrogen eventually make amino acids and amino acids make proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of life.
In 1981, my diesel Rabbit was getting over 40mpg on the highway while my Chevy was lucky to get 20mpg. I'd say burning half as much fuel per trip kind of makes up for the emissions difference.
Having studied auto tech at uni I can tell you this was common knowledge and all manufacturers do it. "A bunch of collage kids" didn't figure anything out
Growing up in 1995, my best friends, mom had a diesel Passat with a manual transmission. It changed everything I thought about diesels, it revved higher than I thought, and had lots of power seemed very reliable, and the smell… Something about the smell of that German leather interior mixed with diesel fumes was intoxicating in a good way. I thought this was the antithesis of what it meant to be European, which was of course, much better as the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, we hills European standards on a pedestal
After 45 years of driving petrol cars . I Bought my first diesel pick up and I'm an convert. I love the power of that diesel engine whether its pulling a load or up a mountain it keeps on going smooth.
How about that time the epa let 3 million gallons of contaminated water out of the gold king mine. It was a few weeks before dieselgate, crazy timing right?
I bet Winterkorn had a golden parachute in place as part of his employment contract.
I knew it had something to do with the ECU tuning like 7 minutes in. This is the first time I’ve heard the whole story
It's much more complicated than that. Yes, the ECU tuning changed after the emission trials. But - the main issue for VW's that had DEF units was that the DEF would be exhausted between oil changes. So VW shut off the introduction of DEF asap. We got DEF that lasted until the next oil change, in exchange for much higher and illegal NOx emissions.
@@davidbrookman96 wow I did not know that either. I don’t drive a diesel car but I’m not against them of course. How long should the DEF fluid last on average if the car was normal??