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Volkswagen Crisis

23-09-2015
Industry news

Volkswagen is currently in a massive crisis due to the revelation that they have cheated authorities in the US with regards to emissions.

The scandal involves the ECU and coding that can tell whether a car is being driven or whether it is being tested.

This is allegedly done by the ECU realising whether the cars steering wheel is turning while the engine is on or whether the steering wheel is still and not moving, which would then assume the vehicle is on a testbed.

While being tested the engine will then go into a full emissions mode which will pass the emissions test in the US. While driving, the engine will come out of this mode which causes higher or accurate emissions, but it will perform better.

As a result of this VW are being asked to recall nearly five hundred thousand vehicles in the US.

What are the implications of this?

Well, VW will now have to make sure that these vehicles can pass the emissions test. This will be expensive and may affect the future performance of the vehicle. If it was to it change the performance of the car how will the customers of these five hundred thousand vehicles react?

Reading an article on Top Gear, they suggest that customers could insist that VW repurchase these vehicles, or they could even claim damages.

With all this happening in the US, how long before it impacts the EU?

According to the BBC, the UK's Transport Secretary has said: "We are closely monitoring the situation and have been pushing for action at a European level for more accurate tests that reflect driving on the road. It's vital that the public has confidence in vehicle emissions tests and I am calling for the European Commission to investigate this issue as a matter of urgency."

The article goes on to say that other EU ministers are now calling for EU inquiries but is it likely to be occurring in the UK or the EU? With emissions tests in the UK not as strict as those in the US maybe Volkswagen haven't had to introduce these methods to pass tests. 

This leads us to ask ‘Are other manufacturers doing this in the US?’.

How can we be sure this isn't happening in the EU?