It has been ten years since Volkswagen was raked over the coals for passing federal emissions certification tests. It was not put quite that way, of course – but that’s exactly what VW did. The same as any other vehicle manufacturer does.
They all set up their vehicles to pass the tests.
Is that not the point of taking – and passing – a test? Well, VW’s TDI (diesel) powered vehicles all passed the test. The hullabaloo that has so far cost VW an estimated $30 billion and is likely to cost it everything ensued after an “independent lab” tested VW’s TDI-powered vehicles and discovered that they had been set up to pass federal emissions certification tests. They also passed the emissions tests many states require vehicles to pass in order to get/renew their registration and “tags” (without which they cannot legally be driven on the government’s roads).
Take a minute to think about that.
VW’s TDI-powered cars passed both the federal certification tests and state-level tailpipe exhaust emissions testing. The latter form of testing specifically tests the composition of the gasses exiting the exhaust. It is not easy to pass this test if the car’s engine is generating anything more than mostly clean exhaust. It is the whole point of emissions testing. At least, if the object is to identify vehicles that are actually polluting the air. If the test does not detect this, then by definition the vehicle isn’t polluting the air.
As distinct from producing slightly-higher-than-allowable “emissions” when not being tested.
This is what was “caught” by the “independent lab” when it subjected TDI-powered VWs to different tests. Ones that VW had not set up its TDI-powered vehicles to pass. This being like failing the History test you studied Math all night to pass. These different tests found that under different operating conditions than the tests used to certify a vehicle as being in compliance with federal emissions requirements and that also differed from state-level tailpipe exhaust gas “sniffer” tests, VW’s TDI-powered vehicles generated slightly higher-than-allowable emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) – though of course this is not what the public was told.
The public was told the “cheating” VWs generated “up to 40 times” as much in the way of NOx emissions than were permissible according to federal standards. This was technically true but also a whopper of a lie in that the NOx emissions were “up to 40 times” as much as allowable – but they were also less than a whole number more than allowable under the standard. In other words, a fraction more than an already very small number – kind of like the 0.04 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere that is C02. In both cases, people are led to that there is an alarming increase in these gasses when in fact we are talking about fractions of fractions.
Angels dancing on the head of a pin.
VW’s real crime was not, however, setting up its TDI-powered cars to pass federal and state emissions tests. It was manufacturing low-cost diesel-powered vehicles that made electric vehicles look silly. It was this unfortunate congruence (for VW and for us) that led to the inquisition.
Back in 2015, you could have bought a brand-new Jetta sedan with a TDI engine that was capable of taking you 50-plus miles on a gallon of diesel fuel and more than 600 miles on a tankful of diesel for about $22,000. There were also TDI-powered Golfs and Beetles that all stickered for about the same. VW was the only car company selling a lineup of affordable, extremely economical cars.
What if other mass-market manufacturers began to offer similar cars of their own?
It is doubtful Mercedes or BMW or even Audi – would have been pursued with the ferocity of the inquisition that went after VW because even though those brands also sold diesel-powered models, they were never a threat to the electric vehicles.
More finely they were never a threat to the electric vehicle agenda because Mercedes, BMW and Audi are all luxury brands. They were (and are) just as expensive as electric vehicles and both are out of the range – so to speak – of lower and middle-income people.
VW’s diesel-powered vehicles weren’t. That was the problem. The crime – though unspoken. A $22k TDI powered Jetta with a 600 mile driving range that will never require a new battery pack or force you to plan your travels around charging waits makes a $50,000 electric vehicle appear absurd.
It is absurd.
So a way was found to solve the problem – by persecuting VW to a degree that is comparable to the Passion. Martin Winterkorn, the now-almost-80-year-old former CEO of VW Group, is still being hounded by latter-day Pharisees and Sadducees. OJ spent less time in prison (and none of that for the killings of wife Nicole and Ron Goldman).
VW today is a lot like Winston Smith was after he had learned that 2+2=5. It learned to love the EV agenda.
Part of its rehabilitation was to spend lots of money on EV advertising – which has not resulted in EV sales. How many people are there who are either willing or able to buy a $40,000 electric VW? That’s the starting price of its most “affordable” device, the ID.4 (which sounds like the latest Chinese humanoid robot). Does VW’s current management actually believe they can make a go of selling devices like the ID.4 that can’t be driven even half as far as a TDI-powered Jetta that cost about half as much? How about an electric bus that costs three times as much?
Probably not. Just as Winton probably pretended to believe that 2+2=5 in order to make the torture stop. But such pretending comes at a cost – one Winston was well-aware he’d paid.
VW is facing the same reckoning, even as the inspectors continue to persecute poor old Martin Winterkorn and other VW executives and engineers, who had the gall to set up their vehicles to pass the tests – and design and offer for sale affordable cars people wanted to buy that made the devices certain parties want to force us to drive look ridiculous.
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If you believe that CO2 is a pollutant (it’s not), the only way to reduce CO2 emissions is to Burn Less Fuel. VW’s TDI vehicles did just that, and they did it without urea injection.
Furthermore, vehicles that Burn Less Fuel must, in order to make any significant impact on emissions, be mass market vehicles. VW’s TDI vehicles could be had for $25,000 or less, which made them among the cheapest vehicles available, period.
So what’s not to like about VW TDI vehicles? If your goal is restricting CO2 emissions, they’re excellent vehicles. But the goal isn’t restricting CO2 emissions…it’s restricting mobility.
Hey Eric, with all the EPA rollbacks and stuff going on under Orange Man, what’s your take on the future? I keep seeing TK’s garage talking about no more emissions equipment on diesels, heard Govt Motors is testing out Silverodriguez’s without diesel stuff and think eventually when CARB is defeated, there’ll be a diesel renaissance, even if its too late for VW
Thoughts?
Pattern recognizers and dot connecters would also be aware that 2015 was the year that Angela Merkel proclaimed “Wir schaffen das” and opened the gates to the flood of North African and Middle Eastern head chopping, Christian hating, low IQ, dark skinned, horny for Fraulein Muslims.
VW, the ultimate “Nazi” car company, was taken down simultaneous to the invasion of Germany and the fulfilment of the Kalergi Plan.
2015 was when Vlad Putin cock-blocked globo-homo Obama from ass raping Syria, which led to 10 years of secret dirty wars by the Jews and their puppet province known as the US against Syria in preparation for the land grab that has created the Eretz Israel that we see today.
2015 was also the year that Heavenly Jerusalem [aka Ukraine] really started its war against the Orthodox church and ethnic Russians. Jews had declared Russians to be Amalekites before they even ritually sacrificed the Tsar and his family in 1917.
2015 was a milestone year in the history in the ascendency of Jewish Power. Diesel gate was just one minor battlefield victory in this Jewish war against humanity.
Brosi, you are one intellectual giant.
In one swell swoop, in four short paragraphs, from the WV diesel affair to “the ascendency of Jewish Power”.
Genius.
I never owned a Diesel until quite recently.
I snagged a 2011 VW Touareg TDI in the Spring for a reasonable price. The high pressure fuel pump had failed, sending metallic fragments throughout the fuel system.
I removed and cleaned the associated components, then installed a new pump and injectors. It’s running like a bear now and I am quite impressed with this TDI.
Well done. You are lucky it didn’t shred the pistons and cylinder walls.
V6 diesel Grand Cherokees from the same era also suffer from this issue with Bosch high pressure fuel fuel pumps in the VM Motori diesels and sell for very low prices.
Thanks.
I was cautiously optimistic about not having to replace the injectors due to no metal glitter fragments being visible.
The TDI wouldn’t fire up however, and new injectors solved that issue.
I’ve owned 2 TDI’s. Best cars I’ve owned thus far. They were getting very popular before that rug pull. I still remember the tdi passing through my town while breaking the guiness record for highest mpg.
https://www.carvdb.com/news/volkswagen-passat-tdi-clean-diesel-sets-world-record-for-fuel-economy-around-the-lower-48-us-states-at-7799-mpg_9160/
Across eastern Europe the most prized diesel engine is the VW 1.9 which also came in the 130hp 1.9TDI PD (Pump Duse).
The 1.9 with the older mechanical fuel pump and under 100 hp was very simple and robust and last 3 hundred thousand miles and more. The are a simple 8 valve SOHC. They are a little rough and loud, but bullet proof.
If anyone sees one of these with decent body and interior they would be a very good long term investment.
I don’t really feel bad for Winterkorn, he was the puppy who rolled over essentially immediately and threw the company at the mercy of the court. You would have thought there were enough former East Germans around to warn him that the commies have no mercy and view that sort of thing as a weakness before attacking like a pack of rabid hyenas.
If he had even one ball in his sack they could fought the government to a stalemate for a tiny fraction of $30 billion.
The argument would be simple- a gorm of “we develop our cars for optimal performance for a wide range of conditions”, coupled with the fact that it passed all required tests.
It is actually a worse crime that VW elected to roll over like a whipped puppy.
But looking at Germany today – I was there in July and August – actual men are hard to find. They are cucks in their own country.
The crap I witnessed while I was there was sickening and I lost a great deal.of respect for the German people today. It is outside the topic of this article, but Germany is a pale shadow of itself. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me they totally wi.ped out and making devices no real car fan would ever like while ruining what is left.
When this emmisions gate scamndal was underway, everyone turned in their non-compliant VW diesel cars like good little boys and girls. It’s a shame because now we will never get to own one.
The governments in the 80’s and 90’s pushed diesel engines for cars for efficiency and therefore were more green. When people started buying the diesels governments turned around and instituted additional restrictions for diesel cars, making them more expensive and complicated.
I kept mine. Still.have it.
No. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Buy (at nearly full price) or geld my vehicle, my choice.
Some of us good lil boyscouts rolled over and turned in bumpstocks too.
Heres yr honor badge.
‘Martin Winterkorn is still being hounded by latter day Pharisees and Sadducees.’ — eric
He’s got it easy compared to Oliver Schmidt, an engineer who got locked in a US fedgov cage for what would be a civil offense in a normal country:
(July 16, 2020) — ‘A U.S. judge in Detroit approved the transfer to Germany of a former Volkswagen executive imprisoned in the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal.
‘In 2017, the U.S.-based VW executive Oliver Schmidt, who oversaw emissions issues, was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $400,000, the maximum possible under a plea deal the German national made with prosecutors after admitting to charges of conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violate clean air laws.
‘A half dozen former VW executives charged by U.S. prosecutors are believed to still be in Germany, including former VW boss Martin Winterkorn. Winterkorn was also charged by German prosecutors in 2019 with stock market manipulation. Germany’s Federal Justice Ministry has said it does not extradite German nationals to countries outside the EU.’
https://www.reuters.com/article/business/us-judge-approves-transfer-of-jailed-former-vw-executive-to-germany-idUSKCN24H365/
Why the draconian punishment? Hammurabi’s Code, Law 229: “If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.”
Fanatical Pharisees and Sadducees from thousands of years ago still dwell rent-free in the minds of millions of Americans, courtesy of the free ride they get in the Bible.
Why this primitive culture — technologically invisible, compared to the glories of ancient Greece and Rome — still hijacks the minds of 21st century Americans is a riddle we can ruefully ponder at our leisure, as the fat orange sun sets on our dying empire of dust. 🙁
We can’t have this:
https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/jim-motavalli/driving-vws-astonishing-200-mpg-xl1
We could have 200 mpg cars, even 100 mpg cars would be pretty cool.
I’m traveling this week. The cross county journey in my mini camper van has gone fairly well. But the van is pretty thirsty, averaging about 25 MPG. I don’t like having to keep an eye on the fuel prices while I travel. Back when I made the trip in the TDI I filled up twice along the way, and only because I didn’t want to drain the tank and risk heating up the fuel pump. I could have easily had one refueling stop and made the trip with range to spare. And in the summertime, at a price lower than premium gasoline.
Imagine if that new EV microbus was TDI powered. It would be the base of a new line of Westfalia campers that could be extremely popular and open up the market to a new generation of younger buyers who aren’t ever going full-time van life, but would like to get away for the weekend without having to pay 6 figures for the ride.
Imagine having a lithium house battery, backed up with a TDI powered high output alternator. Easily run for days on a few gallons of diesel. No need to screw with propane or butane stoves. If you don’t want the engine running for heat, slap a diesel heater underneath. Have a jerry can of fuel up on the rack if you’re worried about getting back to civilization. After all, 5 gallons will get you about 200 miles.
With all the racket about the murder of Charlie Kirk and the leftist that are rejoicing, none seem to connect the “Green” movement with the same leftist ideology.
Trannies and EVs are all part and parcel of the same agenda. That is, destroy the “old ways” with a New Way Forward. This is what has replaced The New Soviet Man. The entire civilizational structure founded on Christian ideology, however flawed, is what has given us the Modern World. The Watermelons want us living in yurts and picking berries for dinner. It’s the destruction of Western Civilization that drives them as it’s based on a belief in a Supreme Being that is above their narcissistic humanity.
That will not stand, according to them.
Kirk threw the brown BS flag on their tranny worship and started to go after the modern version of the Pharisees and Sadducees. For that he had to be killed…along with the TDI.
The Four Olds were ‘old ideas’, ‘old culture’, ‘old customs’, and ‘old habits’. During the Red August of 1966, shortly after the onset of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards’ campaign to destroy the Four Olds began amid the massacres being carried out in Beijing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Olds
Not the New Soviet Man, the new Chinese man. You’ve correctly identified two of the “olds,” destruction of morals and rejection of technology, now what are the others? Systemic destruction of wealth? How about destruction of culture through replacement with outsiders?
What sorta psychopath rejoices over senseless murder of a dad in front of his family ?
Useless damaged femtards one and all.