SSB Lecturette series: A Scandal with the Diesel Engine - Part 2

In Part 1 of the series we saw what was the basic scandal and why such branded organisations took this step to play with environment but lets see how this was caught and what happened next.

How did the EPA found out regarding the deception?

Since 2009 Volkswagen has implemented such software in its diesel cars but the regulators have found it now. It was discovered by an independent group, the Independent Council on Clean Transportation, when they found that there was a discrepancy in the lab tests done and the real-road performance for several of the diesel cars in Europe. SO they worked with researchers at West Virginia University, who struck a probe up the exhaust pipe of the VW's clean diesel cars and drove them from San Diego to Seattle. They found that the cars were emitting 15 to 20 times of Nitrogen Oxide as per the allowable limit.

Click here for SSB Lecturette series: A Scandal with the Diesel Engine - Part 1
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In May 2014, north California's air-pollution regulator and the EPA ordered Volkswagen to investigate and fix the problem and the company that it had done so. One again when they were tested but the real world performance did not match up with the lab tests. At that point, EPA regulators started grilling Volkswagen regarding the same and even threatened them of not approving their 2016's line of diesel cars. This ultimately cracked VW and they admitted the existence of defeat device.

According to Volkswagen when the NOx controls were switched on the performance of the car was degraded, the engines got hotter, wore out more quickly and got poor mileage. Some experts say that it might have affected car's torque and mileage, making them less fun to drive. Some of the individual car owners have been found to have turned off their emission controls to boost their performance.

Impact over Volkswagen:

Volkswagen has announced that 11 million diesel cars sold worldwide contained "defeat device". Every car that featured a Type EA 189 diesel engine. Most of these cars have been sold in Europe. In response to their dropping image in the world, the company has pledged to stop selling 2015 and 2016 Volkswagen and Audi models equipped with TDI clean diesel engines in the United States and will likely end up recalling all the cars to fix the problems. However many users will actually not want to fix it as it might  end up degrading their cars performance further.

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Moreover, Volkswagen will face criminal prosecution and will have to pay a hefty fine of $37,500 per noncompliant vehicle. This amount would go up to a total of $18 billion whereas the company made a total profit of about $12 billion dollar last year. Moreover the CEO of the company Martin Winterkorn has resigned. Matthias Muller, AG of Porche is reported to be the new CEO of Volkswagen

Conclusion:

It is scandals like this which raise questions on the future of diesel cars in the automobile industry. Not only has this it raised questions over every car which has been promised as giving high mileage and such activities so that pollution over Earth is under control. Moreover, a high penalty must be charged over such companies so that others take a lesson from this and do not repeat the same mistakes.

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About the Author:  Pranav Nikam is an Electrical and Electronics engineer who is working in a renowned MNC in Chennai. He likes to work out in gym, do photography and play badminton. Through his articles he wants to spread awareness among other defence aspirants.