October 7, 2015 Vol. 12 No. 19

There can’t be anyone on the planet who hasn’t read or heard at least a few hundred words on the Volkswagen diesel emissions fiasco. But get ready for a few more because this is a story that goes way beyond a very tall company stooping very low to cheat. And it’s certainly not just about cars.

For anyone who’s been living under a rock, here’s a brief recap: Volkswagen’s 2.0-liter ‘TDI’ diesel engine used in several Volkswagen models sold here since 2009, along with the Audi A3, plus VW brands Skoda and Seat sold mainly in Europe, benefitted from clever engine-management software. Clever in the sense that it produced a certain emissions performance under test conditions but opened the floodgates in ordinary driving conditions and let loose anywhere from 10 to 40 times the NOx allowed by the rules, along with other pollutants at non-compliant levels. That’s how VW TDI owners have been able to brag about their 50-mpg cars. Thing is, you can’t limit NOx and particulates and get great fuel economy at the same time.

Those of us in trucking know that only too well.

The worst part of the story is that this deception — of the EPA and other such institutions elsewhere, car buyers, and its own dealers — was deliberate. Volkswagen has admitted this. Truly, it’s an extraordinary tale of corporate malfeasance the likes of which we’ve never seen. The arrogance is astonishing.

It remains to be seen what the company will do about it, but the German government has demanded an answer to that one this week. Among the possible fixes is a recall and subsequent re-programming of every diesel VW out there. And the question then becomes, will the driveability of these ‘fixed’ cars be tolerable?

Some 100,000 cars are affected in Canada, almost 500,000 in the U.S., and about 11 million worldwide. And that’s not to mention 2.1 million VW light and light-medium commercial trucks sold all over the place with the same diesel engine.

Although other European manufacturers of diesel cars are now under scrutiny, none of them is implicated in a similar deception.