CASE STUDY

AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

EXHAUST EMISSION SCANDAL OF VOLKSWAGON

Done by,
Alex Carey
ECE
What is Volkswagen accused of?
It's been dubbed the "diesel dupe". In September
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that many VW cars being
sold in America had a "defeat device" - or software - in diesel engines
that could detect when they were being tested, changing the
performance accordingly to improve results. The German car giant
has since admitted cheating emissions tests in the US.VW has had a
major push to sell diesel cars in the US, backed by a huge marketing
campaign trumpeting its cars' low emissions. The EPA's findings
cover 482,000 cars in the US only, including the VW-manufactured
Audi A3, and the VW models Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat. But VW
has admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide, including eight
million in Europe, are fitted with the so-called "defeat device".The
company has also been accused by the EPA of modifying software on
the 3 litre diesel engines fitted to some Porsche and Audi as well as
VW models. VW has denied the claims, which affect at least 10,000
vehicles.In November, VW said it had found "irregularities" in tests to
measure carbon dioxide emission levels that could affect about
800,000 cars in Europe - including petrol vehicles. However, in
December it said that following investigations, it had established that
this only affected about 36,000 of the cars it produces each year.

This 'defeat device' sounds like a

sophisticated piece of kit.
Full details of how it worked are sketchy, although the EPA
has said that the engines had computer software that could sense test
scenarios by monitoring speed, engine operation, air pressure and
even the position of the steering wheel.When the cars were operating
under controlled laboratory conditions - which typically involve
putting them on a stationary test rig - the device appears to have put
the vehicle into a sort of safety mode in which the engine ran below
normal power and performance. Once on the road, the engines
switched out of this test mode.The engines emitted nitrogen oxide
pollutants up to 40 times above what is allowed in the US.

What has been VW's response?

"We've totally screwed up," said VW America boss Michael
Horn, while the group's chief executive at the time, Martin
Winterkorn, said his company had "broken the trust of our customers
and the public". Mr Winterkorn resigned as a direct result of the
scandal and was replaced by Matthias Mueller, the former boss of
Porsche."My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen
Group - by leaving no stone unturned," Mr Mueller said on taking up
his new post.VW has also launched an internal inquiry.With VW
recalling millions of cars worldwide from early next year, it has set
aside €6.7bn (£4.8bn) to cover costs. That resulted in the company
posting its first quarterly loss for 15 years of €2.5bn in late
October.But that's unlikely to be the end of the financial impact. The
EPA has the power to fine a company up to $37,500 for each vehicle
that breaches standards - a maximum fine of about $18bn.The costs of
possible legal action by car owners and shareholders "cannot be
estimated at the current time", VW added.

How widespread are VW's problems?

What started in the US has spread to a growing number of
countries. The UK, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada and, of course,
Germany, have opened investigations. Throughout the world,
politicians, regulators and environmental groups are questioning the
legitimacy of VW's emissions testing.VW will recall 8.5 million cars
in Europe, including 2.4 million in Germany and 1.2 million in the
UK, and 500,000 in the US as a result of the emissions scandal.No
wonder the carmaker's shares have fallen by about a third since the
scandal broke.
Will more heads roll?
It's still unclear who knew what and when, although VW must
have had a chain of management command that approved fitting
cheating devices to its engines, so further departures are
likely.Christian Klingler, a management board member and head of
sales and marketing is leaving the company, although VW said this
was part of long-term planned structural changes and was not related
to recent events.In 2014, in the US, regulators raised concerns about
VW emissions levels, but these were dismissed by the company as
"technical issues" and "unexpected" real-world conditions. If
executives and managers wilfully misled officials (or their own VW
superiors) it's difficult to see them surviving.

Are other carmakers implicated?

That's for the various regulatory and government inquiries to
determine. California's Air Resources Board is now looking into other
manufacturers' testing results. Ford, BMW and Renault-Nissan have
said they did not use "defeat devices", while other firms have either
not commented or simply stated that they comply with the law.The
UK trade body for the car industry, the SMMT, said: "The EU
operates a fundamentally different system to the US - with all
European tests performed in strict conditions as required by EU law
and witnessed by a government-appointed independent approval
agency."But it added: "The industry acknowledges that the current
test method is outdated and is seeking agreement from the European
Commission for a new emissions test that embraces new testing
technologies and is more representative of on-road conditions."
That sounds like EU testing rules need
tightening, too.
Environmental campaigners have long argued that emissions
rules are being flouted. "Diesel cars in Europe operate with worse
technology on average than the US," said Jos Dings, from the pressure
group Transport & Environment. "Our latest report demonstrated that
almost 90% of diesel vehicles didn't meet emission limits when they
drive on the road. We are talking millions of vehicles."Car analysts at
the financial research firm Bernstein agree that European standards
are not as strict as those in the US. However, the analysts said in a
report that there was, therefore, "less need to cheat". So, if other
European carmakers' results are suspect, Bernstein says the
"consequences are likely to be a change in the test cycle rather than
legal action and fines".

It's all another blow for the diesel

market.
Certainly is. Over the past decade and more, carmakers have
poured a fortune into the production of diesel vehicles - with the
support of many governments - believing that they are better for the
environment. Latest scientific evidence suggests that's not the case,
and there are even moves to limit diesel cars in some cities.Diesel
sales were already slowing, so the VW scandal came at a bad time.
"The revelations are likely to lead to a sharp fall in demand for diesel
engine cars," said Richard Gane, automotive expert at consultants
Vendigital."In the US, the diesel car market currently represents
around 1% of all new car sales and this is unlikely to increase in the
short to medium term."However, in Europe the impact could be much
more significant, leading to a large tranche of the market switching to
petrol engine cars virtually overnight."