I talked to a friend this weekend who works for a company associated with VW. He claimed “they all do that” - meaning all the manufacturers have software tailored to emission testing which kicks in when the test is done. (Time will tell, no doubt.)
They comply with the letter of the law if not exactly the spirit of the law.
Which is how most any company (not just auto) out there has to operate these days, given the increasingly idiotic laws.
Wrongo, Bwana-II: doing that is strictly verboten, and has been since Day Uno, as we say here in Texas...
See my previous reply.
As a former calibrator for a U.S. company who shall remain nameless (headquartered in Auburn Hills, MI), I can tell you there is no uncertainty on this point in the auto industry, and when the VW thing was discovered, the same people were testing a BMW X5 that showed identical numbers on the highway and on the dyno.
BMW passed the requirements without cheating and VW had 40 times NOx output when their cheating software was disabled. Even if the requirements were relaxed I doubt they’d allow 40 times more NOx.