[TangibleDisgust]

they will pass the smog tests. the issue is whether the emissions systems are on all the time or only during the test. in either situation, under testing they’ll pass. how will the smog testers know whether the car’s software has been updated? short of a master database maintained by dealers of who has or hasn’t brought their cars in for the “fix”, the government wouldn’t really know... i suspect that outside of California, this won’t be a big deal. since California has the toughest smog standards, car manufacturers make their cars meet those standards. most other states don’t have emissions testing, or the standards are not as tight.

i think what VW did was unethical, but faced with increasingly ridiculous bureaucracies writing arbitrary regulations (i.e. did any of us ever get to vote on these smog standards? or vote for the people who wrote them? or have veto power over them?), they found a loophole which was probably legal and took it. the government routinely does wrong things while explaining them away as “legal”. so turnabout is fair play.

[Redbob]

There’s a huge difference between “unethical” and “illegal;” what VW did was ILLEGAL since the law expressly forbids doing what they did.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

The problem posed in your first paragraph should be trivial; eg, on one of those plug-in testers, there should be a way to either read out which firmware version is installed in any given car, or get a checksum, which amounts to the same thing.

Of course, let’s not kid ourselves, the state of CA will impose a $37.50 (Or $137.50!) “Firmware verification fee” for the guy at the smog joint plugging in his deal and getting the readout in about 17 seconds. That much is a certainty!

What VW did was utterly unequivocably unethical!! That doesn’t mean I think they are evil or make bad cars. But cheating on the tests is cheating on the test. I can’t overthink that one. I am sorry they did that, IMO diesels, from what I know, which is 100% anecdotal though from folks I know and respect, are pretty cool.

[Secret Agent Man]

Vw is unethical because it lied to customers and sold them a product that claimed it works a certain way and it doesnt. They outright lied, people were made to believe they were geting something that theynwere not.

The epa is evil and an untouchable entity. That doesnt excuse vw.

[PapaBear3625]

My big question: does VW pass the EUROPEAN pollution standards? Are the European standards for diesel substantially different than US standards? If US standards are stricter, what is the justification for that?

Is it mostly that the US wants to exclude diesel cars from the market?