My bet is on the EPA figuring everything wrong, but they are wanting to get attention away from their mine waste spill issue, so this is a stop-gap issue until the truth (that there is no problem) comes out.
I just can't imagine VW has been cheating world-wide and that only the experts at the EPA were smart enough to catch this. The EPA is filled with incompetent workers.
Not even close. First, VW was not "cheating", at least they have not said so (the so-called admission is nothing of the sort). Second, CARB only found out because some university researcher (I think WV) did a test. The test still needs to replicated and validated. CARB told the EPA. The EPA is mad because they look so utterly stupid. Hence, the large fine and angry words. But they have nothing but someone else's research paper and an alleged "confession"
EPA didn’t discover it. I’d bet money that somebody at a competitor did and tipped them off.
I was in the industry for 40 yrs and can verify that competitive testing is done all the time.