Is There Any Possibility That The VW Emissions Scandal Has Crept Into Other World Automakers?...

[global1]

Is this just a German automakers thing or is this a wider scandal than is now being reported? Are any U.S., Japanese or Korean companies going to be found out pulling the same scam?

[PoliticAverse]

1. Sure, only time will tell if other manufacturers have actually done something similar,

but the possibility can't be ruled out at this point.

[1939]

2. While other carmakers may have some "tricks"

this is primarily a VW thing since they sell most of the diesel engine cars in the US. In the rest of the world, they regulate diesel engines for soot and for carbon monoxide (both caused by incomplete combustion), but are a lot less stringent on compound oxides of nitrogen. The controls to reduce these oxides also increase the fuel consumption which is a major concern with the rest of the world and their higher fuel costs. Most diesels sold overseas could never pass US government tests.

[exboyfil]

4. Which begs the question on whether the

NOx requirements are realistic. Perhaps software that can engage when in an urban setting especially at idle or low speed for rush hour consideration.

[Whiskeytide]

3. I'm inclined to assume ALL have...

... done it until testing confirms otherwise. More than most, the auto industry moves in lockstep.

[exboyfil]

5. The lab at WVU found

that a BMW did not have this issue when conducting the testing that found the VW issue.

[HooptieWagon]

6. Maybe Audi.

As they're in the same corporate umbrella, manufacture diesels, and share parts sources.

[malaise]

9. Audi is already part of it - that's on the news

Audi is VW's luxury brand

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/28/vws-audi-division-says-21m-cars-affected-in-emissions-scandal.html
<snip>

In the wake of that admission last week, Winterkorn stepped down to pave the way for a new leadership to get Volkswagen back on track.

But the start of a new week provided fresh signs of strain for the German car maker: Volkswagen's luxury brand, Audi, said on Monday that 2.1 million of its cars globally have been affected by the emissions scandal that has engulfed the German car manufacturer.

Some 1.42 million Audi vehicles in Western Europe were fitted with the software that allowed parent group Volkswagen to cheat U.S. emissions tests, Audi said on Monday. Almost 13,000 Audi cars in the U.S. and 577,000 in Germany were also impacted.

German media meanwhile reported that a Volkswagen engineer warned the firm about cheating over emission testing back in 2011.

[hobbit709]

7. I wouldn't bet against it.

[Ferd Berfel]

8. TRUE - VW cannot possibly be the only

company to have figured this out, and, implemented it.

[MineralMan]

10. It's such an easy thing to program into a car's computer

that I imagine there are many cars with similar emissions test beating code. If you know the routine used for these tests, coding to check whether a test is happening is simple.

One method would use the wheel speed sensors, which are on all cars with ABS braking. If the driving wheels are moving, but the non-driven wheels are not, the car is probably on a dynamometer. Activate the alternate emissions control for the test. That would be the simplest If/Then test. There are others that could be applied, of course, and the parameters of the testing are known.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of cars include something like that. Since the source code for the engine control computer is proprietary, how would anyone be able to look at it, including the EPA?

This scandal may well grow. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Tace]

11. Not Just Automakers

This opens a Pandora's Box of possible deceptive computer algorithm manipulation in an array of modern devices. --Tace