The VW scandal

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003347476
Audi cars with automatic transmissions have technology capable of distorting emissions when they are tested, Volkswagen said, as its luxury flagship is battling allegations over a reported discovery of a new cheat software device.

Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper said a week ago that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had this summer discovered cheating software in an older Audi model, which is unrelated to the device that triggered last year’s diesel emissions test-cheating scandal at parent VW.

The software in CARB’s discovery lowered carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by detecting whether a car’s steering wheel was turned as it would be when driving on a road and was used in diesel and petrol models in Europe for years, Bild had said.

http://www.dw.com/en/us-regulator-finds-another-cheat-device-in-audi-car/a-36280676
According to "Bild am Sonntag" the most recently discovered software was installed on many Audi models with a certain automatic transmission. If the steering wheel does not turn, this indicates laboratory testing conditions, and a gear shifting program which produces less carbon dioxide is activated.

If the driver turns the steering wheel by more than 15 degrees, however, the "warm-up strategy" deactivates, "Bild am Sonntag"said.

Audi reportedly stopped using the software in May 2016, just before CARB discovered the manipulation in an older model, the paper said, adding that the carmaker had suspended several engineers in connection with the matter.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38386544
Volkswagen has struck a deal with the US authorities over some 80,000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars with 3-litre diesel engines.

The agreement is another step towards allowing the German car maker to put the emissions cheating scandal behind it.

In June VW agreed to a $15bn (£12.1bn) settlement for another 475,000 vehicles affected by the scandal.

The new agreement will cost Volkswagen an estimated $1bn, US authorities said.

US District Judge Charles Breyer said owners of the 3-litre cars made between 2009 and 2016 would get "substantial compensation" for having them fixed or repaired.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/06/diesel-cars-are-10-times-more-toxic-than-trucks-and-buses-data-shows
Modern diesel cars produce 10 times more toxic air pollution than heavy trucks and buses, new European data has revealed.

The stark difference in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is due to the much stricter testing applied to large vehicles in the EU, according to the researchers behind a new report. They say the same strict measures must be applied to cars.

NOx pollution is responsible for tens of thousands of early deaths across Europe, with the UK suffering a particularly high toll. Much of the pollution is produced by diesel cars, which on the road emit about six times more than allowed in the official lab-based tests. Following the Volkswagen “dieselgate” scandal, the car tests are due to be toughened, but campaigners say the reforms do not go far enough.

The new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a research group that played a key role in exposing Volkswagen’s cheating, compared the emissions from trucks and buses in realistic driving conditions with those of cars.

It found that heavy-duty vehicles tested in Germany and Finland emitted about 210mg NOx per kilometre driven, less than half the 500mg/km pumped out by modern diesel cars that meet the highest “Euro 6” standard. However, the buses and trucks have larger engines and burn more diesel per kilometre, meaning that cars produce 10 times more NOx per litre of fuel.

VW in Australia -
http://www.newsboost.com/Content/Attachments/160923%20VW%20ACCC.pdf
Friday 23 September, 2016 Fireworks in ACCC / Volkswagen Federal Court showdown

Lawyers for Volkswagen’s German Head Office have been directed out of the Federal Court today to reconsider their position, after Justice Lindsay Foster described Volkswagen’s conduct as “unacceptable” and “incredibly annoying”, in the case brought by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission.
Facing the first case management hearing of the Federal Court action launched by the national regulator, the ACCC, over the Australian impacts of its global emissions scandal, VW AG refused to recognise the Australian Federal Court’s jurisdiction, astonishingly, asserting it did not have to participate in the Court proceedings.
This follows a similar stunt the company has used to obfuscate and delay various proceedings overseas, most recently in Ireland, and mirrors the tactics the company is using to avoid compensating around 100,000 motorists represented by Maurice Blackburn’s class actions Principal, Jason Geisker.
“Volkswagen AG continues to disregard Australian motorists and our legal system, as Justice Foster previously described in our class action – it is treating Australia as a backwater,” Mr Geisker said.
“The arrogance of the global behemoth in acting as though it sets the legal rules and systems in this country – or any country for that matter – is astonishing.

also http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/volkswagen-scandal-diesel-engine-car-owners-could-get-compensation-australian-lawyers-say/news-story/24611a4746c9b8dc2ce537989a55f865

also http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4355637.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/business/volkswagen-diesel-emissions-investigation-settlement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Volkswagen executive who faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, two people with knowledge of the arrest said on Sunday, marking an escalation of the criminal investigation into the automaker’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Oliver Schmidt, who led Volkswagen’s regulatory compliance office in the United States from 2014 to March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by investigators in Florida and is expected to be arraigned on Monday in Detroit, said the two people, a law enforcement official and someone familiar with the case.

James Liang, a former Volkswagen engineer who worked for the company in California, pleaded guilty in September to charges that included conspiracy to defraud the federal government and violating the Clean Air Act. But Mr. Schmidt’s arrest brings the investigation into the executive ranks.

The arrest came as Volkswagen and the Justice Department neared a deal to pay more than $2 billion to resolve the criminal investigation into the emissions cheating. The company or one of its corporate entities is expected to plead guilty as part of the deal.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38552828
VW chiefs 'hushed up emission cheating'

By the summer of 2015, the complaint from the FBI said US regulators knew that emissions from VW diesel vehicles were "substantially higher" when they were being driven on the road than when being tested.

The affidavit said Mr Schmidt - who was the general manager in charge of VW's Environmental and Engineering Office between 2012 and March 2015 - knew the discrepancy was because VW had "intentionally installed software in the diesel vehicles it sold in the US from 2009 through 2015 designed to detect and cheat US emissions tests".

In 2015, Mr Schmidt travelled to the US to talk to US regulators about the discrepancy. The filing says that during these talks, Mr Schmidt "intended to, and did, deceive and mislead US regulators" by saying the difference in the emission levels was not because of deliberate cheating.

The affidavit cites two VW employees who said that in a presentation to VW's executive management in Germany, "VW employees [including Mr Schmidt] assured VW executive management that US regulators were not aware of the defeat devices - that is the engines' ability to distinguish between the dynamometer and road mode.

"Rather than advocate for disclosure of the defeat device to US regulators, VW executive management authorised its continued concealment. "

... in the UK, lawyers said 10,000 VW owners had already expressed an interest in suing VW. They estimated that owners could get "several thousand" pounds in compensation.

Harcus Sinclair is applying for a group litigation order - which is similar to a US class action lawsuit - in the High Court later this month

Seventy-seven current or former VW owners have put their names to Harcus Sinclair's application for a group litigation order which will be heard in the High Court on 30 January.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/business/volkswagen-diesel-settlement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

According to two people briefed on the settlement, Volkswagen is expected to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations, and obstruction of justice. The people could not talk publicly about the deal because it was not yet final. Many of the 600,000 cars in the United States equipped with the emissions-cheating software were imported from Germany or Mexico.


The $4.3 billion in fines covers criminal and civil aspects of the government’s case, including environmental and customs-related penalties. The fines would bring the total cost of the scandal to Volkswagen in the United States to $20 billion, including settlements of civil suits by car owners, certainly one of the most costly corporate scandals in history.

VW in Australia - 08 July 2016
http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/volkswagen-australia-denies-using-defeat-devices-20160707-gq0r4k.html
Class action drags on as experts hint at 2018 result.
Volkswagen Australia has denied using emissions defeat devices in local models while dismissing billions of dollars in fines and compensation set to be paid to US customers.

Legal representatives for the manufacturer defended class action lawsuits in the Federal Court of Australia on Thursday, where the brand looked to protect trade secrets surrounding popular models such as the Volkswagen Golf.

Noel Huntley, a barrister acting on Volkswagen's behalf, told a directions hearing in Sydney that "there is no defeat device" present in the manufacturer's cars, something the brand plans to prove later this year.

But his claim clashes with earlier statements from Volkswagen Australia, including an October 2015 media release that said "certain diesel vehicles sold in Australia were fitted with software that can affect their emissions during a dynamometer test".

The lawsuits have not legally defined what a defeat device is, or whether it was present in around 90,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda vehicles sold in Australia.

VW in US - http://www.bbc.com/news/live/business-38691546
Volkswagen's US dealers will receive a $1.2bn (£1bn) cash settlement over its diesel emissions scandal, plus $270m through a provision for prior payments and $175m in continued sales incentives.

US District Judge Charles Breyer said 650 US dealers would be paid over 18 months, ruling the settlement "fair, reasonable, and adequate."

In total, VW has now agreed to spend up to $22bn in the US to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers stemming from the excess vehicle emissions.

If you have a VW car (or one of these at https://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/general-law/diesel-vehicles-affected/ ) and want to get compemsation,

see https://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/volkswagen/

Remember, VW have cheated you and all other buyers so you have a right to compensation!