The question now for investigators and prosecutors from Korea to Germany to the U.S. is how many people at Volkswagen knew and how far up that knowledge went.He figured the data might result in some papers a few people might read.Its stock price tanked, its reputation has been damaged and its CEO resigned on Wednesday.
So who made the discovery that sent the German car giant into a tailspin A group of scientists at West Virginia University. WVU research assistant professor Arvind Thiruvengadam and his colleagues test and experiment on cars and engines. He admits his is not the sexiest lab on campus, but he says he got superexcited when they won a grant in 2012 to test a few diesel cars. Our happiness was, Wow, we are going to be the first guys to test diesel cars on the road, he says. And then after that, when we were getting the data we were like OK, were going to write a lot of journal papers, and well be happy if three people read these journal papers. The International Council on Clean Transportation is a nonprofit that tries to provide independent science to government agencies that regulate the environment. It hired the university to do a standard emissions tests on diesel cars in the U.S. Volkswagen has been hyping diesel cars that are environmentally friendly and fuel efficient. Volkswagen had the boldest claims and the highest sales, but Thiruvengadam tested two VW cars and found that the claims of low emissions never panned out in the real world. In none of their road tests could they get their two Volkswagen cars to meet the claims, even though a BMW they tested did fine. Very early on it was pretty clear to the scientists that something was wrong. And then, I mean, we did so much testing that we couldnt repeatedly be doing the same mistake again and again, he says. Thats what everyone in the project began to suspect but wouldnt dare to say out loud. Encom Discover 2015 Install Whats CalledGerman immediately suspected Volkswagen had done something not completely unheard of in the car business: install whats called a defeat device. The quick definition is something that tells the computer when youre on the official test cycle and when youre not. And when youre not, you change how the emission control system works, he says. Its both writing the code, but you also need to do validation. So someone had to take these vehicles out, test them on the standard test cycle, make sure that the emission controls are supposed to be working when theyre supposed to be working, he says. He says things like this start with one little lie or cheat at a time. And then maybe you dont even realize how far over the line you are. So does he feel vindicated I think vindicated is the wrong word. The question now for investigators and prosecutors from Korea to Germany to the U.S. Volkswagen knew and how far up that knowledge went.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |