With Trump wanting to pretty much destroy the EPA, this might not go anywhere. Probably why the stock is down only 10%.
My question is... How are emissions measured? Isn't it a gas spectrometer probe stuck into the tail-pipe to measure the actual level of gasses emitted, like they do at emissions inspection stations in many US states? If so, why would one alter the "software" to pass the EPA certification, only to let it slide back to "normal" mode where the car emits gasses beyond the limits when the cars are put into production? What's the point of that? Something to do with fuel economy? How does "software" in emissions control affect the outcome of an emissions test so drastically?
That's actually a very good question... and easily answered I suspect. If no one pipes in, I'll have an answer for you by tomorrow because it piqued my curiosity too. It must be in how they do the testing. The on-board computer senses the test when its initiated. Obviously not the old-school GS probe in the exhaust pipe. It must all be done via the ECM interface. Which would imply an exhaust sensor past the ERG sensor is incorporated as an input to the ECM. Geez....Doesn't take a rocket-scientist to trick-f*ck that. I don't blame em. But who cares... lets talk stock price... Interesting how (FCAU) bounced back off the low today. No shares available to short however. It'll be a good trader for the next few days to be sure. If it goes below $9.... it'll see the $6's. Only two analysts follow. Me thinks its toast. Beware the Trump card however. Pun intended. No tellin' what happens when you suck on the big D. And they be a suckin'.
If the allegations are true..chrysler committed fraud and broke the law. It's not an EPA issue...more like DOJ issue.
If its anything like the VW, its exactly as you say. You claim a certain MPG and other performance metrics that are impossible to achieve. When the car is being tested, the software will know, and hence will ensure that emissions will be low, but performance won't be there. These tests won't be testing for performance, they will be testing for emissions. Then when the car isn't being tested, it will revert back to normal, which is more polluting and such so that you get the performance. With the VW case, the car knew it was being tested since the steering wheel wasn't being used and wheels where always pointed straight forward. In actuality, those diesel engines just couldn't deliver the performance with the claimed low emissions. If the car was actually tuned to have low emissions, the performance would have greatly suffered. Just like with trading, everything is a trade off!
I disagree. As a buyer of a 30K car, I would be upset if a manufacturer deceived me. I am not a tree hugger, but I don't want to pollute the air unnecessarily and when I trade it in, I don't want someone to look at my model and say...that's the year they sold the bad cars...'I'm gonna have to take off 3K for that.' It's not the pollution, it's the deception. If a supplier supplies them with a bad air bag and they aren't aware it is deficient...I don't consider it the fault of GM, Chrysler or Honda. But if they make a deliberate effort to conceal their engineering failures ...it's their fault. It makes me wonder what else they might be concealing. Fiat treated their customers like dimwits because they tried to fool them, thinking that they were smarter than their consumer. Why should someone spend 30K for a new car from a manufacturer you can't trust when you can buy one of superior quality (Fiat / Chrysler is at the bottom of the list of manufacturer's for quality control) from 20 other major manufacturers ? At least that is the way I see it.
I think it could be both... The EPA would investigate the failure to meet emission standards. The DOJ would investigate the fraud and deception. Just my .02.......or would that be 2 pips...........
Mate had a Golf the emmisions fix broke the EGR valve, to get to sub frame off £1200 job, VW went 50/50 on it, still ouch. ( just went on my car, blanked it, 20min job, no cost ) All the cheat does is let more exhaust gas recirculate via the EGR valve into the engine, which lowers the combustion temperature which stops nitrogen forming. You actually get less performance and less fuel economy with that open more. Pretty much all makes reduce there controls below 18c to save the engine from damage, except Ford which do it at -10c so unless your living in a hot country most of the time its off/reduced anyway.