When will we have the "tobacco moment" on vehicle emissions?

[edatoakrun]

More bad news for GM (and anyone who breathes):

GM under renewed #dieselgate suspicions

Where will the next dieselgate shoe drop? Informed observers are convinced it will be at GM. This weekend, the London Times published tests that show Vauxhall’s Corsa, Astra and Vectra diesel cars as “among the most polluting models on Britain’s roads — typically emitting twice the level of toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) seen from rival manufacturers’ cars.”

According to the report, the Vauxhall Insignia “emits 10 times more NOx than allowed under EU law, making it perhaps Britain’s most polluting car from any mainstream manufacturer.” Vauxhall cars are rebadged Opels, made by GM’s permanently troubled European subsidiary.

The tests were performed by Leeds University, using a revolutionary roadside emissions system that analyzes the exhaust plumes as cars drive by. The system allows a rapid compilation of a database. For the study, the University analyzed exhaust emissions from “tens of thousands of cars, including 1,652 Vauxhalls.”...

http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/gm-under-renewed-dieselgate-suspicions/

 

[edatoakrun]

More on KBA's efforts to find real-world emissions of diesels in the Euro Market:

VW diesel emissions investigation widened to include other brands

German car regulators are expanding their investigation into suspected diesel emissions manipulation beyond Volkswagen to more than 50 models from brands including BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Volvo, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover.

The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) regulator said on Wednesday it would run tests on models made by 23 German and foreign car brands on suspicion of further manipulation of nitrogen oxides emissions...

The watchdog said it has been comparing readings in a test setting with those from portable meters in real-life tests and two-thirds of the measurements had already been taken...

Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said in a newspaper interview last weekend that diesel vehicles, including those from foreign manufacturers, would be subjected to strict checks...

Diesel car brands being investigated by KBA

BMW: 3 Series, 5 Series
Mini Daimler Mercedes: C-Class, CLS, Sprinter, V-Class, Daimler Smart Fortwo
Fiat Chrysler: Alfa Romeo Guilietta, Panda, Ducato, Jeep Cherokee
Ford: Focus, C-Max
Geely: Volvo V60
GM Opel: Astra, Insignia, Zafira
GM: Chevrolet Cruze
Honda: Honda HR-V
Hyundai: iX35, i20
Jaguar Land Rover: Land Rover Evoque
Mazda: Mazda 6
Mitsubishi: ASX
Nissan: Navara
Peugeot: Peugeot 308
Renault: Dacia, Kadjar
Toyota: Auris
VW: Golf, Beetle, Passat, Touran, Touareg, Golf Sportsvan, Polo, Crafter, Amarok; Audi A6, A3; Porsche Macan

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/11/vw-emissions-investigation-widened-bmw-mercedes-ford

Some history on how the EPA and other governmental agencies could test actual vehicle emissions, and why these agencies do not:

Uncheatable real world emissions testing was torpedoed by EPA and industry

November 10, 2015 By Daniel Stern

...The tech has been buried by the EPA and big industry.

...we have decades’ worth of new-vehicle emissions certification (US/Canada) and type-approval (Europe/rest-of-civilised-world) tests, but it’s now clear those readings don’t represent reality. Even if we ignore the out-and-out cheating lately come to light, automakers (all of them) have been “teaching to the test”, calibrating and tuning their vehicles for optimally clean emissions under the specific conditions tested, for as long as such tests have existed. Some (probably most) of them have sometimes (probably often) released cars calibrated for optimally high performance and/or fuel economy—and emissions be damned—under conditions not tested. At what point does that stop being legitimate compliance with the rules as they’re written and start being deliberate malfeasance?...

Technology exists to measure vehicle emissions with far less opportunity for cheating, and it’s not new...

...there’s a large mountain of evidence that scrutinising emissions by a roadside sniffer on a real road creates dependable data and separates the pollution from the perfume accurately, cost-effectively, and conveniently. Data from years of Stedman-type remote sensing nails VW bang to rights on their 2.0-litre cheatbag diesels. And the nudge-nudge/wink-wink loopholes in today’s emissions type-approval and certification protocols have been elucidated in these pages and others. Perhaps if the test moves from a treadmill to a real roadway, with roadside apparatus sniffing emissions produced by cars instrumented so as to verify they’re being driven normally, then “teaching to the test” will mean calibrating cars to produce acceptable emissions in the real world.

http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/uncheatable-real-world-emissions-testing-was-torpedoed-by-epa-and-industry/

 

[edatoakrun]

If DK's sources prove reliable, this may not be hyperbole.

#Dieseldämmerung: Reveal of industry-wide diesel cheating impending, sources claim

In one or two weeks’ time, a sudden end will come to the much communicated story that diesel cheating is an isolated matter, only performed by criminals at Volkswagen. Dailykanban received information that in one or two weeks, a number of other automakers will be exposed as diesel cheaters. A Volkswagen problem will turn into an industry-wide systemic problem, and it could very well be the beginning of the end of diesel-powered cars...

The technologies used to defeat emission tests are said to range from the crude to the highly sophisticated. Volkswagen’s defeat device swill look pedestrian compared to what may be unveiled. To deduce that the car is under observation, the sophisticated examples make use of the plethora of on-board sensors in a modern day’s car. Some cars are even said to have the location of government-approved testing labs in their GPS-guided computers...

In the past few days, talk about the impeding news release has spread through the tightly knit auto industry, and PR departments operate under condition red. About half of Europe’s cars are diesel-driven, and Volkswagen-sized revelations at other automakers could lead to a serious disruption of the European auto market.

http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/dieseldammerung-impending-reveal-of-industry-wide-diesel-cheating-sources-claim/

 

[edatoakrun]

Bad news for Nissan/Renault:

#Dieseldämmerung: DUH tests Renault Espace with “frightening” results

As expected by the Dailykanban, German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe today said cars by French automaker Renault are exceeding EU NOx limits in an alarming way.

In measurements (report attached) conducted by the renowned Abgasprüfstelle der Berner Fachhochschule in Switzerland, the Renault Espace 1.6 dCi had NOx emissions up to 25 times higher than current EURO 6 limits. The organization called the results “frightening.” Said DUH chief Jürgen Resch:

“The tests show a certain pattern. Only when the car was prepared in a certain way for next day’s test, the car passed with flying colors. Any deviations of the reconditioning resulted in emissions which we had never measured that high.” ...

Update: Renault issued a statement, saying that it “disputes” the findings. According to Renault, “the test procedures used by the University of Bern are not all compliant with European regulations. The report shows important variations in test findings which are not conclusive and require ‘additional measurements’.” Renault is endeavoring to fully understand the tests in detail.

http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/dieseldammerung-duh-tests-renault-espace-with-frightening-results/

 

[ydnas7]

Bad news for Nissan/Renault:


http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/dieseldammerung-duh-tests-renault-espace-with-frightening-results/

so far, its not particularity bad news, it just the Euro cycle is particularity inappropriate for real world approximation of diesel NOXious emissions.
A Diesel Nox Trap could be sized just enough for a euro test from cold start, do the same test from hot start and the Nox trap could already be fully loaded, hmmm bad results, but not cheating.

Also peak emissions is not the most representative measurement, but thats besides the point.

Perhaps the question could be, why do Mazda's without any of specific diesel exhaust treatments, have lower NOX emissions than any of the Euro manufacturers that don't use Urea?

 

[edatoakrun]

VW's Diesel Crisis Is Now a Global Threat

...the emissions problem is now more than just a VW scandal. Mitsubishi has admitted that it overstated fuel efficiency in more than half a million cars, drawing a raid by Japanese authorities and an investigation by US regulators. Only the second company to admit active cheating on emissions compliance, the Japanese automaker has lost about 40 percent of its market value in the last week of trading.

In Europe, the scandal has widened dramatically, sucking in a number of automakers who deny cheating but whose emissions are nonetheless dramatically out of compliance with EU regulations...

Yet all this might only be the tip of the iceberg. Thus far investigations and prosecutions have focused largely on nitrous oxide emissions from diesel engines. But given the scope of the problems and cheating exposed, there's little reason to believe the scandal won't spread to gasoline engines and carbon dioxide emissions, which are considered a prime cause of climate change. In fact, VW was already caught falsifying CO2 emissions, and testing by the International Council on Clean Transportation, which first discovered the company's diesel cheating, shows there are major gaps between carbon dioxide lab results and real-world driving...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-04-22/vw-s-diesel-crisis-is-now-a-global-threat

 

[edatoakrun]

VW's Diesel Crisis Is Now a Global Threat

...all this might only be the tip of the iceberg. Thus far investigations and prosecutions have focused largely on nitrous oxide emissions from diesel engines. But given the scope of the problems and cheating exposed, there's little reason to believe the scandal won't spread to gasoline engines and carbon dioxide emissions, which are considered a prime cause of climate change...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-04-22/vw-s-diesel-crisis-is-now-a-global-threat

And while some manufactures have the financial resources to buy their way out of their violations, Mitsubishi may be one company that does not.

Mitsubishi Used Improper Fuel-Economy Tests for Some Cars Since 1991

Auto maker said last week it had manipulated fuel-economy data

TOKYO— Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Tuesday said it has been using an unapproved testing method to collect fuel-economy-related data on certain vehicles in Japan for 25 years, 11 years longer than it had previously stated...

The revelation that improper testing had continued for a quarter-century magnified a scandal that began last week when the auto maker said employees intentionally manipulated data to make fuel economy look better for four models sold in Japan. A total of 625,000 vehicles were involved in the manipulation, Mitsubishi said last week.

Mitsubishi shares fell 9.6% in Tokyo trading on Tuesday after the latest problems came to light shortly before the market closed. Altogether, the shares have lost about half their value since last week.

“This is a problem that threatens the existence of our company,” President Tetsuro Aikawa said at a news conference Tuesday...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mitsubishi-used-improper-fuel-economy-tests-for-some-cars-since-1991-1461657990

 

[edatoakrun]

EPA orders Mitsubishi to conduct new vehicle testing

WASHINGTON -- The EPA directed Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to provide the agency with additional information on its U.S. vehicles after the automaker admitted to using improper fuel economy tests in Japan for the last 25 years.

An EPA spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency, coordinating with the California Air Resources Board, also directed the automaker to conduct additional coast down tests on vehicles sold in the U.S. going forward.

A California Air Resources Board spokesman said the agency has also instructed Mitsubishi to provide it with additional information on vehicles sold in the state...

http://www.autonews.com/article/20160426/OEM/160429867/epa-orders-mitsubishi-to-conduct-new-vehicle-testing

 

[edatoakrun]

No truth to the rumor that COO Tetsuro Aikawa and CEO Osamu Masuko have just been spotted in a white Outlander, being followed in a slow-speed-pursuit by law enforcement on a Tokyo freeway...

Mitsubishi COO denies he and CEO plan to step down

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Motors COO Tetsuro Aikawa today denied Japanese media reports that he and CEO Osamu Masuko plan to resign over the Japanese automaker's manipulation of fuel economy data. Aikawa added that he had "absolutely no plans" to pull out of the automotive market...

http://www.autonews.com/article/20160427/COPY01/304279887/mitsubishi-coo-denies-he-and-ceo-plan-to-step-down

 

[edatoakrun]

The big news may not be the crime, but the allegation of national government collusion in the cover-up:

Dieselgate Reaches Fiat Chrysler: Proof Of Defeat Devices Exists, German Government Says

Dieselgate officially has washed up on American shores, on board the Jeep Renegade. Germany’s Ministry Of Transport has declared that Fiat Chrysler has used illegal defeat devices in at least three models. This is the gist of an official letter sent by the Ministry to the European Commission. With that “a governmental agency for the first time alleges systemic manipulation by an automaker outside of the Volkswagen Group,” writes Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche, which obtained a copy of the letter.

There is another first: By sending the letter to Brussels, Germany is implicitly accusing the Italian government of covering for a national automaker. color=#FF0000]These pot-shots could turn into all-out war, and they could break the EU system by which regulatory approval by one member state is automatically recognized by all others...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2016/09/01/dieselgate-reaches-fiat-chrysler-proof-of-defeat-devices-exists-german-government-says/#49ea29cb6f89

 

[edatoakrun]

Bad news for Nissan/Renault:

(#Dieseldämmerung: DUH tests Renault Espace with “frightening” results)

http://dailykanban.com/2015/11/dieseldammerung-duh-tests-renault-espace-with-frightening-results/

so far, its not particularity bad news...

It is good news, IMO, that Nissan/Renault has essentially decided to stop wasting money (and lives) investing in obsolescent diesel technology.

Exclusive: Renault sees diesel disappearing from most of its European cars

Renault (RENA.PA) expects diesel engines to disappear from most of its European cars, company sources told Reuters, after the French automaker reviewed the costs of meeting tighter emissions standards following the Volkswagen scandal.

The sober reassessment was delivered at an internal meeting before the summer break. It shows how, a year after VW (VOWG_p.DE) admitted engineering software to cheat U.S. diesel emissions tests, the repercussions are forcing major European car makers to rewrite strategic plans that will shape their futures for years to come...

The business case for diesel can only deteriorate further, industry leaders realize, as targets become stricter, while electric and hybrid car batteries get cheaper and more powerful...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-renault-diesel-exclusive-idUSKCN11C1MF

 

[edatoakrun]

..It is good news, IMO, that Nissan/Renault has essentially decided to stop wasting money (and lives) investing in obsolescent diesel technology.

Exclusive: Renault sees diesel disappearing from most of its European cars

Renault (RENA.PA) expects diesel engines to disappear from most of its European cars, company sources told Reuters, after the French automaker reviewed the costs of meeting tighter emissions standards following the Volkswagen scandal.

The sober reassessment was delivered at an internal meeting before the summer break. It shows how, a year after VW (VOWG_p.DE) admitted engineering software to cheat U.S. diesel emissions tests, the repercussions are forcing major European car makers to rewrite strategic plans that will shape their futures for years to come...

The business case for diesel can only deteriorate further, industry leaders realize, as targets become stricter, while electric and hybrid car batteries get cheaper and more powerful...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-renault-diesel-exclusive-idUSKCN11C1MF

Latest news from Europe suggests thatRenault may join the long list of manufactures which may come to regret not deciding to ditch diesels years ago:

Renault Shares Slide as France Opens Diesel Emissions Probe

Renault SA became the latest victim of the fallout of Volkswagen AG’s diesel scandal after Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into the French company’s vehicle emissions, wiping as much as 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from its market value.

French investigative judges will oversee the case opened Thursday, the same day American authorities announced a probe into accusations that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV used computer software to cheat emissions tests of its diesel models. Renault -- which doesn’t sell vehicles in the U.S. -- faces allegations that its cars are a pollution hazard, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors office said by telephone...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/renault-shares-slide-as-france-opens-probe-into-diesel-emissions

GCC has one of the best summaries of the American F/C diesel investigation:

EPA and CARB charge Fiat-Chrysler with using undeclared emission control devices in 3.0L diesels

12 January 2017
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation (NOV) to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and FCA US LLC (collectively FCA) for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act for installing and failing to disclose at least eight auxiliary emissions control devices (AECDs) in light-duty model year 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks with 3.0-liter diesel engines sold in the United States. The undisclosed engine management software results in increased emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the vehicles, the agencies said. The allegations cover roughly 104,000 vehicles...

Of particular concern, said CARB, are AECDs found in these vehicles which reduce or turn off exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) or reduce the effectiveness of selective catalyst reduction (SCR) system. Both EGR and SCR control the emissions of NOx from the engine. The eight AECDs identified in the EPA NOV are:

Full EGR shut-off at highway speed
Reduced EGR with increasing vehicle speed
EGR shut-off for exhaust valve cleaning
DEF dosing disablement during SCR adaptation
EGR reduction due to modeled engine temperature
SCR catalyst warm-up disablement
Alternative SCR dosing modes
Use of load governor to delay ammonia refill of SCR catalyst
The next step in the NOV process will be for FCA to justify the use of the AECDs in the affected vehicles. If the company cannot do that, additional violations may result...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/01/20170112-fca.html