Volkswagen - What's got into you???

[HarmanKardon]

Just payed 527 euros today for the 2 years interval service of my 2004 Golf.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Sadly there is no such thing as american anymore...

Not purely American, no. We assemble a few things from foreign made parts with a few simple American made parts thrown in to satisfy "parts content" regulation.........But, that's about it.........at best.

I checked the parts content of my '09 Challenger. Geez.

Assembled in Canada of parts that come from Mexico, France, Japan, South America, China, Germany............

The engine castings are American made, but sent to Mexico for machining, assembly and testing. Then shipped to Ontario for installation. The door latches have "Made in USA" stamped on them. The body panels were still stamped in Twinsburg, Ohio (Where my father retired from.) until that plant was shut down and dismantled in 2010. I have no idea where they come from now.

And as we all know, Chrysler is owned by Fiat, an Italian company.

So, door latches, raw castings and the Italian owned Dodge logo are what constitutes an "American brand" these days.....

I remember my Dad telling me sometime in the 1980s; "Well, we have to outsource some parts to keep profits up. That helps protect the remaining American jobs."

Love the guy and still think he was damn sharp........
But, that didn't mean he ALWAYS saw what was really going on.

[Grumpy]

By the way, I own a Toyota and a couple of Chevy's. Also had a Zuki bike. I just buy what I like as long as its a quality vehicle.

[Rajoo]

I own a 2004 S-500 which I used to drive very infrequently till about four years back since I hated to see it parked in the garage. So within the first year of full time service with less than 30K miles on it, I stop by for coffee on my way to work and as I am driving out of the parking lot I realize that the transmission is staying on first gear. Stuck in first period. So I parked it and drove it in the evening back home very slowly.

Repair cost? $7K+ with a private mechanic since the car was ou of warranty by then. Dealer would have been over $12K. I still love that car though. My other ride is a 2002 Vette with about the same miles but only needed oil changes but tires last less than 30K miles and are very pricey. A very reliable car.

[Oerets]

From the info I have gleaned so far this is out and out fraud by VW. A company I have always thought was one of the good guys. My first car was a 63 Beetle at 16 and still own a 70 Ghia. Close to forty years now.

Hard for me imagine this is an isolated occurrence, just by VW and we will see. No excuse and my only hope the company (VW) one who was close to being the number one manufacturer in the world will see the error and make this right.

Can jail time be next?

Hope so!

Barney

[Rajoo]

The VW case is getting to be even more interesting since the same technique seems to have been used by US diesel engine manufacturers fifteen years ago to fool the EPA. This is from Daniel Carder an engineer at West Virginia University.

Carder belonged to a 15-member West Virginia University team that pioneered portable emissions testing as part of a 1998 settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and several heavy duty diesel engine makers including Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) and Cummins Engine Co (CMI.N).

The manufacturers agreed to pay $83.4 million in civil penalties after federal officials found evidence that they were selling heavy duty diesel engines equipped with “defeat devices” that allowed the engines to meet EPA emission standards during testing but disabled the emission control system during normal highway driving.

When the news about Volkswagen broke last Friday, Carder heard from some of the heavy diesel engine manufacturers that were part of the consent decree.

"They saw what had happened and called to say: 'Good job, you guys,'" Carder said. "Some folks said: 'How did they not learn from our mistakes 15 years ago?'"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/23/us-usa-volkswagen-researchers-idUSKCN0RM2D720150923"]http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RM2D720150923[/URL]

Above link is no longer active. Found a new one.

http://www.fullhn.com.s3-website-eu-...node_id=663504

[icenine]

The environmentally politically incorrect part of me does kind of like the idea of always passing the California smog test. If I had a VW that was running well I would not be in a rush for the recall.

[Rajoo]

From my Post #31:

West Virginia Engineer Proves to Be a David to VW's Goliath

"We actually presented this data in a public forum and were actually questioned by Volkswagen," said Carder.

So this data was presented publicly and VW must have known that their cars were not meeting published specs some time late 2013.

http://www.fullhn.com.s3-website-eu-...node_id=663504

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by BeamOn

http://www.fullhn.com.s3-website-eu-...node_id=663504

That site scares Malwarebytes.

This one works still (again?).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RM2D720150923

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Boreas

That site scares Malwarebytes.

This one works still (again?).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RM2D720150923

No, does not work. I use Malwarebytes (and keep it current) also and did not get a block or warning.

Here is a new link from Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RM2D720150923