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That didn't take long: Cambridge woman sues VW over diesel fraud
By adamg on Wed, 09/23/2015 - 8:01am
A Cambridge woman who bought an Audi A3 TDI in 2010 has sued Volkswagen Group of America for breach of contract, breach of warranty and "unjust enrichment" for selling diesel cars that belched more pollutants than allowed.
In her lawsuit, filed yesterday in US District Court in Boston, Nadine Bonda said she never would have bought the car - which carried a premium price over the gasoline version - if she had known it could be pumping out 40 times the allowed levels of nitrogen oxide due to software that turned off pollution controls, except when the software detected the car was having its emissions tested.
Bonda, who bought her car at Bernardi Audi in Natick, continued that after VW fixes the problem, her car will have worse mileage and more sluggish performance than the company advertised.
Bonda is seeking to be named lead plaintiff in a class action to recover millions of dollars for purchasers of VW and Audi diesel models sold after 2009.
Plaintiff and the class members also have suffered and will continue to suffer injury through the reduction in the value of their Vehicles, resulting from VW’s actions. VW charged Plaintiff and the class members a premium for their “Clean Diesel” Vehicles. In addition, any fix by VW will inevitably reduce the Vehicles’ fuel efficiency, resulting in Plaintiff and the class members paying more for fuel over the life of the Vehicles.
UPDATE: Bonda - and her lawyers - will probably face lots of competition to be designated as lead plaintiff. I've attached a copy of another lawsuit by a guy from Brooklyn, who filed suit in Massachusetts as well, in part because he bought his VW in Watertown.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete Bonda complaint | 90.2 KB |
| Complete Naparsteker complaint | 232.93 KB |
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Comments
I'm annoyed, but not that unhappy
My vehicle gets 50 mpg on long trips - 45 if it has a bike rack and kayak on it. I'm not even sure it is part of this mess given that my car doesn't use the AdBlue after treatment (the part of the system that ran more efficiently when the inspection socket was in use).
That said, the regulators will be coming down hard on VW, but VW isn't the only one who was doing this and is going to feel the hammer come down. The reason the US caught this and not European regulators is that the US has the EPA testing things, while the EU relies on the manufacturers themselves. The EU is already in a kerfluffle because the test-rated efficiency results are often as much as 40% off of actual performance for all vehicles.
Also, in the US, NOx is a concern but nothing on the level that it is in Europe, where passenger diesels have much higher market share. It does have its own health effects - primarily respiratory health effects in children. It is also in constant flux with ground level ozone.
List of affected VW cars
according to this New York Times graphic, the affected US cars are:
Audi A3 2010-2015
Beetle and Beetle Convertible 2012-2015
Golf 2010-2015
Golf Sportwagen 2015
Jetta 2009-2015
Jetta Sportwagen 2009-2014
Passat 2012-2015
A few facts mixed up
You are mixed up on a few of the facts of this situation. The fact that your car doesn't use AdBlue would actually indicate that your car may be involved. The issue here being that VW claimed that it's 2.0 liter TDI engine was so clean it didn't need AdBlue. So if you have a 2.0 TDI 4-cyl from 2009 to 2015 watch out for a recall. Also, you are incorrect that the EPA caught this error because they test vehicles here. The EPA does not test vehicles sold in the US. They leave that up to the manufacturers, who use independent laboratories and report the info to the EPA. An independent study by an NGO discovered the inconsistencies and notified the EPA who pressured VW into admitting their cheat. A great rundown of the whole situation is here:
Oversight is the key
The EPA doesn't directly test vehicles, but it does control the lab certification process and the data are available. You are right, and I should have clarified that better. The important difference is still the level of oversight.
In the EU, the manufacturer controls the testing and reports the results, which has led to many problems (including problems with the test cycles not matching field use patterns, which is probably obscuring more of these "software" issues). Reported efficiency can be as much as 50% off of what consumers experience!
That said, it would take a lot of fuel economy loss in the reconfiguration of my Jetta to drop it under the 42mpg rating. On a college visiting trip last April, my Jetta was kicking arse on fuel economy compared to my friend's Prius wagon! Many have been baffled by the exceptional fuel economy relative to EPA rating, but some of that is running a test cycle developed for gasoline cars. That same test cycle led to huge overestimates of mileage for certain types of hybrids that can stay in electric mode at highway speed.
Highway pollution least affected
from my reading at page 78 of the study report: http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/WVU_LDDV_in-use_...
If you ever take your car to a dealer and they apply a software update to make the car do scrubbing cycles of the NOx cleaner (using rich a fuel mixture), you will probably see your local/urban mileage suck the most, producing more CO2 "pollution".
The other take-away from that page, I think, is that Ad-Blue or not, VW cheated with both systems, as vehicles A and B are both from the same manufacturer.
Yup: to anon above.
The EPA sets the standards, which are measured (in Mass every two years) when you get a sticker. So, I guess the states are charged with enforcement. Apparently, they run just fine when hooked up to an OBD...
Here's a link, probably the one you wanted, too:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/advanced-cars/ho...
Swirly, not all of what you
Swirly, not all of what you've posted is true. First, EPA didn't catch this, an independent third party testing emissions from the vehicles in question kept getting funky data. They turned to EPA for their data set which manufacturers provide to them as part of the certification process. EPA does not test every vehicle in the US market, manufacturers self-certify. EPA shared their data, which again did not match because VW provided falsified emissions numbers, and the third party presented their final report to EPA out of good will, essentially saying "this didn't add up, maybe you should know." Only then did EPA begin any deeper dive, resulting the filings announced last week.
Furthermore, Adblue systems were not activated when these vehicles were under going emissions testing. The whole crux of this is none of the vehicles covered by this issue have an Adblue/urea injection system. VW marketed this as a selling point stating they had engineered out the need for urea injection through other control measures, eliminating the cost and need for periodic diesel exhaust fluid refills that other diesel vehicles require. VW's system is designed to react off NOx emissions through a combination of elevated exhaust temperature and exhaust re-circulation at periodic intervals.
Not being confrontational just trying to share good information. There is a ton of mis-information surrounding this story that's making the rounds right now. FWIW, former VW mech. and multiple TDI owner here.
Ya, skunk.
The more you read about it, the less certain you are about the facts. About the only story I have real faith in is the IEEE article I posted a link to somewhere.
I just couldn't figure how they got caught. Without the university paid study, they would have gotten away with it forever, or until they got a better technology to fix the problem.
I wonder how many other manufacturers are doing it? Hey, if one claims to disobey the laws of physics and gets caught cheating, what does this say about the others?
Press has been completely confusing
That's why I wondered if my non-pee vehicle was even involved, given the misuse of the term "aftertreatment" in one article I had seen, and an erroneous explanation of adjustments to the urea system in another.
The models in question have a catalyst that traps carbonaceous particulate and then burns them all off by injecting some fuel into the unit and running it hot - about every 400 or so miles. That "regeneration" produces a lot of NOx, which is why the levels are so high. This catalyst is also why the fuel has to be ultra low sulfur or it will foul.
I'll read the IEEE article when I get a chance.
And, no, you can't pee in the AdBlu tank - the system monitors urea concentration, and your urine would have to be 10-20x more concentrated to work.
Oh, BTW
I listened to the NPR story on the radio yesterday.
Hopeless.
Something tells me this VW
Something tells me this VW purchase turned lawsuit was premeditated. Just a hunch.
Really!
She bought a car in 2010 knowing that five years later a study in West Virginia would reveal VW was cheating on emissions testing, and bingo: profit!
"And now we play the waiting
"And now we play the waiting game. Oooh, I hate the waiting game, let's play hungry hungry hippos."
Think that's impressive?
The muslim atheist socialist conspiracy had to pick a foreign kid, place a birth announcement in a Hawaiian newspaper, and wait 50 years in hopes of that kid being elected and carrying out their dream of destroying America.
THAT'S how to you play the long game.
But...
Wouldn't a 'muslim atheist' be committing apostasy which makes Muslims apoplectic?
well, yes, but
The kind of person who buys into the "Obama is a MUSLIM n he's not from AMURRCA!!!" conspiracy doesn't actually understand anything about Islam. I saw some dumbass thing one of my uncles posted on Facebook about how the "Muslim god" isn't the "real" God, share and like if u agree, that kind of thing.
Simple solution
The judge orders VW to buy her car back at the original MSRP.
Adam, small correction. It's
Adam, small correction. It's an estimated 40% increase in NOx emissions, not 40 times based on the EPA compliant issued to VW. Admittedly I didn't read Bonda's filing, if the 40 times figure comes from that document it's incorrect. The decreased mileage and performance claim is pure speculation on Bonda's part since no solution has been proposed by VW yet, although it's likely performance will take a least a small hit. Mileage will be an unknown until a viable solution is released to dealer and ultimately owners.
Source: former VW mech., current owner of multiple TDI powered vehicles that fall beneath the umbrella of this (impending) recall action.
Thanks, but source?
I ask because pretty much every single report I've seen (example) is stating NOx emissions 25-40 times higher, not 40% higher. Obviously, quite a difference!
I'm seeing conflicting
I'm seeing conflicting numbers now too, appears most are saying "up to 40X" vs. the articles I was reading from Reuters etc. over the weekend. My mistake, feel free to modify the comment.
This will set VWoA and diesel adoption in the US back 10yrs IMHO.
No, no it's 40x as much, not
No, no it's 40x as much, not 40% more. REALLY REALLY bad, not just "bad."
It's an interesting problem.
I'm surprised they were caught at all. When you take your car in for an emissions test, they hook it up to the OBD system. The I/O is generally under the steering wheel. It's the thing you can use to reset your 'check engine' light. It will access the computers that store your error codes when something goes amiss. Some will toss a number (say P0151) some, like mine, will actually give the symptom, like 'P0151 O2 sensor low voltage'. It can help in diagnosing the problem, but it ain't magic. You still have to poke around.
Since I'm interested in this, I did a little reading to try to find out how the hell they got caught.
When the OBD was hooked up to a machine, it ran 'properly'. Problem is, the cat converter needs to be really hot to burn off the NOx. This is done by measuring the cat temp and adjusting the fuel flow. Well, that causes lousy mileage and rich running.
So guess what the computer programmers did to the ECM...
But how did they get caught? It sure as hell wasn't the EPA. It was a private group that contracted with a university to measure exhaust gases. The University noticed that when the cars were hooked up, they did fine, but out on the road, a whole different ball game. They presented their findings a year ago and the EPA became most interested.
The rose on the icing of the cake of irony here? It was a private European company that hired the school to test the cars to get info that they could use on European regulators. They want more strict NOx emission rules or something over there, so they were measuring our emission standards and results.
In Europe, the manufacturers pay for and administer the tests, but the government supplies the observers.
They also use an ammonia based water injection system to help catalyze the NO into water and hydrogen. Apparently this version of pee is Very Expensive. Even more than bobcat urine. I think. I buy neither.
"It was worse than a crime.
"It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder."
It's bad enough they pissed off the EPA. If they piss of European governments, those guys are more likely to say "fuck it, let's just expand car-free central districts in ever city."
I wouldn't bet on that
The real fight shaping up is over vehicles from all manufacturers not meeting their rated mpg. VW likely only got caught because it dominates the passenger diesel market in the US. There has been something rotten in Denmark - and other countries - regarding "official" fuel economy versus actual.
It gets even worse when the subsidies for diesel that were based on that efficiency are factored in. One reason that the diesels were so very popular in the EU was the perception that they had much higher economy - and that led to particulate pollution problems which were addressed by the filters which led to the NOx problems ...
I heard one frustrated regulator say that they all got it ass backwards: Europe, with its lower speeds and shorter drives and tightly packed cities, should have pushed hybrids and electrics to solve the efficiency and emissions issues. Diesels are still better in the US, with less urbanization and longer drives and higher speeds.
My experience with cars I've owned
is that the city mileage is usually worse than the EPA averages, but that the highway mileage is usually much better.
Current example - my 2012 Ford Focus with DCT "automated manual" transmission. EPA city mileage rating is 26 - my average straight city mileage has been between 19 and 21. EPA highway mileage rating is 36 - my average straight highway mileage has been between 41 and 44.
Same here - except for the TDI
The TDI is rated 30/42. Only in the deepest freeze of the Arctic Vortex and the coldest days of the Snowmageddon (the two winters we have owned the car) did we get a tank calculation (miles versus fill gallons) less than 30. We were pretty much only doing city miles then, with 2 minutes of idling of the vehicle at startup to ungel the gearbox, and rarely with fewer than 3 people aboard.
When I drove to Albany for a business meeting last January, and the temperature never got above 10F (below zero until I got East of Springfield on the return), the fuel economy dropped to about 46 mpg for the trip.
In late April, when it was still cold and snowing in Western MA, Vermont, and Maine, my boy and I averaged 51 mpg over an 850 mile road trip - and won our bet with the Prius owner who undertook a similar college visit odyssey (the V got 47 and had trouble climbing grades).
Like many, I was astounded by the fuel economy. Now I'm not so astounded - but the revised numbers won't matter so much given that I only drive about 7-8,000 miles a year and those are mostly road trips. For friends who live in unregulated airsheds, the fuel economy is absolutely more important than the emissions for environmental reasons.
Lets compare VW cheating to Lance Armstrong or Tom Brady
When confronted with cheating evidence, VW confessed immediately.
Lance Armstrong denied allegations for years and years and sued those making allegations against him, ruining their careers and lives, and eventually confessing.
Were Tom Brady's balls soft? Maybe some, but that's not even clear based on using different gauges of dubious calibration and temperature variations. Then, there isn't even any linking of him to the allegedly soft balls.
What are you talking about?
When VW was confronted they kept putting out false technical reasons on why there might be a discrepancy between the "on-road" tests and the controlled tests. According to the IEEE article linked above it was definitely proven something was not adding up by a University study published over a year ago. Seeing as how this deception has been going on since 2010 it seems they only came clean when they had absolutely no other option and realized that to further hide would bring about more possible criminal charges.
Tom Brady and Lance armstrong might have deceived their fans and the sports they play but at least no kids got sick as a result. In the case of VW it has huge consequences in billions of dollars and millions of lives.
Edit: VW, not WV. Dyslexic I am.
And pray tell,
what does West Virginia have to do with any of this?
WV University did the testing
on a contract to compare the accuracy of dynomometer emissions testing versus on-road emissions for three sample vehicles under various real world conditions. VW emissions were highest under high torque loads of hilly terrain and stop-go urban streets.
http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/WVU_LDDV_in-use_...
Except that BostonDog's statements
are applicable to VW, not University of WV. Transposition of letters is not unusual when one types fast - I was just having some fun with it.
Lance lied for many years
VW stalled for about one, perhaps? Lance made millions of dollars for just himself based on his lies and deceit along with deceiving thousands of kids into buying bikes and cycling.
Just a point of inquiry
Until the independent investigators that VW have appointed complete their inquest, we won't know why VW put out false reasons for why the lab and on-road results had a discrepancy. It's not clear at all how far up or across the VW chain that the use of this software went. If this was a single division within VW that developed the software rather than disappoint their bosses because they couldn't otherwise meet all the requirements given to them, then they may have been the only ones to know of its existence. Then when the company was questioned about the discrepancy, the team responsible for responding may have had no idea and when they put the cars on their own test beds, it'd still fall into "safe NOx levels" mode and lied to them too making them think that whatever they did to "fix" the problem worked. Thus the later lying by VW may have been because even that part of the company had no idea that the car was attempting to fool them too.
Diesel Emissions explains 3 MPG of MBTA buses
A few years ago I looked at the national transit database and calculated the MPG for MBTA buses. Its just over 3 MPG for diesel ones. In previous years it was up around 4.5 MPG. I did some digging and found press releases from the MBTA touting new cleaner buses replacing older ones. That was part of the answer. The wiki page had the other part, which is that engine sizes keep getting larger.
So, at about 3.25 MPG, we can be fairly confident our non-VW MBTA buses are running cleanly while belching out massive quantities of CO2.
Urban driving explains that
Heavy vehicles, operating in traffic because they don't get priority lanes, making lots of stops and starts, etc.
Stick to the packet switching.
Still have to stop for passengers
Even if buses had their own right of way with no traffic lights or pedestrians and bikes crossing, they would still have to potentially stop to take on or discharge passengers potentially every quarter or third mile. Get rid of the passengers, then you would have your perfect system.