Most Volkswagen Diesel Owners Won't Fix Cars If It Affects Fuel Mileage

those owners can do that & then when the EPA bans their cars from passing Emission tests and the inability to get plates renewed or being able to sell their cars, then what do they do? As it will be on the owners for refusing to fix their cars and will not have any recourse at that time.

If I understand when the testing software detect monitoring it goes into defeat mode. This is why it was never discovered by state testing. Plus a many of states do have statewide testing to begin with.

They are going to need to track VIN numbers and verify if it was repaired to do what you propose.

Agent009: Or come up with a different testing methodology, perhaps putting a sensor into the tailpipe, the portable test equipment in the trunk, and going for a real drive in real-world conditions.

Agent 009 is on the mark. States are all over the map. Blue states like CA may do tests and ban the unfixed cars, but other states don't do any vehicle inspections at all, or like PA may do emission tests only in specific counties. When was the last time you had car inspected and a probe was put in the tailpipe? Blue state MA doesn't do it.

Many most people, the "green" movement is about saving some "green", and not saving the planet. That's why when gas prices fell over the past year or so, so did sales of EVs, Hybrids, and small economy cars. People jumped into gas-guzzles because now they can afford the gas to drive what they really want.

Human thought systems are very resistant to making sacrifices now for an alleged future benefit, especially a benefit that might not be realized within one's lifetime. When my grandkids are adults (and I'm dead), massive climate change will have fostered the deaths of hundreds of millions of people due to crop failures, severe water shortages, and the collapse of fish-stocks... nah, I can't see that.

Your first half is on the mark, the second part a little extreme. Democracies have a history of not planning ahead, but reacting to situations. Humans will adapt and fix things as they go. One issue that is part of this situation is that the "Greens" are trying to change a situation that took a century or more to develop in a few short years. They can pass laws easily. The technology to meet those laws w/o bankrupting society isn't there. It will be, but over decades not a few years.

the real problem comes when these TDI owners sell their cars and people buy them used. Will the new owner be able to register their used TDI if a national or state by state VIN system flags their car for non-compliance? It may be the case that Federal regulators may require all TDI's currently in violation to be flagged until brought into VW dealers for a recall. We'll see.

VW could always buy them back and ship them out of the country to sell elsewhere. South America, Africa, Asia etc. Heck, swap them for all those well preserved 1950's American cars in Cuba, and upgrade Cuba's fleet overnight.:)

Like auto insurance, a document could be required to renew registration of the vehicle.

Or they could just issue the owners a waiver and make it go away.

Each state would need to write it's own regs to do this. Very complex.

No - this is a federal regulation - as state could not allow non-compliance - alone. ALthough It would require BOTH state and Federal laws. However - there are simply too many cars to allow a waiver - and the fix for the EMISSIONS is simply a software fix. That it will reduce performance and fuel mileage is not the concern of the governments.

However - in quite a number of states - it is now illegal to sell a car that has outstanding not-performed recalls. And there is a site that lists such recalls as well - so it would be a real problem in not doing recalls - you could be sued.

Vw drivers don't. Give a crap anyway! The are reckless drivers ...always in a hurry to work at McDonalds! They are cheaters in life and nw have a car company to match! A cheaters outfit

Judge not, lest you be judged.

Well, since the EPA constantly under rates the fuel economy diesels, I'd say its even. My 13 Passat TDI was only rated at 40 mpg hwy, but with the cruise set at 78, I'd average 46-47 mpg.