Lawmaker Suggests We Fire The EPA And Hire University To Do Emissions Testing

U.S. chief executive blamed "individuals" for using software to cheat on diesel emissions at a House hearing on Thursday as lawmakers attacked federal environmental regulators for failing to catch the fraud for years.

Michael Horn, head of Volkswagen Americas, testified before a House of Representatives oversight and investigations panel about the emissions scandal that has chopped more than a third of the company's market value and sent tremors through the global auto industry.

Volkswagen's use of defeat devices, software that evaded U.S. tests for emissions harmful to human health, was not a corporate decision, but something a few employees engineered, Horn said under oath.

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TheSteve - 10/9/2015 12:35:01 PM

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Important Notes:

(1) The EPA defines the emissions limits and metrics (e.g., X grams of NOx per mile driven. Note: They might be influenced by governments, lobbyists, etc.)

(2) The EPA defines how we'll measure emissions to determine if a vehicle is within legal limits. They're the guys that came up with the lab test that VW passed (as did others)

(3) The EPA defined how emissions will be monitored and enforced. They're the guys who relied solely on the lab test.

(4) Yes, there is a huge and serious shortcoming in a methodology that relies exclusively on controlled lab tests, and completely ignores real world conditions to identify a vehicle's emissions.

(5) The way we caught VW, was a lone scientist doing real world emission tests (because he likes that sort of stuff), and he just happened to sample some VW diesels and noticed they're way out of spec.

(6) In light of VW Dieselgate, the UK government recently started doing real world emission tests on diesels, and they discovered vehicles from BMW, Mercedes, Ford, and Mazda emitted even higher levels of NOx than the offending VW models, and they weren't using cheat devices.

Clearly, the current lab-oriented emission certification process is virtually useless at determining how a vehicle performs in real world conditions. Having universities repeat that process won't make a difference. Changing a flawed certification process will, in addition to doing spot checks on vehicles in real-world use.

PUGPROUD - 10/9/2015 1:23:35 PM

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And why would anyone think a university would be any better or not susceptible to industry pressure or influence peddling?

Agent009 - 10/9/2015 3:45:31 PM

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The project that uncovered the issues only had a $70K budget and used real world results. Not some labtastic figures.

Vette71 - 10/9/2015 3:11:48 PM

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Better to use a 3rd party private certification laboratory like UL which is used to devising device tests that reflect the product being used. Medical devices sold in the USA often require UL certification, in Canada it is CSA, and the CE mark in Europe. Customers have confidence in these organizations and manufacturers respect them. The EPA has gone rogue, and is too politicized at this point.

MDarringer - 10/9/2015 7:59:36 PM

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AMEN! The EPA is a puppet of the President each term and should be completely detached from the ebbs and flows of politics. I would go with a 3rd party that has no industry ties.

I would not do another IIHS that purports to be independent/3rd party when in reality it is a puppet of the insurance agency.

As for car testing, I would rather have steady-state MPG measures for 25mph, 55mph, and 75mph and get rid of the complicated driving cycles.

jameswisrik - 10/10/2015 10:25:27 AM

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Why is this so HARD?!

simple.... if we find cheaters. SHUT THE COMPANY DOWN. JAIL THE EXECS! SIMPLE!

UNIVERSITY GET GRANTS FROM BIG BUSINESS... THEY WILL HELP BIG BUSINESS CHEAT THE SYSTEM.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW! NO ONE!

jameswisrik - 10/10/2015 10:29:10 AM

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UNLESS YOU ARE W/ GM EXECS AND UAW ....THEY ARE THE ONLY EXCEPTION. THANKS TO BARACK MOHAMMED HUSSEIN OBAMA...WHOM BAILED THEM OUT AND TAXPAYERS ONLY GOT BACK PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR...

AND GM GET TO KILL PEOPLE AND PAY THEIR SMALL FINES W/ TAXPAYERS MONEY. AND YET NO EXECUTIVE IS IN PRISON. THANKS MOHAMMED OBAMA!