Is The Solution Worse Than The Problem? Most Of VW's Recalled Diesel Vehicles Will Be Junked

Volkswagen, bless its cheatin’ heart, is finally ready to start atoning for spoofing consumers with more than 10 million “clean” diesel cars around the world. On Thursday, the company proposed a plan to buy back the nearly 500,000 cars it fitted with emissions scamming software and sold in the US between 2008 and 2015. For owners who want to keep their cars, VW will repair them and toss in some extra cash for their trouble.

Sure, many of those cars will go the refit route. But many—maybe most—will end up as junk. A lot of junk. So much junk, that if you dumped all those junked cars into the Grand Canyon … well, they wouldn’t really fill the thing up. But they would make some pretty bitchin’ new rapids along the Colorado River.

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MDarringer - 6/29/2016 3:46:01 PM

0 Boost

Recycle the raw materials rather than junk them.

atc98092 - 6/29/2016 4:21:48 PM

+2 Boost

They will certainly be recycled and not just shredded. But there will likely be some restriction that the engine can't be reused. Might have to "destroy" the engines like they did in the clunker rebate program.

That's really a shame, because they are still far cleaner than the pre-2009 diesel engines, even with the cheat enabled. VW is prohibited from exporting them, so they can't even be sent to countries that they met emission regulations. Seems like a waste.

MDarringer - 6/29/2016 5:06:56 PM

0 Boost

Agree, but a strong signal to manufacturers about cheating.

TomM - 6/29/2016 7:06:36 PM

+2 Boost

VW MAY be prohibited from exporting them to countries where they might meet emissions standards - but that does not mean that they cannot sell them to someone who can. Just as FLOOD are cars eventually get resold in many places around the world - I suspect a lot of these car are going to end up in CUBA.

MDarringer - 6/29/2016 7:10:10 PM

+1 Boost

@TomM...you gotta love CarMax.

TheSteve - 6/29/2016 10:18:22 PM

+1 Boost

Keep in mind, the big brouhaha is about VW cheating in the in-lab-only tests, and ***NOT*** the fact that some VW diesels emit up 40x in excess of lab-legal pollutants while operating outside the lab. All the effort and press focus is SOLELY on the cheat devices!

So in the end, VW will figure out how to pass the in-lab-only emission test without what is defined as a "cheat device", and thereby pass all legal requirements... while continuing to emit up to 40x in-lab-legal levels while operating in the real world. Not too much media is focusing on that angle. None, in fact.

There was also a brief media blip that other brands have similar real-world diesel emission problems, but that's a media non-even, so we don't hear about that anymore.

There was also a brief media blip that non-diesels, from VW and other brands, also emit many times in-lab-legal levels while operating on the roads, but that too is a media non-even, so we don't hear about that anymore.

All the focus is on the VW cheat devices, evil VW, and the Dieselgate scandal.

Oh, and I saw White House muckety mucks talking about how they're cleaning up the air by ensuring that we take those polluting cars (VW branded diesels) off the road or fixing them. Evidently, the White House talking heads are as clueless as the media. Maybe they get their info and opinions from the media. Or maybe the facts are less important than nailing VW to the cross. Oh that Evil VW.