State of MA will start failing non-fixed TDI's

fr@nknb33n$

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Just heard from a police officer in a large city who is an avid TDI enthusiast that if your TDI is not fixed you will automatically flunk inspection as the state will somehow know which cars have been fixed and not fixed. My guess is that VW is working with the states to communicate this information to them.

Problem is I cannot corroborate this information.

Has anyone heard the same or different? Please advise.

Not a concern for me, as I am participating in the buyback. But for those with modded engines and ECU's, a big concern. Or those that do not want to get "the fix".
 

Mythdoc

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Just heard from a police officer in a large city who is an avid TDI enthusiast that if your TDI is not fixed you will automatically flunk inspection as the state will somehow know which cars have been fixed and not fixed. My guess is that VW is working with the states to communicate this information to them.

Problem is I cannot corroborate this information.

Has anyone heard the same or different? Please advise.

Not a concern for me, as I am participating in the buyback. But for those with modded engines and ECU's, a big concern. Or those that do not want to get "the fix".


If true, this is not what the settlement terms were announced to be. I have a fixed car, so it doesn’t concern me directly, but I don’t think the goal posts should be moved.

As to “how would somebody know,” that’s easy, they just look for the compliance sticker under the hood of the car, that is added when the fix is done.
 

Lightflyer1

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Did MA accept the settlement money? If not they can do what they want. Only those that took the money have to comply with the court settlement. You can always get the fix and then revert. Then the stickers are in place and VW will also show you as fixed. Don't know if OBDII will give you away though or emissions testing.

Well they took the money so they must comply.

https://www.mass.gov/guides/volkswagen-diesel-settlements-environmental-mitigation

From the settlement agreement:

"As part of the settlements, every state, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, has agreed that it will not deny registration based solely on the specific emissions issue covered by the settlement agreements."

But MA seems to think there are only 2 choices. From their web site:

"If you purchased or leased an affected Volkswagen or Audi vehicle with a 2.0-liter diesel engine or Volkswagen, Audi or Porsche vehicle with a 3.0-liter diesel engine, the court-approved partial settlements give you the option of either:

Selling it back to Volkswagen (VW) or terminating your VW lease without penalty, or
Bringing your vehicle to a local VW dealer for an Approved Emissions Modification."

They seem to have forgotton:

Do nothing and leave it as is.
 
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Mythdoc

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^^As a practical matter I highly doubt they either a) have a list provided by VW, or b) any way to tell whether the ECU has been altered. I’m also under the impression that detecting levels of NOx is not a feature of their diagnostic equipment, just CO2 and CO.

That leaves the sticker under the hood. Or a check engine light fault, I suppose.
 

autdi

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The practical issue is you need an alternate car to use while fighting the fail, if they go that route. All depends on how fast you can get the suit heard and resolved.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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I seriously doubt this information is correct. First, I don't think VW is reporting what cars are (and more important, aren't) fixed to individual states. Second, what Lightflyer1 said. Third, all emissions stations in MA do is look for hardware readiness.

My non-fixed '15 passed MA inspection in April. I don't anticipate any problems in the future. Nor do I expect to return to the dealer at any time.
 

turbobrick240

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Sounds like bs. Not all cops have a great grasp of the law.
 

eli

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It does sound like the sort of thing MA would do. A cop TDI enthusiast would probably be on top of it. One way to avoid the issue is to sell VW TDI and buy Chevy Cruze Diesel LT for $17260 OTD via "red tag" or other occasionally-available incentives. That's $9K less than I paid for my 2006 jetta TDI .
 

demagxc

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"Its something MA would do" is said all the time whenever there is a rumor that MA is going to do something that's against the law, goes against a previous agreement, or just plain controversial. 99% of the time it never happens. Unless the state is going to violate the terms of their settlement with VW, they cant refuse registration period. All of the meeting notes for the Massachusetts VW settlement committee meetings are available online and there is no mention of blocking registration or failing inspections. If anything, it looks like everyone who can get a piece of the cash wants a piece. No way they are going to risk having to give it back just to get a handful of cars off the road.
 

akjdouglass

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It does sound like the sort of thing MA would do. A cop TDI enthusiast would probably be on top of it. One way to avoid the issue is to sell VW TDI and buy Chevy Cruze Diesel LT for $17260 OTD via "red tag" or other occasionally-available incentives. That's $9K less than I paid for my 2006 jetta TDI .
Trade a dirty hot dog for a clean turd? No thanks.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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"Its something MA would do" is said all the time whenever there is a rumor that MA is going to do something that's against the law, goes against a previous agreement, or just plain controversial. 99% of the time it never happens.
I agree with this. It also gives MA more credit than they deserve for figuring out how to determine what cars are and are not fixed. Only way I can think of is if they flagged VINs and cross-referenced them with VWoA's records. Imagine how accurate that would be. There's nothing in the ECU inspection process that can determine whether or not a car is fixed. I'm certain of that.
 

sriracha

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I thought if you got the fix, they put a sticker in the engine bay, showing it was fixed? All they’d have to do is have a smog technician look for the sticker during visual inspection, and fail the car if there was no sticker.
 

740GLE

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FYI cops lie

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows some on at the RMV and this is soo fake news.

75 million says MA is very happy with those dirt diesels, they've already spend the blood money 5 ways till Sunday.
 
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740GLE

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"Its something MA would do" is said all the time whenever there is a rumor that MA is going to do something that's against the law, goes against a previous agreement, or just plain controversial. 99% of the time it never happens. Unless the state is going to violate the terms of their settlement with VW, they cant refuse registration period. All of the meeting notes for the Massachusetts VW settlement committee meetings are available online and there is no mention of blocking registration or failing inspections. If anything, it looks like everyone who can get a piece of the cash wants a piece. No way they are going to risk having to give it back just to get a handful of cars off the road.

MA is the CARB of the east, look at the manipulations of the electric markets, they are the tip of the spear.
 

hhead

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Seems like an easy cross reference of fixed cars vs current registrations.
Calif has been flagging VIN’s for two years now. But Calif, has approved the exemption. And registering without fix is doable. Just have to go into the office. No online or mail in registration works.
 

Lightflyer1

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It is easy "if" you have access to all the data. But being that they already agreed and took the money what business do they have with the data? They have none. Just register all the 2009-2015 VW diesel cars that come in no matter what. They should automatically have an exempt value show up for emissions testing.
 

bizzle

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Seems like an easy cross reference of fixed cars vs current registrations.
Calif has been flagging VIN’s for two years now. But Calif, has approved the exemption. And registering without fix is doable. Just have to go into the office. No online or mail in registration works.
Exactly, I'm not sure why anyone thinks this is complicated. MA may or may not do this, but whatever they do it will be just like every other DMV compelled action wherein the car is assumed to be in non-compliance unless proven otherwise. The DMV doesn't have to prove the car is non-compliant...this isn't a criminal court :) They'll simply tell you that it's not in compliance and compel you to produce records proving that is in compliance and you won't be allowed to register it until you do.
 

KevinGary

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Under the agreement with the feds the 3.0 engines have until April 2020 to get the fix so I think this is all a little premature
 

flargabarg

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Also under the agreement with the feds the states can't block registration. Since compliance is high I really don't see the benefit to the states to reopen this fight.
 

740GLE

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Population too low to be of any consequence. California is different in that regard. 40 million vs 7 million.
I keep telling them that but they don't listen. You do know Boston is in Mass don't you? You know what kinda big deal Boston is? :D
 

740GLE

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Its almost as bad as NH's 13 miles of "Seacoast", gag me
 

JM Popaleetus

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I thought if you got the fix, they put a sticker in the engine bay, showing it was fixed? All they’d have to do is have a smog technician look for the sticker during visual inspection, and fail the car if there was no sticker.
You can check any VIN on VW’s website for fix-status.
 

eli

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Our two Clean turd diesel stick-shift cruzes keep running great, including at -30F without power service, somehow. Same for cleanturd small pickup!

But gel anxiety has got to be as bad as range anxiety. My son drove and parked his 2017 cleanturd canyon at a buddy’s and borrowed a gasser pickup 2 nights ago for his shift at -36F.

Btw, cleanturd corp is paying diesel and SS sedan owners and providing loaners for new emission testing on their cars... probably any issues will be blamed on VW or Bill Belichek or both.

Ps Whats tesla range at minus 30F on a full charge? (ICEd again).
 
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flargabarg

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Ps Whats tesla range at minus 30F on a full charge? (ICEd again).
You can figure about half range at that cold. It depends on what is on the ground as well. (Side note: my old Passat that would get 28mpg in most any weather got the worst mpg ever when we had a cold snap here to -2f for a few days. 13mpg. Can you guess I had a short commute to work?)
 
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