Folks With Modified NMS' and the Emissions Cheat "Fix"

I am curious about what people the plan to keep their cars instead of selling it back but have done extensive performance modifications to their car will do when it comes time to have the VW emissions "fix" applied to their car, whatever that "fix" may turn out to be?

For example, you have a Malone 3.5 tune with a bigger turbo and the DPF delete. When it comes time to take the car to VW to have their emissions cheat "fix" I have to think they will say we cannot apply the "fix" and you are stuck because you have modified the car far beyond emissions standards anyway.

Would you return the car to stock form before taking it in for the "fix"?

Should the fix come to fruition and the need to add hardware become necessary, then I would suspect that reverting to the stock hardware may become necessary as well.

I would think that people who have done the mods are more than likely happy with their cars and will opt out of the fix....

mejpassat said:

I would think that people who have done the mods are more than likely happy with their cars and will opt out of the fix....

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Hi mejpassat, yeah I don't think there will be an option to opt out of the fix. You either sell the car back to VW and VW shreds the car, or you opt for the fix and VW fixes it to comply with federal standards.

mrchill said:

Should the fix come to fruition and the need to add hardware become necessary, then I would suspect that reverting to the stock hardware may become necessary as well.

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Hi mrchill, yeah that is what I think as well. If you opt for the fix that will mean VW will have to fix the car to meet federal standards. If the particulate filter is gone I am pretty sure someone would need to put it back before VW will fix it. And if VW does not do the fix then it would likely be impossible to do the yearly registration. That's my take on it anyway...

mrmoto35 said:

Hi mejpassat, yeah I don't think there will be an option to opt out of the fix. You either sell the car back to VW and VW shreds the car, or you opt for the fix and VW fixes it to comply with federal standards.

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Not true. You can do nothing. Not get the car fixed, not turn it in. You won't get any compensation, of course. But if the cost of reversing the mods for the fix and then re-installing them exceeds the restitution, it's a pretty easy decision.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Not true. You can do nothing. Not get the car fixed, not turn it in. You won't get any compensation, of course. But if the cost of reversing the mods for the fix and then re-installing them exceeds the restitution, it's a pretty easy decision.

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Hi Indigo, does this apply to all states or just states that do not require annual or bi-annual smog inspections? I would bet that here in California they will require the fix be in place and the car pass CA smog before they will issue new reg stickers. Arizona for example will probably be a state that allows the scenario you describe.

People say that one condition of the settlement is that states cannot prevent owners from registering cars that have not been fixed. Might be interesting to see how that plays out.

I noticed you're in CA. How do you deal with testing now? Seems like it would be a challenge.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

People say that one condition of the settlement is that states cannot prevent owners from registering cars that have not been fixed. Might be interesting to see how that plays out.

I noticed you're in CA. How do you deal with testing now? Seems like it would be a challenge.

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In CA testing is bi-annual, and my last test came right before the scandal surfaced.

This year was a non-test year for me so I only had to pay the fee's. Next year I will have to do a smog test (in August 2017) so until then I have no experience with it yet.

Interesting conversation. It's a bit hypocritical that VWoA/VAG would be severely punished, and be forced to comply with federal law, while the individual owner can continue to break federal law and drive vehicles that are even MORE out of emissions specs.

tdiatlast said:

Interesting conversation. It's a bit hypocritical that VWoA/VAG would be severely punished, and be forced to comply with federal law, while the individual owner can continue to break federal law and drive vehicles that are even MORE out of emissions specs.

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Yes the hypocrisy is obvious. VW knowingly/purposely cheated the system and absolutely should be severely punished. Joe Blow can remove all emissions equipment from his vehicle in some states and live happily ever after. Here in CA they do smog testing so if you modify your car to the extent that it will not pass a smog test then you are out of luck. You will not be able to register your vehicle until it passes the smog test. If you are stopped for expired registration you will have to do whatever it takes to get it registered. The exception to this rule is if your vehicle is 30 years old or more, then the vehicle is exempt from smog testing.

If the state accepts the restitution (whatever they want to call the payoff) from VW then they agree to allow any unfixed cars on the road as well. The payment is supposed to offset the extra pollution, and VW is doing some other things as well, such as providing money to buy new, cleaner transit busses.
California is definitely on board with the agreement, so you will not have any issues. (You can still be caught having non-CARB parts on the car, but that is the same as before the scandal.)

The part of the settlement is that VW only has to make the cars meet 80% of the emissions standars for that year of the vehicle. I think 80%is correct and VW is going to pay a fine to the gov. to make up for the extra 20%. The EPA is letting VW only get them to pass to 80% emissions so it makes it a bit easier for VW to come up with a fix with out killing performance and mileage. There has to be "minimal" affect on performance and mileage. So you will never be able to pass the emissions test even in California up to 100% and the states will know this. I am lucky Washington state does not test diesels and will faze out all testing for all vehicles in a few years and go by the original EPA tests that certified that the vehicles meet emissions standards and are cleared to sell.

Good info thanks! My ignorance is due to not wanting to face the fact that this is the 2nd scandal car in a row for me and just could not bring myself to read info as it came out. I will say this, at least VW is going to give the owners something worthwhile. Honda's settlement was an absolute insult. I am speaking of the Honda hybrid battery scandal. I ended up getting $100 and $300 off the purchase of a new Honda. After all this I would still buy another VW. I will never buy another Honda, period.

Im keeping mine until the scrap. Not enough buyback money to buy anything worthwhile after the mileage penalty

767wrench said:

Im keeping mine until the scrap. Not enough buyback money to buy anything worthwhile after the mileage penalty

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My buddy bought a '13 a couple months after I bought mine because he liked mine so much. His has less then 10k still so his buy back is going to be about 4k less then what he paid for it. I have not heard anything about the mileage penalty until now but my car is closing in on 40k miles so I am sure I would get far less then him

I have 117000 on my 12 adding 1000 a week and I am losing about $4k where I'm at currently and I'm not in a position to buy another new car

Same here, only a tad over $20k offered so I'm going to pay it off with the fix money, then fix the fix Should have a pretty solid payment free ride that gets pre fix MPG's then once that payment is erased from my life I can do the D4D diesel swap on my mint condition Toyota truck that I have been dreaming of.

Is there any possibilities the local state DMV's will get a list of all 'non fixed' diesels and forbid registration? Or will that take another 10 years to get in place and I'd be done with the car anyway?

Pitchar said:

Is there any possibilities the local state DMV's will get a list of all 'non fixed' diesels and forbid registration? Or will that take another 10 years to get in place and I'd be done with the car anyway?

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IF the state takes the settlement money, they can't forbid registrations. I've heard some states may opt out (but I don't recall which) so there they may be able to do what you fear.

mrmoto35 said:

My buddy bought a '13 a couple months after I bought mine because he liked mine so much. His has less then 10k still so his buy back is going to be about 4k less then what he paid for it. I have not heard anything about the mileage penalty until now but my car is closing in on 40k miles so I am sure I would get far less then him

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Y'know -and no offense intended- but your lack of reading is showing up again. Why not go to the VW site and do the calculation, find out just how much those miles will drop your car's value. We also have a 2013 Passat (an SEL Premium) and the buyback will pay us about $2K less than we spent on the car, and we presently have @49K miles on it. If we keep it and keep driving it two more years, so what if it's another thousand or $1500 less? It's still the cheapest driving per mile we'll ever do....when has any other group of drivers been able to ride around in depreciation-proof cars for several years? Or, in our case, 5 1/2 years?

fredthe said:

IF the state takes the settlement money, they can't forbid registrations. I've heard some states may opt out (but I don't recall which) so there they may be able to do what you fear.

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I can't believe there's another new thread where people don't know this. I read in another thread that 45 out of 50 states have bought in to the settlement, so most people should be in good shape.

And, yes, as has been brought out in this thread, there IS a third option:

1. You can do NOTHING. This means that a person can keep on driving the car just as if Dieselgate had never happened.

2. Any state that buys into the CAS settlement cannot require a "do nothing" car to meet improved emissions requirements, i.e., they cannot take one of these cars off the road just because the owner didn't have the fix done.

Rico567 said:

Y'know -and no offense intended- but your lack of reading is showing up again. Why not go to the VW site and do the calculation, find out just how much those miles will drop your car's value. We also have a 2013 Passat (an SEL Premium) and the buyback will pay us about $2K less than we spent on the car, and we presently have @49K miles on it. If we keep it and keep driving it two more years, so what if it's another thousand or $1500 less? It's still the cheapest driving per mile we'll ever do....when has any other group of drivers been able to ride around in depreciation-proof cars for several years? Or, in our case, 5 1/2 years?

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Here, I will quote myself from the first page. No offense intended but your lack of reading shows as well. If this is not good enough for you then so be it.

"Good info thanks! My ignorance is due to not wanting to face the fact that this is the 2nd scandal car in a row for me and just could not bring myself to read info as it came out. I will say this, at least VW is going to give the owners something worthwhile. Honda's settlement was an absolute insult. I am speaking of the Honda hybrid battery scandal. I ended up getting $100 and $300 off the purchase of a new Honda. After all this I would still buy another VW. I will never buy another Honda, period. "

mrmoto35 said:

this is the 2nd scandal car in a row for me and just could not bring myself to read info as it came out. I will say this, at least VW is going to give the owners something worthwhile. Honda's settlement was an absolute insult. I am speaking of the Honda hybrid battery scandal. I ended up getting $100 and $300 off the purchase of a new Honda. After all this I would still buy another VW. I will never buy another Honda, period. "

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lots of em out there, I own a 1996 Chevy 1500 with the famous soft brake pedal- ever driven one of those? its like having air in your brake lines at all times and sometimes during panic stops the pedal just sinks to the floor as the truck coasts across crosswalks and such- the fed's looked into it but nothing ever came of it. I bet oilhammer knows what I'm talking about. scary as S*** to drive, plenty of times I have had to smash the E brake pedal in order to not kill someone.

I like my car. I will take my q loader and revert back to stock file, get it fixed and take my payout, then fix it back.

pdq import repair said:

I like my car. I will take my q loader and revert back to stock file, get it fixed and take my payout, then fix it back.

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That's the same thing I am doing.

In fact, I have already laid a little track at my local dealer for the purchase of a new NMS if the rumor that VW will fix them and sell them to the dealers at cost is true. I would sell my '13 Camry to make room for a '15 NMS if the price is right. The '15 would be my wife's daily and our long haul as well.

jrm said:

Same here, only a tad over $20k offered so I'm going to pay it off with the fix money, then fix the fix Should have a pretty solid payment free ride that gets pre fix MPG's then once that payment is erased from my life I can do the D4D diesel swap on my mint condition Toyota truck that I have been dreaming of.

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Please send av pic when you do that D4D swap....been wanting to put one in my FJ

jrm said:

lots of em out there, I own a 1996 Chevy 1500 with the famous soft brake pedal- ever driven one of those? its like having air in your brake lines at all times and sometimes during panic stops the pedal just sinks to the floor as the truck coasts across crosswalks and such- the fed's looked into it but nothing ever came of it. I bet oilhammer knows what I'm talking about. scary as S*** to drive, plenty of times I have had to smash the E brake pedal in order to not kill someone.

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That is crazy scary!!! No I had never heard of that and shame on the manufacturer for not putting a fix in place for all owners of that model. I am sorry to hear this. And PLEASE be careful!!

I have a '99 Chevy Silverado Ext Cab I bought new in late '98. it has 113k miles on it and other then the poorly designed internal fuel pump (on my third pump) it has been a great pickup truck. Every shop out there wants 800.00-900.00 US to replace that pump. I did them both myself. I purchased a new OEM pump online for 120.00 and then I unbolted the bed and propped it up on one side and replaced the pump. Whole job took 45 minutes. The AC has never been serviced and it cools better then either of my '13 cars. It still has the original brake pads too. I will say this though, the pedal has started to feel a little mushy which is probably the lines. If you wrapped your hand around a line while someone stands on the pedal you would probably feel it expand.

Let's get back to the intent of the thread.
The Cali smog check consists of hooking up the the OBD port to make sure that the registers are clear....as I understand it. There is no tailpipe emissions test.
On my older golf TDI the guy held a white board up the the exhaust to see how many black specks were on the board...that was only 5 years ago.
I have been told, that currently tuned cars that have a tune can pass Cali smog since the registers show as clear.
If you opt for a fix, this may not be the case....who knows.
This thing is so overblown (NoX emissions), its pathetic.