How bad were VW diesel emissions? Your report states that it was often at 40 times maximum regulatory limits. But was that all the time?
People should understand the idea of absolute magnitude, whether it’s 40 times or 25 times or 15 times, the actual magnitude is lost. Even if it exceeded the regulatory maximum by 40 times, it still is low levels of emissions. Because the standard itself is so low, 40 times is not a huge number. The approach that was used to circumvent the emissions testing procedure is the topic of discussion. We don’t know the real reason VW did it, whether it was reliability issues of their diesel engines or cost cutting. The actual magnitude is still pretty low. We do a lot of work with heavy-duty engines, and when you look at those heavy-duty engines at certain operating conditions, they exceed the limits by five or 10 times, but those engines are exempt. Or sometimes the manufacturer was transparent, saying, “We did our best, but we’re still 10 times over the limit.” What do these numbers really mean? If the standard is 0.0001 parts per million, then 40 times that is still virtually nothing.
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If the VW emissions that triggered these lawsuits and fines were evaluated compared to pre-2008 or pre-2000 regulations levels, would they have been in compliance?
I believe they would be in compliance. The Tier 2 Bin 5 standards went really, really low compared to the previous standard. That’s why it took a lot of time for diesel cars to be 50-state compliant, because it is almost impossible and economically unviable. Automakers had to weigh the payback period to see if it was worth the investment.(Emphasis added)