Surely the 1 in 10 car that passes all the tests should in and out of the lab should be heralded and marketed as class leading. Can you indicate which models these are?
As I have said many reports out there that tell you all you need to know.
But it is illegal to cheat the lab test so brazenly/significantly. For the ECU to recognise lab conditions and recirculate more exhaust emissions is a step too far from over inflating tyres, taping up gaps and removing wing mirrors. VAG crossed a line and got caught. I don't doubt that other manufacturers are bricking it too.
Actually no,
The EU regulations in place at the time had so many loopholes, and so many areas "open to individual interpretation" that actually nothing illegal happened.
The US regulations and tests, are very different and yes it was illegal (under US law) to cheat those lab tests.
The difference being that the car was advertised MPG X, Performance Y, Emissions Z. Now since the fix it's MPG A, Performance B, Emissions C. It's a totally different car to the one advertised, hence the missold High Court case.
But the MPG X, Performance Y, Emissions Z, published are figures the cars would never have met except "under the correct circumstances", and MPG A, Performance B, Emissions C, are what the vehicles still meet now, "under the correct circumstances", so it is a nice get out clause, that the claims can be met, "under the correct circumstances", therefore nothing was miss-sold.
The fact that those "correct circumstances" are ones that 99% of people and driving will never meet, is by the by, and not in any way relevant to any court proceedings
It can be proved that vehicles with the cheat meet all claims, and vehicles without the cheat will still meet all claims, "under the correct circumstances".
They will try a "miss-sold case" as there are no legal grounds for any other attack on VW, however they will fail, as there was enough small print covering VW in cases like the ones trying to be brought against them in the UK.
The US cases were completely different and regulations etc are completely different over there.
If it was so easy under EU and/or UK law to prosecute VW, the government would have brought them up against charges way before now, as soon as the US courts brought cases.
The same as many other European Governments have brought no charges, because no claims are solid enough, under European law for a guaranteed win, it will pretty much be entirely down to what judge sees the case, then you can guarantee VW will appeal any verdict they do not like, thus stretching out the case for many many years.
