- Heard about the Volkswagen scandal,
but not sure what's going on?
We're gong to fill you in right now.
(electronic music)
Since the 1960's various governments have
cracked down on vehicle
emissions, because of their
negative impact on air pollution.
There are restrictions both
for gasoline and diesel vehicles.
Diesel packs more energy
per gallon than gasoline.
And diesel engines are more efficient.
That means you tend to
get more mileage out of
a diesel vehicle per gallon than a similar
gas-powered one.
Diesel also produces less
carbon dioxide than gas.
But diesel produces more nitrogen oxides,
which contribute to smog.
In countries like the United States and
the United Kingdom, we've
seen increasingly high
fuel economy standards put in place.
Meaning the car has to be
both clean and efficient
to be street legal.
The restrictions on nitrogen
oxides make it difficult for
car manufacturers to build
diesel engine vehicles that
meet the restrictions and
deliver on performance.
But Volkswagen claimed it had
cracked that nut and offered
several vehicles marketed
as clean diesel cars.
These vehicles were said to
have technology to reduce
nitrogen oxide emissions.
And to some extent, that's true.
Volkswagen did have such
technology in its cars,
but here's the tricky part.
The technology only switched
on while the car was being
tested for emissions.
The software looks for
patterns in pedal presses
and steering wheel motions
that indicates someone
was testing emissions,
and all systems went
into full alert.
In other words, Volkswagen was cheating.
The vehicles were only behaving
while the teacher was looking on.
The Environmental Protection Agency
calls the tech a defeat device.
This has been going on
for at least five years.
More than 480,000 vehicles
on the road in the
United States have this
emissions cheating software.
And the issue doesn't stop here.
According to The Guardian,
these vehicles have contributed
nearly one million metric
tons of pollution every year.
That's equal to all of the
United Kingdom's emissions
from all industries and vehicles.
Worse yet, Volkswagen now
says the cheating tech may be
installed on as many as 11
million vehicles worldwide.
And considering that air
pollution contributes
to tens of thousands of deaths every year,
this cheat has serious consequences.
So, why fake it?
It appears Volkswagen tried to
make it seem like these cars
had a major advantage over
gasoline-powered vehicles.
But the dream machines have turned into
a nightmare for Volkswagen.
The company has set aside about
seven point three billion
dollars to deal with the fallout.
And investigations are
underway to find out
who is accountable.
That's all from now, for now.
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about this whole nasty mess,
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