Prosecutors raid BMW in emissions investigation

Prosecutors raid BMW in emissions investigation

I would not be shocked that a major corporation like BMW would try to pull something like this... however, it would be somewhat surprising considering the fallout that Volkswagen suffered when they pulled the same stunt...

BMW headquarters in Munich and company premises in Austria were searched and potential evidence was seized, the prosecutors office in Munich said.

On a similar note, if anyone is curious about the Volkswagen Emissions scandal, I would highly recommend the episode from "Dirty Money" that details what Volkswagen did to trick emissions tests. Multiple VW executives ended up doing time in prison as a result. Back to the BMW investigation news though:

Germany's Motor Transport Authority KBA was in touch with Munich prosecutors in late February about two BMW models that allegedly used so-called defeat devices, prosecutors said. At the time, the luxury car maker said the software was installed erroneously and launched a recall of about 11,400 cars.

We will have to wait and see if the investigation turns anything up. Time will tell...

MarketWatch Article

" At the time, the luxury car maker said the software was installed erroneously and launched a recall of about 11,400 cars."


Not even plausible deniability. Riddle me this..... why was a defeat device ever manufactured if not to be used.

Erroneously ........ I think NOT.

Back during the VW scandals, word around the water cooler was that pretty much every European automaker cheated on the diesel emissions. Opel (owned by General Motors) struggled because they were one of the few companies that didn't cheat!

originally posted by: Plotus
" At the time, the luxury car maker said the software was installed erroneously and launched a recall of about 11,400 cars."


Not even plausible deniability. Riddle me this..... why was a defeat device ever manufactured if not to be used.

Erroneously ........ I think NOT.

Exactly - I remember VW claimed some of their "engineers" put the defeat devices in their vehicles and that the corporate execs had nothing to do with it... lucky for prosecutors, there were countless emails with some of the highest ranking executives who explicitly stated that they knew they were cheating and that legally there would be repercussions if it was discovered...

Perhaps a non-import moratorium be imposed on import manufactures rather than fines. Maybe 1-2 years of non-import to think over their attempts at cheating.

it’s not just the emissions that are the scandal - the fix has impacted the fuel economy of the vehicles significantly. Last year they were quoting 5-6% but this article in Auto Express reckons upto 14% for a Golf.

www.autoexpress.co.uk...

Given the Golf diesel can have a combined MPG of 70 that’s a drop in efficiency of 10 MPG which is huge!

Bob

Edit: so not only lying about emissions but economy too. Double fraud.

originally posted by: DrBobH
it’s not just the emissions that are the scandal - the fix has impacted the fuel economy of the vehicles significantly. Last year they were quoting 5-6% but this article in Auto Express reckons upto 14% for a Golf.

www.autoexpress.co.uk...

Given the Golf diesel can have a combined MPG of 70 that’s a drop in efficiency of 10 MPG which is huge!

Bob

Edit: so not only lying about emissions but economy too. Double fraud.

Good point - The Golf is a VW - I'm wondering if there are other noticeable discrepancies in fuel efficiency for BMW models... hmmmm

"Emissions" scandals, huh... Which corporate takeover are we talking about? Coal, Oil, Nuclear power, nuclear weapons, endless war?

Seems to me we can't see the forest for the trees.

Die Peon, die.

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
Opel (owned by General Motors) struggled because they were one of the few companies that didn't cheat!

Opel cheats. They all do.

A savvy observer would have noticed that VW never got in trouble for the cheating. They got in trouble for not utilizing the loop hole in the law that allows the manufacturers to cheat.

Btw, most diesel Opel's have emission controls off when the ambient temp is below 20 degrees C and when above 30 degrees C. It also turns off when speeds exceed 145 km/h, when engine RPM exceeds 2400, and when the elevation of the car is above 850 m.

The difference between Opel and VW? Opel declared all of those environments as harmful to the engine with emission controls on before they certified the first emissions tests for the line ups. Now it is a perfectly legal vehicle that will not meet emissions standards during real world application.

And don't think I am picking on Opel here. This is an industry problem. Every manufacturer does it. As long as emission testing remains in the very narrow range it does, and legislation allows manufacturers the loop holes to get around it, they will all continue to do it.

This one sounds more like a defective part than the volkswagon deal. They may have found this flaw in ones that were not recalled though. I know that most emmission equipment in cars gets out of wack in a couple of years, as sensors corrode, the computer makes up to keep emmissions in place but gas mileage drops quite a bit. Salt on the roads contributes to this problem.

I talked to some factory certified mechanics on this subject, I guess most cars have this problem after a couple of years. They still pass emmission inspections but the fuel economy can drop quite a bit as the result of this.

a reply to: rickymouse

I worked as a Audi technician for 14 years, from my experience the majority of emission issues back then (1998-2012) was the secondary air system and vacuum leaks. The rubber and plastic in German car engines was very brittle, it would literally break off in pieces while working on engines. Secondary air would just pump extra air into the exhaust during start up until the engine would lean out. Another issue was the vapor recovery system but that was more gas fumes not being contained. I remember when the VW defeat device came out in to the public eye and thinking that its so easy to hide that in software for that long. We did so many ecu updates I can't begin to imagine what we were actually installing in those cars.

It's about time that the EU car industry gets hit and hit hard, as they are actively preventing any kind of other transportation from being used except EU-made cars even though they are not competitive on the market.

The ongoing EU babbling about Diesel bans are a failed policy promoted by the failed ideology of green economy powered by the British royals, the King of the Netherlands, Angela Merkel, the Italian governments for more than 20 years. These measures are designed to destroy economic development, and regarding the Diesel car bans, they are only designed to prop up the demand and costs of Gasoline at the pump, or better ... to cover up the government tax increase on gasoline. The broke German and Italian states are in fact organizing these price hikes via taxation at the pump since a very long time and they plan a new hike again.

originally posted by: nepatitan
a reply to: rickymouse

I worked as a Audi technician for 14 years, from my experience the majority of emission issues back then (1998-2012) was the secondary air system and vacuum leaks. The rubber and plastic in German car engines was very brittle, it would literally break off in pieces while working on engines. Secondary air would just pump extra air into the exhaust during start up until the engine would lean out. Another issue was the vapor recovery system but that was more gas fumes not being contained. I remember when the VW defeat device came out in to the public eye and thinking that its so easy to hide that in software for that long. We did so many ecu updates I can't begin to imagine what we were actually installing in those cars.

Of topic, sorry but can you tell me definitively if Audi has a way to detect if the ECU ROM has been flashed, even if its flashed back to standard values?