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Showing results for tags 'loophole'.
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There will always be those who try their best to find loopholes. Case in point are some Volkswagen TDI owners who deciding to strip their vehicles for parts before turning them into dealers. This came to light a couple of weeks ago on Jalopnik as it had found various threads on Reddit and TDI forums with such titles as “Will anyone be stripping salvaging parts before selling back?” and "Stripping the Turn-Ins". Why are there owners who are seriously considering this? It comes down to EPA's consent decree which states a vehicle must be 'operatable'. This is defined by the court as, "“Operable” means that a vehicle so described can be driven under its own 2.0-liter TDI engine power. A vehicle is not Operable if it had a branded title of “Assembled,” “Dismantled,” “Flood,” “Junk,” “Rebuilt,” “Reconstructed,” or “Salvaged” as of September 18, 2015, and was acquired by any person or entity from a junkyard or salvaged after September 18, 2015." This definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation and some are taking that to mean it is ok to remove a number of parts. In fact, one Volkswagen TDI owner in Ohio basically removed almost everything on his Golf to see if Volkswagen would buy it back and was brought to light by Jalopnik last week. But this loophole has been closed. USA Today reports that U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer warned owners last Thursday not to strip their vehicles. This was brought up by Volkswagen's attorney which referenced the Jalopnik story. "Clearly the purpose of the agreement by Volkswagen was to accept these cars in the condition that they were in as they were being driven on the road, and not to strip the cars," Breyer said at the hearing. Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission told USA Today that the agency is "absolutely against bad-faith behavior by consumers" but also noted that VW cannot reject buybacks based on "the vehicle's superficial condition." (i.e. normal wear and tear). Breyer said he would consider taking further action if needed at a later time. Source: Jalopnik, 2 , USA Today View full article -
Judge to Volkswagen TDI Owners: Stop Stripping Your Vehicles
William Maley posted an article in Volkswagen
There will always be those who try their best to find loopholes. Case in point are some Volkswagen TDI owners who deciding to strip their vehicles for parts before turning them into dealers. This came to light a couple of weeks ago on Jalopnik as it had found various threads on Reddit and TDI forums with such titles as “Will anyone be stripping salvaging parts before selling back?” and "Stripping the Turn-Ins". Why are there owners who are seriously considering this? It comes down to EPA's consent decree which states a vehicle must be 'operatable'. This is defined by the court as, "“Operable” means that a vehicle so described can be driven under its own 2.0-liter TDI engine power. A vehicle is not Operable if it had a branded title of “Assembled,” “Dismantled,” “Flood,” “Junk,” “Rebuilt,” “Reconstructed,” or “Salvaged” as of September 18, 2015, and was acquired by any person or entity from a junkyard or salvaged after September 18, 2015." This definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation and some are taking that to mean it is ok to remove a number of parts. In fact, one Volkswagen TDI owner in Ohio basically removed almost everything on his Golf to see if Volkswagen would buy it back and was brought to light by Jalopnik last week. But this loophole has been closed. USA Today reports that U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer warned owners last Thursday not to strip their vehicles. This was brought up by Volkswagen's attorney which referenced the Jalopnik story. "Clearly the purpose of the agreement by Volkswagen was to accept these cars in the condition that they were in as they were being driven on the road, and not to strip the cars," Breyer said at the hearing. Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission told USA Today that the agency is "absolutely against bad-faith behavior by consumers" but also noted that VW cannot reject buybacks based on "the vehicle's superficial condition." (i.e. normal wear and tear). Breyer said he would consider taking further action if needed at a later time. Source: Jalopnik, 2 , USA Today -
After Volkswagen admitted that it used software to vary the amount of emissions being produced in their diesel vehicles, Volkswagen is using a legal loophole to provide a defense in Europe. In a letter sent last week to European regulators, Volkswagen Group Managing Director Paul Willis said that the company's cheat software might not be illegal under current European Union regulations. Crazy as might sound, there is a loophole that allows this. The New York Times reports that the European regulations have a massive loophole that could put Volkswagen in the clear. In fact, regulators knew about this loophole back in 2011. We'll let the New York Times explain the loophole. "The loophole lets carmakers change the performance settings of their engines before a pollution test. “A manufacturer could specify a special setting that is not normally used for everyday driving,” British regulators warned, according to minutes of a 2011 meeting in Geneva of officials across the region." Willis points this out in his letter, stating the automaker is considering "whether the software in question officially constituted a defeat device." Now this is only a small part of a number of problems with how Europe regulates how vehicles. Automakers can submit to testing in any of the 28 member states of EU and have those results recognized across the EU. Also, automakers can submit pre-production models and do various tweaks such as removing seats and taping up gaps for emission tests. "What we have developed is a phony system of testing where the member states [of the European Union] are in competition with each other for who can make it the most easy for the car manufacturers to pass the test," said Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch member of the European Parliament. Now the EU has the final say as to whether or not Volkswagen's cheating software is actually illegal or not. Lucia Caudet, a spokeswoman for the European Commission tells the Times that the governing body has "no formal view on whether” the software in question counts as "a 'defeat device' in the EU legal sense or not." We'll keep you updated on this. Source: New York Times Wills' letter is below. -
After Volkswagen admitted that it used software to vary the amount of emissions being produced in their diesel vehicles, Volkswagen is using a legal loophole to provide a defense in Europe. In a letter sent last week to European regulators, Volkswagen Group Managing Director Paul Willis said that the company's cheat software might not be illegal under current European Union regulations. Crazy as might sound, there is a loophole that allows this. The New York Times reports that the European regulations have a massive loophole that could put Volkswagen in the clear. In fact, regulators knew about this loophole back in 2011. We'll let the New York Times explain the loophole. "The loophole lets carmakers change the performance settings of their engines before a pollution test. “A manufacturer could specify a special setting that is not normally used for everyday driving,” British regulators warned, according to minutes of a 2011 meeting in Geneva of officials across the region." Willis points this out in his letter, stating the automaker is considering "whether the software in question officially constituted a defeat device." Now this is only a small part of a number of problems with how Europe regulates how vehicles. Automakers can submit to testing in any of the 28 member states of EU and have those results recognized across the EU. Also, automakers can submit pre-production models and do various tweaks such as removing seats and taping up gaps for emission tests. "What we have developed is a phony system of testing where the member states [of the European Union] are in competition with each other for who can make it the most easy for the car manufacturers to pass the test," said Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch member of the European Parliament. Now the EU has the final say as to whether or not Volkswagen's cheating software is actually illegal or not. Lucia Caudet, a spokeswoman for the European Commission tells the Times that the governing body has "no formal view on whether” the software in question counts as "a 'defeat device' in the EU legal sense or not." We'll keep you updated on this. Source: New York Times Wills' letter is below. View full article
