Exactly. I made some ignorant comments about the legitimacy of how much pollution is actually caused by these cars considering "tailpipe" emissions tests are a

Exactly. I made some ignorant comments about the legitimacy of how much pollution is actually caused by these cars considering "tailpipe" emissions tests are a thing where the test is segregated from the car's computer system entirely, and we haven't heard much about these types of tests failing. The real question I have is, if the vehicles are actually producing less emissions during the test, how come they can't use the same method to produce less emissions during normal operation? If the "defeat device" had some adverse effects on the car's operation, which I imagine it does, I would also think that it would be apparent when running the test. "Sounds like this car is running on 2 cylinders at 75 RPM..." Edit: I'm just going to wait for the videos, someone will eventually detail what's going on.