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Haha, thanks for the poem link. It's fairly funny and indicates that a) they knew exactly what they were doing and b) that they knew it was somewhat likely that

Haha, thanks for the poem link. It's fairly funny and indicates that a) they knew exactly what they were doing and b) that they knew it was somewhat likely that they'd get caught. Actually it says they already got a slap on the wrist from TÜV but could somehow carry on? I mean it was pretty clear that everybody who really wanted to know could discover the cheating, but somehow it was covered up for a long time. Everybody knew about gas mileage results drifting further and further away from reality, too... And finally we got WLTP, which is somewhat less bad but still pretty bad.

sam_lowry_ 7y ago
Those clever enough to discover the cheating were clever enough to understand that regulations are rather inadequate, and should not be followed à la lettre.
Glawen 7y ago
The competitors must have known as well. They all buy competitors cars and disassemble them to reverse engineer the car. They probably also spotted the cheating device, and thought: ok the leading company is cheating, so do I.
- mrguyorama 7y ago
  The "cheating device" was just a feature flag that could be enabled on the engine computer made by Bosch, who also makes engine computers with similar software for most other car companies. Bosch told them about the feature, educated them about what it would do, what it would mean, how it's not really legal etc, and then Volkswagen decided to turn it on.
  - Glawen 7y ago
    You're totally off here. Bosch sells engine hardware (ECU, pump, injectors etc..), but the software is custom made. The automaker pays Bosch to implement the SW they want, as a lot of features differentiating automakers are SW features that they do not want their competitors to have. Hence it doesn't mean that every diesel engine with a bosch ECU had the cheating device from VW.
nguoi 7y ago
It reminds me of the reaction to the Five Eyes reveal. If someone had presented it as a conspiracy theory beforehand and asked me if I thought it was happening, I'd have said it probably was. It's probably quite easy to justify to yourself if you see everyone else doing it, even though it has abhorrent consequences[1]. Like people dropping cigarette butts. [1] Which they should have known existed - the oligarchy of car companies ensures a huge impact from just one company playing unfairly.

sam_lowry_ 7y ago

Those clever enough to discover the cheating were clever enough to understand that regulations are rather inadequate, and should not be followed à la lettre.

Glawen 7y ago

The competitors must have known as well. They all buy competitors cars and disassemble them to reverse engineer the car. They probably also spotted the cheating device, and thought: ok the leading company is cheating, so do I.

mrguyorama 7y ago
The "cheating device" was just a feature flag that could be enabled on the engine computer made by Bosch, who also makes engine computers with similar software for most other car companies. Bosch told them about the feature, educated them about what it would do, what it would mean, how it's not really legal etc, and then Volkswagen decided to turn it on.
- Glawen 7y ago
  You're totally off here. Bosch sells engine hardware (ECU, pump, injectors etc..), but the software is custom made. The automaker pays Bosch to implement the SW they want, as a lot of features differentiating automakers are SW features that they do not want their competitors to have. Hence it doesn't mean that every diesel engine with a bosch ECU had the cheating device from VW.

nguoi 7y ago

It reminds me of the reaction to the Five Eyes reveal. If someone had presented it as a conspiracy theory beforehand and asked me if I thought it was happening, I'd have said it probably was. It's probably quite easy to justify to yourself if you see everyone else doing it, even though it has abhorrent consequences[1]. Like people dropping cigarette butts. [1] Which they should have known existed - the oligarchy of car companies ensures a huge impact from just one company playing unfairly.