The controversial trick of emission measurements carried out by Volkswagen in million vehicles went unnoticed for years until a group of researchers from the University of West Virginia (USA) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT ) found fraud.
The research began in 2013 as part of a project “to assess emissions” in real operating conditions of diesel light vehicles in the United States.
To do this, the researchers conducted emission testing in three vehicles: Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Passat and BMW X5.
The researchers said that in tests that were performed on five different routes with driving characteristics, from urban to rural, emissions of nitrogen oxide Jetta were between 15 and 35 times higher than the limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Regarding the Passat, emissions were between 5 and 20 times higher, while in the case of model BMW emissions were within the EPA parameters.
However, emissions of Volkswagen vehicles when the car was stationary were at the limits of the regulations.
The information obtained by investigators about the discrepancies was sent in 2014 to US authorities, both the EPA and the Environmental Protection Agency of California, who started their own investigations.
According to the researchers, the only answer to these discrepancies is that nowadays software is installed on all vehicles to control the operation of their engines.
The software detect when the vehicle is being tested to determine their emissions and trigger a cycle of the engine that reduces emissions of nitrogen oxide, a gas that is responsible for the smoke and pollution in cities.
Researchers do not know if the software detects a lack of movement of the steering wheel or disconnecting the traction control system, two circumstances that occur when vehicles are subjected to stationary emission testing.
Volkswagen has not revealed yet how tweaking software that allows emissions works.
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