You should have known better, VW

Sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction. I would never have expected a German company, especially one which is built on trust, to be involved in such a shameful scam. 

The U.S. has very strict regulations about diesel vehicles. The required emissions are far lower than what is expected in the EU. The U.S. declared in 2010 that NOx emissions should be no more than 0.27, whereas in EU it can range between 0.2 and 1.0. 

In 2010 it was seen as a political move by the U.S. to stop foreign-made diesel cars from dominating the domestic market. However, as diesel manufacturers seemed to comply with the 0.27 standard this harsh move did not have the desired effect. Now we understand that VW has cheated in the tests. 

VW Diesel vehicles are fitted with hardware containing software that understands when the vehicle is in an emissions test. It can do so by checking the wheel position, the speed, the information coming from brakes and suspensions. Normally these tests are done over a treadmill. So even though the car speeds, the breaks, the suspensions and the position of the wheel are put in place. When the software understands this, it lowers the capacity of the engine so that the emissions become lower. When the car is driven outside, it switches off the test mode and the engine capacity is increased, producing emissions at least 40 times the limit set by the regulations.  

According to the BBC: "The case against VW appears cast-iron." It quoted VW America boss Michael Horn as saying, "We've totally screwed up," while group chief executive Martin Winterkorn said his company had "broken the trust of our customers and the public." An internal VW inquiry has been launched.

With VW recalling almost 500,000 cars in the U.S. alone...