The study’s reported range was 2 to 13x (with a median 4x) around what a compliant car produces, and 5 to 39x (with a median around 12x) what the test limit specifies. These results are less than what a diesel truck produces, far less than a delivery truck produces, and a fraction of what a semi or bus produces.

If…

The reason is lobbying. Emissions limits are pure horse trading. They’re not set based on environmental impact or health risk. They’re set based on politically-motivated negotiations. Auto manufacturers pushed for very low NOx limits that they were already in compliance with rather than tackling pollutants that would…

Claims like “spewing 40 times the legal amount” sounds scary but what is the legal amount? It’s also my understanding that Diesel is restricted even more than Gasoline in this country and i’ve read that “40 times the legal amount” = 3.5x over gasoline’s legal amount.

almost 600,000 Volkswagen cars on American roads spewing emissions up to 40 times the legal limit

I don’t think anyone chooses their husband based on his family name, so saying a hypothetical spouse “chooses” his or her husband’s name is a huge stretch.

Sam chooses a husband. Sam chooses whether to take the husband’s name. Sam chooses whether or not to retain the existing name (as a middle name, a hyphenated last…

Right, which is what makes it a non sequitur. You’re (correctly) saying the parking brake wouldn’t hold for the car in the video, but it’s a false notion that the person you’re quoting claimed that it would in the first place.

“Slick, constantly moving surface” has nothing to do with wave action. It can be a stationary, gravel lot and the wave would lift the car regardless of the parking brake.

What they’re talking about is the bucking of the ferry. Not waves on the ramp, but rough water in general will cause cars to slide back and forth if the parking brake isn’t set, especially the dipshits who park 18" behind the bumper of the car in front of them instead of leaving a large enough gap to walk through like…

He was parked on an egress ramp, with front wheels a minimum of three feet above the ramp height. If a big enough wave came along to break that SUV loose, there would be total carnage in the first 4-5 rows of cars on the main deck. The captain asked everyone to remain seated and not move around the ship. This is not a…

Neither, really. The ferries on these routes are 330-460 ft in length and draft at 16-18 ft, with the double-ended deck plenty above the waterline. The ends of the car ramps are sloped and they have to meet the dock ramps at varying heights throughout the day—Puget Sound has a tidal swing of over 16ft.

This was just…

I’d be trying to get moles into BMW and MB, or try to reverse-engineer their diesel emissions to ID how they’re supposedly able to do what VW can’t- produce competitive diesels meeting current emissions standards.

No, 1 out of every 6 cars or so should be going faster than the speed limit, by design. Cars preventing the normal flow of traffic are a greater safety risk, a inefficient use of the roadway causing increased congestion, and an economic drag on the community.

Just because you’re going 3mph over and the car behind you…

No, it isn’t. It’s completely normal.

Except that the report and Blackstone both disagree with the hyperbolic claims. Even though he blew the normal interval and clearly didn’t take good care of the car, Blackstone specifically says that the long oil run doesn’t explain the metal, and instead signals some other maintenance neglect or engine problem.

That’s…

Yeah, no. Post your UOA. Unless you’re tracking the car, all of those synthetics should be fine for 7-12K miles.

It doesn’t diminish anything about the study. It’s simply that you are misstating its conclusion. The study found overall averages that were uniformly higher in the VW. That is not coterminous with your statement of “every circumstance”. Higher average != always higher. That’s all.

The actual NOx production curves of…

Right, but did you look at the standard deviation between runs (and I believe that it was only 2 runs per car)? Very little deviation, so being averaged doesn’t really diminish the point that I was making.

These are real world emissions. That means that the other “legal” vehicle also did not meet the US standard in real world operation, but it beat the VW in every circumstance by up to 12 times.

Not even remotely. NOx is less than 0.5% of tailpipe emissions, and its overproduction means nothing unless you also calculate all the components where a given VW outperforms the emissions standards to arrive at a total net number. There is no evidence—none, whatsoever—that the average VW pollutes more than the…

Yes and cars in the 1890s were routinely electric. Nevertheless, after decades have passed and other engineering concerns have taken the industry in a different direction, it’s no longer relevant. Cars like the EV1 and Tesla’s lineup have still introduced new technology to the market. Cylinder deactivation is also a…