noxious

  • Protestor Jumps Into Volkswagen Auto Show Presentation With ‘Cheat Box’

    VW's Geneva Motor Show event took a hard turn into the weird when a fake mechanic tried to put a “cheat box” on a new model.

  • U.S. judge turns up heat on VW with March emissions fix deadline

    U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said he wants a definitive answer on the status of a fix by March 24. Noting that VW had admitted in September that its vehicles on U.S. roads were using software to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution, Breyer said time was running out. "Six months is long enough" to determine if this is a fixable problem, Breyer said.

  • Volkswagen to offer generous compensation for U.S. customers: fund head

    Volkswagen will offer generous compensation packages to the roughly 600,000 U.S. owners of diesel vehicles whose emissions are over the legal limit, the head of its claims fund told a German paper. The German car maker has still not decided whether vehicle owners will be offered cash, car buy-backs, repairs or replacement cars, Kenneth Feinberg told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Feinberg previously headed the compensation funds for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill and General Motors' ignition switch crashes.

  • VW Bites Back: Doubts Diesel Whistleblower, Says Defeat Software Legal In Europe

    Another week brings more new stories on the diesel-emission cheating scandal that threatens to dig Volkswagen deeper into a ditch of its own making. Following reports in German newspapers late last week suggesting that the "defeat device" software was an "open secret" in VW's engine group, the company bit back yesterday.

  • VW probe finds manipulation was open secret in department: newspaper

    Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) development of software to cheat diesel-emissions tests was an open secret in the company department striving to make its engines meet environmental standards, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said on Friday, citing results from VW's internal investigation. A culture of collective secrecy prevailed within the department, where the installation of the defeat software that would cause the carmaker's biggest ever corporate crisis was openly discussed as long ago as 2006, Sueddeutsche said. Volkswagen has said that to the best of its knowledge only a small circle of people knew about the manipulation, which Europe's biggest carmaker admitted to U.S. environmental authorities in September last year.

  • Volkswagen likely to buy back 115,000 cars in the U.S. - German report

    German automaker Volkswagen AG assumes it will have to buy back about 115,000 cars in the United States as a result of the emissions scandal, a newspaper reported on Thursday. Without citing its sources, Germany's daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the company expected it would have to either refund the purchase price of a fifth of the diesel vehicles affected or offer a new car at a significant discount. Volkswagen expects that the rest of the vehicles will need major refits, incurring significant costs for parts and a long stay at the garage as parts of the exhaust must be reconstructed and approved, the newspaper reported.

  • Feds Sue Volkswagen Over Diesels In Sign Of Stand-Off

    The U.S. government sued Volkswagen on Monday over 600,000 vehicles with fraudulent emissions software, signaling it was unsatisfied with the German auto giant’s proposed solutions.

  • VW says only small group to blame for emissions scandal

    Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> said on Thursday only a small group of employees was responsible for cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests and there was no indication board members were involved in the biggest business crisis in the carmaker's history. Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said investigations into the affair were going well, but the scandal was the result of a "chain of errors" and it would still take months to say which individuals were to blame. VW admitted in September it had cheated U.S. emissions tests and installed software capable of deceiving regulators on up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, news that wiped billions of euros off its market value and forced out its long-time CEO.

  • VW says CO2 emissions scandal not as bad as feared

    Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> understated carbon dioxide emissions on many fewer vehicles than initially feared, it said on Wednesday, providing some relief to the automaker as it battles a wider diesel emissions scandal affecting up to 11 million cars. It also said it had found no evidence of unlawful changing of CO2 emissions data. "We view this as positive and suspect that the previously guided for negative earnings impact of 2 billion euros will in fact end up being materially lower," said Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst, referring to Volkswagen's (VW) initial estimate of the cost of inaccurate CO2 data.

  • EPA Says Volkswagen V6 Diesels Back To 2009 Also Cheated Emissions

    U.S. regulators on Friday said that V-6 diesels in Volkswagen passenger cars and luxury SUVs with software designed to fake emissions tests date back to 2009, adding 75,000 new vehicles to the German automakers’ emissions scandal. The issue identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board was uncovered after the agencies began investigating 4-cylinder diesel engines in 482,000 VW passenger cars. VW has since said those problems affect 11 million vehicles worldwide, and was scheduled to begin laying out potential repairs as soon as today.

  • Volkswagen Gives Diesel Owners $1,000 in Gift Cards Ahead of Recall

    In an expensive downpayment for fixing 482,000 diesel engines, Volkswagen announced a package of incentives for current owners, including a $500 gift card, $500 off another VW, and three years of roadside assistance. The package, which owners can begin signing up for today, comes as VW is still working on repairs needed to bring the vehicles with its 2-liter turbo diesel into compliance with federal emission laws. Last month, independent researchers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found software in the VW vehicles that spoofed their emissions tests, allowing them to spew up to 40 times the legal limit of dangerous nitrogen oxides in everyday driving. “We are working tirelessly to develop an approved remedy for affected vehicles,” said Michael Horn, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America.

  • EPA Finds 10,000 Additional Audi, Porsche And VW Diesels Faked Emissions

    Federal regulators said today they had found 10,000 additional diesel engines in Volkswagen Group vehicles—including Audi sedans and Porsche SUVs—that fake their emissions under testing through software, adding another layer to the scandal engulfing the German automaker. If upheld, the test results would belie VW’s statements six weeks ago that a software program which could sense whether a vehicle was being tested by authorities was only installed in four-cylinder turbodiesels. VW has said 11 million vehicles worldwide were affected by that software, and has pledged to spend billions of dollars bringing them into compliance. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its testing uncovered similar software in seven new models equipped with 3-liter V-6 diesels: the 2014 Volkswagen Touareg, 2015 models of the Porsche Cayenne and 2016 models of the Audi A6 Quattro, Audi A7 Quattro, Audi A8 and Audi Q5.

  • Sources: Volkswagen Updated Emission Cheats Over Several Years

    Volkswagen made several versions of its “defeat device” software to rig diesel emissions tests, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, potentially suggesting a complex deception by the German carmaker. During seven years of self-confessed cheating, Volkswagen altered its illegal software for four engine types, said the sources, who include a VW manager with knowledge of the matter and a U.S. official close to an investigation into the company. Spokespersons for VW in Europe and the United States declined to comment on whether it developed multiple defeat devices, citing ongoing investigations by the company and authorities in both regions. Brandon Garrett, a corporate crime expert at the University of Virginia School of Law, said federal prosecution guidelines would call for the U.S. Justice Department to seek tougher penalties if numerous senior executives were found to have been involved in the cheating.   “The more higher-ups that are involved, the more the company is considered blameworthy and deserving of more serious punishment,” said Garrett.     VW, Europe’s biggest carmaker, has been criticized by some lawmakers and analysts for blaming a small number of individuals for the banned software installed in up to 11 million vehicles worldwide, even while investigations continue.

  • Volkswagen’s Chosen Path To Redemption? Turning Into Tesla 2.0

    Massive German automaker vows a new line of electric vehicles—including an EV version of its full-size Phaeton—after scandal over rigged diesel tests. Volkswagen will cut investment plans at its biggest division by $1.1 billion a year and step up development of electric vehicles, it said on Tuesday, as it battles to cope with the fallout from its cheating of diesel emissions tests. The German company also said it would speed up cost cutting at the VW division, its largest by revenues, and put only the latest and “best environmental technology” in diesel vehicles. Europe’s largest carmaker is battling the biggest business crisis in its 78-year history after admitting last month it installed software in diesel vehicles to deceive U.S. regulators about the true level of their toxic emissions.

  • Consumer Reports Tests VW Diesel Fuel Economy, Performance in “Cheat Mode”

    Did Volkswagen’s skirting of the EPA’s diesel emissions rules result in better fuel economy and performance for its cars? According to Consumer Reports testing, it appears so. Volkswagen has admitted to using special software settings while its diesel cars were being tested for emissions and fuel economy—settings that vanish when the car is driven on the road, resulting in nitrogen oxide emissions up to 40 times the federal standard. In response to the scandal, Consumer Reports conducted new testing of 2015 and 2011 Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles in this “cheat” mode to assess fuel economy and performance.

  • VW Diesel Owners Sticking With Their Cars—For Now

    Despite a week of bad news about fake emission controls in 11 million Volkswagen diesel cars, only a trickle of recalled Volkswagen diesels in the United States are getting the official heave-ho from their owners. Out of over 6,700 vehicles that were traded in this past week, only six were Volkswagen diesel models that are part of the current EPA emissions recall. To put this in perspective, the Volkswagen brand has averaged 215 trade-ins a week over the past three years with TDI models averaging only 4% of that total—slightly less than 9 vehicles a week. So while the number of Volkswagens traded in remains at elevated levels due to the recent scandal, it appears that owners of Volkswagen diesels are still holding on to their keys for right now.

  • Hearthstone Innkeeper's Invitational first rounds online

    The Hearthstone Innkeeper's Invitational was a rousing success at BlizzCon 2013, and now you can view the first-round videos online. Hearthstone's official Youtube channel has just posted videos of all four of the first rounds of the Innkeeper's Invitational -- the semi-finals and finals are of course still available on BlizzCon's official website, or over at Twitch, for those interested in seeing the tournament from beginning to end. The first four matches feature Day[9] vs. Reckful, Hafu vs. Kripparrian, Trump vs. Husky, and Noxious vs. Artosis. Hearthstone may not be out just yet, but even in beta, the game has managed to capture the attention and devotion of those in the beta. With open beta not too far away, hopefully the enthusiasm for this entertaining little card game will continue -- and hopefully we'll see a second Innkeeper's Invitational at the next BlizzCon. For coverage of all of the first-round games, visit Hearthstone's official Youtube channel -- and if you'd like more information on the players involved, you can check out the cards each player was packing for the tournament on Hearthstone's official blog.

  • Hearthstone highlights Innkeeper's Invitational players

    The Innkeeper's Invitational will be BlizzCon's inagural Hearthstone tournament, featuring eight Hearthstone players hand-picked by Blizzard. For those who may not be familiar with the competitors, Blizzard is releasing a set of small interviews to be published in two parts profiling each of the players taking a shot at the tournament title. The first four can be found here and are, as the header image implies, Noxious, Hafu, Husky, and Reckful. I really enjoyed reading these quick get-to-know-you style Q&As. Each player is given the same set of questions to answer and their responses are pretty interesting, especially their individual takes on who their most feared opponents are. In fact -- interestingly enough -- the most commonly mentioned "most feared an hated" were the four players who will be featured in the second interview: Trump, Kripparian, Day[9], and Artosis. No love/hate for each other, guys? Check out the interviews for more information from each of these competitors, including their own personal favorite Arena picks as well as why their personal tournament shield logos are what they are. The answers are not entirely what you might expect!

  • Cornell designer concocts garb that prevents colds, shuns pollution

    We've seen sensor-laden, iPod-friendly, and electroluminescent garb in years past, but a crafty design student over at Cornell University wasn't satisfied with stopping there. Olivia Ong is hoping to get her career in fashion off to a very safe start, as her functional clothing lines include "a garment that can prevent colds and flu and never needs washing," and if that wasn't fresh enough, she's also conjured up another that "destroys harmful gases and protects the wearer from smog and air pollution." The prototype Glitterati garb was showcased at the school's Design League fashion show, and both articles contained "cotton fabrics coated with nanoparticles" that give them the unique qualities. No word on whether or not we can expect such protective (albeit stylish) threads to hit the strip anytime soon, but considering that "one square yard of nano-treated cotton would run you about $10,000," we doubt us common folk would be selling off assets to take it home anyway. [Via MedLaunches]