The VW emissions scandal makes one thing quite clear: it isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time that EPA and the public belatedly discover an automaker has inflated, or just outright lied, on claims of mileage and emissions. If we truly care about public health, and take the EPA’s mission seriously, it is time to significantly increase the agency’s budget to ensure that they test each and every new car destined for sale in the US.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an automaker admit to inflating, or outright lying about, their products’ mileage, that’s for sure. Now, VW likely knew that mileage (and power) would suffer if it had not enabled the emissions controls, which is exactly why they went forward with the Bosch emissions control software anyway (see, e.g.,WSJ, VW Probe Centers in on Two Engineers), despite Bosch’s warnings to VW that the software’s two modes (one “clean, one “normal”) were for internal testing purposes only. Charitably, VW seems to have ignored that warning.
Yet, here’s the rub: variations of this story have happened quite a bit. This happened with Hyundai, Ford and a handful of other makes already, when it came to stating their products’ mileage estimates. You see, automakers do not generally submit new or revised products to the EPA for testing. Rather, because the agency lacks the funding to do testing on every new vehicle slated for sale in the U.S., there is an honor system in place. Automakers instead perform the EPA testing regime with their own equipment, at their own facilities, on their own time. And as with any test, variables can dictate the outcome to a significant degree. Even assuming all automakers scrupulously follow the EPA’s dictated procedure, automakers are afforded tons of leeway in how to report the numbers to EPA, and ultimately, you. EPA audits some new vehicles each year, but they have nowhere near the funding or manpower to crack down on every abuse. This means that the car you buy could easily have misleading mileage ratings. Only randomnesses will guarantee that the EPA can catch any fraudsters.
Recently, both Hyundai and Ford agreed to massive fines, and faced class action litigation, for doing just this. Both companies allegedly cherry-picked the most flattering mileage numbers on various products instead of using the test averages, as is obviously protocol.
(See, e.g., USA Today, Hyundai/Kia MPG Settlement or Ford to Make Restitution Payments to Hybrid Customers)
2013 Jetta TDI, photo courtesy Car & Driver
And Ford and Hyundai are just two examples. So if all of this has already happened in the realm of mileage, why should we be surprised that it happened with respect to the actual emissions coming out of the tailpipe?
The answer, of course, is that we shouldn’t. But EPA’s mission to protect the health of the American public will continue to be compromised if we don’t give the Agency the resources it needs to do so. And with much of Congress vehemently opposed to the EPA’s very mandate, we can expect this incidence to happen over and over.
GOP Opposes EPA’s Very Existence
Washington Post, EPA Closed Lab That May Have Prevented VW Scandal
Until then, expect deja vu all over again…