The Breakdown: getting your head around the Volkswagen scandal

6 October, 2015

We’d all love to be able to pick up the newspaper every morning and have a leisurely read with a cup of coffee and our bowl of weetbix, and of course we’d love to explore some of those headline stories in a bit more depth — but who’s got that much free time? Here at The Motorhood, we do the time-consuming hard yards and delve deeper into the goings on around the world to bring you the essential pieces of information from the big news stories so you can be informed and contribute towards the chats during smoko or around the watercooler.

The big topic that’s been a focal point since September is the Volkswagen emission cheating debacle — and we get back to basics so you can absorb the essential details.

What’s the deal?

Well, back in early September 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented Volkswagen with a Notice of Violation, alleging that the company included software in their diesel vehicles (in models from 2009–’15) that would allow the vehicles to pass the test that the EPA has in place to ensure vehicles are abiding by the emission standards.

Volkswagon have admitted to this, saying that there are 11 million vehicles worldwide that have the software, dubbed the ‘defeat device’, incorporated into the vehicle.

How does the ‘defeat device’ work?

It’s not something that can just be turned off as the EPA says that it “is embedded into the software code that runs the engine control computer”. It’s a program that recognizes if the car is being driven under test conditions and will perform in a way that will pass the EPA emissions test requirements.

Could this affect me?

According to Volkswagen New Zealand’s website, six per cent of the 75,000 Volkswagen vehicles on New Zealand roads are affected by the software — it’s been confirmed by Volkswagen AG in Germany that a total of 4639 vehicles in New Zealand are affected.

The specific models included in this are the four-cylinder TDI diesel Volkswagens including:

2009–’15 Tiguan 2.0 TDI (1411 vehicles)
2009–’15 Passat B7(1357 vehicles) — this excludes the new Passat B8 launched in May 2015
2009–’13 Golf 1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI (680 vehicles) — this excludes the new Golf 7 launched in February 2013
2011–’15 Caddy 1.6 TDI (312 vehicles)
2011 Polo 1.6 TDI (2 vehicles)
2013 Sharan 2.0 TDI (2 vehicles)
2011 Touran 2.0 TDI (1 vehicle)
2011–’12 Amarok 2.0 TDI 90kW and 120kW (874 vehicles) — excludes current Amarok 132kW TDI.

If you think that your car may be affected, you can check to see for yourself on Volkswagen’s website where there is now an area to enter your vehicle identification number (VIN). The website can be found here.

How did it happen?

The Wall Street Journal said that there are two Volkswagen engineers that are being investigated closely — Ulrich Hackenberg and Wolfgang Hatz. They were among the engineers suspended when the investigation came to light. It is suggested that the engineers discovered they were unable to produce the clean diesel engine for the US market and created the software to mask the emissions when undergoing tests.

What’s happening next?

The German Volkswagen team are currently exploring technical solutions and will be presenting their action plan to correct the emission output before the end of October 2015.

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.

A diamond in the rough

24 June, 2025

Two years ago, Lew finished a thorough restoration and the impressive ute has taken on a new life and colour. Lew plays down the amount of effort required but, despite his protestations, I suspect he put a lot of time into the project. A few unwanted tenants were evicted along the way.
“It didn’t take me long. There had been mice living in the firewall, which had caused a bit of damage. It apparently broke down and was pushed into a shed. It was 20 years to the day when I pulled it out and it sat in my other shed for 3 years before I started on it. That’s why it’s in such good order — it’s been kept in a shed for so long and still is.”