Volkswagen scandal: how software he was able to fool the … – Le Monde

Le Monde | 09/22/2015 at 7:44 p.m. • Updated 09/23/2015 at 09h47 | By Martin Untersinger

These are a few lines of computer code that Volkswagen plunge into turmoil. US authorities accuse the German manufacturer of knowingly upset the emission tests required for the marketing of its vehicles on US soil. Eleven million vehicles are affected in what already appears to be a major crisis for the German automotive industry.

It all started from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The latter accuses Volkswagen have set some diesel vehicles sold in the US between 2009 and 2015 – mainly models Golf, Jetta and Beetle, Passat and Audi A3 – so they camouflage their true oxides emissions nitrogen, an air pollutant Family

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In event, the “brain” of the engine

At the heart of the controversy is the engine computer. It is, somehow, the brain of the engine, one of the most critical computing devices of modern car. While many parts of a vehicle are entrusted to subcontractors or suppliers, the lines of code that allow the computer to function are often the work of the manufacturer.

On modern vehicles, measurement and analysis computer in real time and even thousands of times per second thousands of parameters (engine temperature, exhaust gas, the car weight …) in order to adapt the behavior of the engine. This is what the calculator which by milliseconds, orders for example the engine to slightly increase its power to offset the startup of air conditioning, energy intensive.

Certification Tests foiled

For the right to market a vehicle, a manufacturer must undergo a battery of tests to measure the level of emission of polluting components. For this, the vehicle is used according to specific criteria, which establish the exact particle emission levels, if they are too high, marketing approval is not granted

The builders are tempted to insert a few lines of code to show their motor at their best – ie optimizing the discharge of pollutants – when tested by the certification bodies. These tests are the same for all manufacturers who want to market their vehicles on a given market. “All automotive engineers know the certification tests checkpoints. It is common practice to adjust. But it is illegal to remove them completely, “ a very good expert analysis of the sector.

Many more pollutants actually

It ‘ is what we now accuses Volkswagen. According to the EPA, the engine computer of the offending vehicles “betrayed when the vehicle was subject to EPA compliance testing,” by taking into account in particular the position of the steering wheel, speed vehicle, the life of the engine and the atmospheric pressure. This allowed him “to accurately detect the test parameters of the federal authorities,” continues the US agency, which was alerted by an NGO specializing in clean transport.

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The engine ECU has been designed to trigger a specific mode of operation tests of the US administration, which had no chance to occur when normal use. At other times, finally explains the EPA, specific mode test was off “reducing the effectiveness of emission control devices [nitrogen oxide] ” . Which is why, in real conditions, some vehicle Volkswagen émettaien, according to the EPA, 10 to 40 times of nitrogen oxides that authorized by US law.

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