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Old 09-21-2015, 06:21 PM
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ebacon ebacon is offline
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This kind of situation exposes the difficulty of regulating technological advancement.

I have experience in gasoline engine controls (as opposed to diesel, which is what VW is dealing with.)

There are several layers to "regulations". First, there is the law. Second, there are regulations that implement the law. Third, there are procedures that implement the regulations.

Information gets smeared as the knife of progress cuts through that regulatory cake. In the gasoline world I recall government employees getting admonished for relaxing requirements on engine controls. The fact was that the government employees at the ground level were just as smart as we were. In our minds we were merging with the law as fast as we could, and in good faith. Unfortunately our cops got in trouble for working with us.

Did they do wrong? I don't think so. But then again they only got their wrists slapped for dancing with us. No one wants to punish dancers for trying.

IMO a big question in the VW case was whether the US diesel employees had enough time to learn to dance with US diesel regulators. US diesel has always been an under-funded bastard child. IMO, @ $18B, VW is being charged an unconscionable rate for learning to dance in the US.

At the same time we need to recognize that US automakers stayed out of US diesel because the rules were too hard. We were honest.

I think VW needs to understand that writing cheater software will not be tolerated, but at the same time our regulators need to make VW feel comfortable enough to admit difficulties and work with them at phasing in solutions.

None of us want to make a mess of the planet. We all live here.
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