In The News Today...

This is a clever idea. At the least it will be loads of free publicity, and the machine is a giant billboard. The big coin is sort of like ringing the gong at Towbin Dodge, I would never care about it but some people may.

Quote: AZDuffman

This VW thing is going to be huge. VW is on a roll and the kind of company the feds like to take down. What they did was so totally willful there is no chance of an "ooops" factor.

Uh-oh, Chrysler just got busted.

Quote: The New York Times

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler of using secret software that allowed illegal excess emissions from at least 104,000 diesel vehicles.

...The software resulted in excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, which have harmful health effects, from the vehicles, the agency said....

While Ms. Giles stopped short of calling the software “defeat devices,” which Volkswagen used to cheat on diesel emissions tests, she said, “There is no doubt that they are contributing to illegal pollution.”

When the VW scandal broke, Chrysler had 2 options:
1) Step forward immediately and admit wrongdoing
or
2) Keep their mouth shut and hope they didn't get caught, too.

Apparently, they chose Option 2. Neither of these options are good, there are risks involved either way. But it was obvious that the VW scandal was bound to put other carmakers' pollution controls under more scrutiny, so it was inevitable they'd get caught eventually. At least with Option 1, they would have been in control of the timing and wording of the press release.

Quote: reno

Uh-oh, Chrysler just got busted.

Quote: The New York Times

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler of using secret software that allowed illegal excess emissions from at least 104,000 diesel vehicles.

...The software resulted in excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, which have harmful health effects, from the vehicles, the agency said....

While Ms. Giles stopped short of calling the software “defeat devices,” which Volkswagen used to cheat on diesel emissions tests, she said, “There is no doubt that they are contributing to illegal pollution.”

When the VW scandal broke, Chrysler had 2 options:
1) Step forward immediately and admit wrongdoing
or
2) Keep their mouth shut and hope they didn't get caught, too.

Apparently, they chose Option 2. Neither of these options are good, there are risks involved either way. But it was obvious that the VW scandal was bound to put other carmakers' pollution controls under more scrutiny, so it was inevitable they'd get caught eventually. At least with Option 1, they would have been in control of the timing and wording of the press release.

The Chrysler scandal is at least much smaller. But it starts to beg the question can diesels ever meet modern emission standards?

Starting to look like not which is a shame.

Quote: AZDuffman

The Chrysler scandal is at least much smaller.

True. There are only 104,000 Chrysler vehicles affected. With VW, it was 500,000 in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide.

I can see why they kept their mouth shut. Obviously Chrysler didn't want their name used in the same sentence when discussing the VW scandal, but it was inevitable they'd get caught.

Quote: reno

True. There are only 104,000 Chrysler vehicles affected. With VW, it was 500,000 in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide.

I can see why they kept their mouth shut. Obviously Chrysler didn't want their name used in the same sentence when discussing the VW scandal, but it was inevitable they'd get caught.

The diesel motor has probably been killed in the consumer mind for another generation. Except for trucks.

At first I thought the VW issue might be the work of a disgruntled engineer. Seemed like someone might be able to glitch the software on their own and no one catch it. Guess not though

Quote: rxwine

At first I thought the VW issue might be the work of a disgruntled engineer. Seemed like someone might be able to glitch the software on their own and no one catch it. Guess not though

The vw thing was what happens when a boss demands the impossible. Sometimes that works, like when Henry Ford demanded his people get the V8 right. But sadly it is more often like vw. I've seen people lie to make numbers. Saw one guy almost go to the can for falsifying docs. Saw it cost my old employer millions upon millions.

Those at the top need to watch, pressure on all makes this stuff happen.

Old school is " You gotta make the numbers " New school is" Shoot an arrow into the wall, draw a bulls-eye around it. "

Politics as usual -

The Republicans attempted to repeal or undercut the ACA about 50 times while Obama was president, with no replacement plan in place.

Now, he won't be there to veto the bill, and suddenly several Republican senators don't want to repeal it without a replacement plan.

So all of the time wasting they did trying to pass something that was doomed to be vetoed, to make some sort of a point and help themselves get reelected, ends up being empty gestures that they didn't really want to have happen anyway.

Quote: Dalex64

ends up being empty gestures that they didn't really want to have happen anyway.

Trump Praises Senate for Moving to Repeal and Replace Obamacare, Puts Pressure on the House

"President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to praise the United States Senate for voting to begin the repeal process on Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act. Trump also put pressure on the United States House of Representatives to follow through with the same."

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to #RepealObamacare- now it's onto the House!
12:41 PM - 12 Jan 2017 · Trump Tower