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I've Created a New Superhero. His Name? Super Clarifier

Recently, I have been noticing a few news stories flying around here and there that state that VW is not the only one that has been caught in this recent emissions scandal. "Oh god," I thought, "perhaps this 'defeat device' is on pretty much every car, and this is a worldwide issue." Then again, the first time I saw this story it came from the Daily Mail, so I instinctively took it with a handful of salt and read on.


Upon reading the article, I was left with bitter disappointment. It started by talking about VW, and how they emit much higher NOx levels on the road than they do in the lab tests. This is, of course, very true. These defeat devices have given a very false representation of how the cars are performing realistically, and VW are now getting shunned for this. It's all information we've known for weeks.

But this article now claims that BMW, Mazda, Ford, and Mercedes are now also part of the scandal. So you must think that they have also been discovered to have defeat devices as well, right? Er, no. The article explains how real-world emissions from these manufacturers are also much higher than the lab tests (up to seven times higher, apparently), but there is a crucial difference here. Everything that these four manufacturers (who are suddenly getting named and shamed by the Mail Machine) were doing was entirely legal. You may not agree with the situation, but they certainly aren't crossing any red lines, unlike VW.

The difference is that VW were using these defeat devices to manipulate the test results, whereas everyone else - to the best of our knowledge - has simply been following the official EU guidelines. So in short, it's not the car companies who are at fault, it's whoever came up with the daft EU test. The issue is that the test requires the car to do such delicate acceleration and breaking that's simply not possible in the real world. The end result is that the car usually ends up with a figure completely different to the real world (hence the cars getting higher NOx figures in real driving) - and the companies have no power to change these results into something more realistic. So although the results are a bit fabricated for cars these days, the fact that every car goes through the same test still means you can make comparisons between different cars. You just have to knock 10-20mpg or so from the lab result to get what you'll be getting. VW's software meant it gained an advantage in these tests, and it therefore no longer became a level playing field.

They may be over the limit, but it's not technically their fault. [Picture from mailonline.co.uk]
The Daily Mail completely disregarded all of what I've just pointed out, and concluded that BMW, Mazda, Ford and Mercedes are all just as bad, and should be equally punished. No, just no. But it's the Daily Mail, after all. But then I saw the BBC publish a similar story, and I knew I had to take action. I hope Super Clarifier explained that while many other manufacturers are over the NOx limit with their diesel cars (probably all), they are still legal. VW isn't. Always doubt the media! Except, er, Three Pedals, I guess.
I've Created a New Superhero. His Name? Super Clarifier I've Created a New Superhero. His Name? Super Clarifier Reviewed by Jack Cooper on October 11, 2015 Rating: 5

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