Air pollution kills people. Especially poor people who can't afford health care and can't afford to move to places where four thousand cars an hour pass under their window, day in, day out.
Edit: Easy guys, in Canada there is no known impact yet as it is being investigated. I forgot I was on the internet where everyone keeps their pitchforks in their back pocket. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volkswagen-emissions-rigging...
We do ACTUAL emissions tests in Canada (Ontario at least) - it sounds like USA is different in how it works (probably differs by state?), but we have machines to actually grade pollution. The 2009 model VWs will be emissiosn tested this year as they are 7 years old, so why this hasn't been news yet in Canada is very interesting, which is why I say I'm waiting to hear how all of these cars fair in upcoming tests. http://www.ontario.ca/page/drive-clean
Edit 2: I'm wrong, we don't do tailpipe emissions test on cars newer than 1998! So the defeat device is the exact reason why I hadn't heard about any vehicles actually failing emissions testing here.
"Then German received the results of the real-world tests. “We were astounded when we saw the numbers,” he said. On the open road, the Jetta exceeded the U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions standard by 15 to 35 times. The Passat was 5 to 20 times the standard." - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/volkswagen...
"As described in the NOV, a sophisticated software algorithm on certain Volkswagen vehicles detects when the car is undergoing official emissions testing, and turns full emissions controls on only during the test. The effectiveness of these vehicles’ pollution emissions control devices is greatly reduced during all normal driving situations. This results in cars that meet emissions standards in the laboratory or testing station, but during normal operation, emit nitrogen oxides, or NOx, at up to 40 times the standard. The software produced by Volkswagen is a “defeat device,” as defined by the Clean Air Act." - http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/21b8983ffa5d0e46852...
The estimate is, CO emissions are reduce 40X to pass the test. Meaning, the cars are 40 times too dirty to be on our roads.
I think you misunderstand both the testing and the defeat device. We do tailpipe testing here in the US, and the defeat device results in far cleaner tailpipe emissions during said tests. It's not just an OBD data-hiding thing, it actually changes the emissions.
edit - clarification, we may not do tailpipe tests on diesels here, didn't occur to me that gas tests would be different than diesel.
NOx, not CO. And it's up to, not always.
> Meaning, the cars are 40 times too dirty to be on our roads.
No, it means the cars are up to 40 times too dirty in this one respect to be on our roads.
I will address one thing, though:
> Anything over the mandated limit is a health risk, and equivocating over how much is like asking whether you'd want 3 years, or 10 years shaved off your life expectancy.
That is not equivocating. Also, pollution exists on a continuous scale. Saying everything over the limit is equivalently "bad" and everything under the limit is equivalently "good" is ignoring that. There is a big difference in effect between, say, twice the limit and 40 times the limit.