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Comment by yuhong | Hacker News Reader

Only CO2 emissions being different from originally claimed.

"Only".

EDIT: VW should be heavily penalized for their behavior. One might argue, "Its not a big deal. Its just environmental regulations." Would you feel the same way if they had submitted a stronger vehicle for crash testing and then proceeded to use lower strength materials for production vehicles? They're only people.

The point that it is not the same thing as NOx emissions.

Emissions are emissions. I hope this cripples VW financially.

No they're not. CO2 and NOx have different effects on the population and on our environment. And yes, one is worse than the other. No, CO2 isn't wonderful, but mole for mole, CO2 is strictly preferable to NOx.

Yes, we should strive to reduce both. But they're nowhere near equivalent.

EDIT: I do agree with you though, I also hope this cripples them financially. I don't want to see them dead, but the consequences from this cheating should be so enormous that the company has a collective nightmare about this for the next several decades.

CO2 is part of the normal chemical formula for burning hydrocarbon fuel, and the majority of a car's emissions are CO2 and H2O (water).

Exactly. The ideal emissions would be 100% H20 and CO2. I suppose a string of chemical reactions could be engineered to make the emissions nothing but water and diamonds, but until that happens, some mixture of CO2 and water is the ideal.

"Mole for mole" is completely irrelevant to the issue at hand though.

Yeah, and what happens to those of us who own VW? Car has been incredibly reliable, zero problems. What happens with the value of the car or the cost of repairs/OEM parts if they crater?

What about other manufacturers? Independent tests in europe showed EVERY SINGLE BRAND (including bmw) testing above legal limits.

Any manufacturer found guilty of cheating emissions tests should face steep financial sanctions, with those directly responsible facing criminal charges and civil financial penalties.

But that has to do with NOx, not CO2. They are really two separate things.

The point is all they got out of this was lower taxes for their cars. The emissions weren't above any legal limits. That makes it a less serious crime. They're apparently earmarking about $2B for this.

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